This is a list of this week’s papers on quantum foundations published in the various journals or uploaded to the preprint servers such as arxiv.org and PhilSci Archive. The large-scale structure of vacuum. (arXiv:1405.3900v2 [gr-qc] UPDATED) gr-qc updates on arXiv.org on 2014-11-07 4:50am GMT Authors: F. D. Albareti, J. A. R. Cembranos, A. L. Maroto The vacuum state in quantum field theory is… Read more →
The preposterous title of this post is also the title of my contribution to the Special Issue on Quantum Nonlocality and Reality — 50 Years of Bell’s theorem. Abstract: Quantum theory’s violation of remote outcome independence is assessed in the context of a novel interpretation of the theory, in which the unavoidable distinction between the classical and quantum domains is… Read more →
Non-reflexive Logical Foundation for Quantum Mechanics Latest Results for Foundations of Physics on 2014-11-02 12:00am GMT Abstract On the one hand, non-reflexive logics are logics in which the principle of identity does not hold in general. On the other hand, quantum mechanics has difficulties regarding the interpretation of ‘particles’ and their identity, also known in the literature as ‘the problem… Read more →
Michael J. W. Hall, Dirk-André Deckert, and Howard M. Wiseman, Quantum phenomena modelled by interactions between many classical worlds. Phys. Rev. X 4 041013 [17 pages] (2014). At the request of Dr Shan Gao, I’m posting here a short discussion of this new paper. This work is motivated by the quantum measurement problem, which suggests that orthodox quantum mechanics does not… Read more →
Basil J. Hiley (University of London) Submitted to “Quantum Nonlocality and Reality – 50 Years of Bell’s theorem” I present the background of the Bohm approach that led John Bell to a study of quantum non-locality from which his famous inequalities emerged. I recall the early experiments done at Birkbeck with an aim to explore the possibility of `spontaneous collapse’,… Read more →
Robert Flack and Basil J. Hiley Forthcoming in S. Gao (eds.). Protective Measurements and Quantum Reality: Toward a New Understanding of Quantum Mechanics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2014). In this paper we show how the weak values, <x(t)|Pμ|ψ(t0)>/<x(t)|ψ(t0)>, are related to the T0μ(x, t) component of the energy-momentum tensor. This enables the local energy and momentum to be measured using weak measurement techniques…. Read more →
Classical and quantum ghosts. (arXiv:1406.4550v4 [hep-th] UPDATED) gr-qc updates on arXiv.org on 2014-10-24 10:18am GMT The aim of these notes is to provide a self-contained review of why it is generically a problem when a solution of a theory possesses ghost fields among the perturbation modes. We define what a ghost field is and we show that its presence is… Read more →
I’m in the process of drafting a paper on resolving the problems associated with Haag’s theorem: Haag, R. (1955). “On quantum field theories,” Matematisk-fysiske Meddelelser, 29, 12. This involves resurrecting direct-action theories as a possible account of how Nature really works. It is perhaps not well known that John Wheeler himself was attempting to resurrect the direct action approach in… Read more →
Saturday, October 25, 2014 MDT (UTC-6): 2pm-3:30pm Richard Healey (University of Arizona): The meaning of the wave function Discussion method: text chat Sunday, October 26, 2014 CDT (UTC-5): 7.30pm-9pm Valia Allori (Northern Illinois University): Primitive Ontology in a Nutshell Presentation and Discussion method: Skype voice + text chat Monday, October 27, 2014 EDT (UTC-4): 2pm-3.30pm Lee Smolin (Perimeter Institute… Read more →
Gordon N. Fleming Submitted to “Quantum Nonlocality and Reality – 50 Years of Bell’s theorem” I argue, in section 4, that the ‘elements of reality’ of Hardy’s famous gedanken experiment can retain their Lorentz invariance, i.e., their frame independence, if one recognizes the hyperplane dependence of their localization. This requires avoiding the conflation of hyperplane dependence with frame dependence, which… Read more →
This is a list of this week’s papers on quantum foundations published in the various journals or uploaded to the preprint servers such as arxiv.org and PhilSci Archive. Inhomogeneities from quantum collapse scheme without inflation. (arXiv:1410.4212v1 [gr-qc]) gr-qc updates on arXiv.org on 2014-10-18 8:32am GMT In this work, we consider the problem of the emergence of seeds of cosmic structure… Read more →
