Quantum Theory without Observers—Part One
DOI: 10.1063/1.882184
Since its inception some 70 years ago and despite its extraordinary predictive successes, quantum mechanics has been plagued by conceptual difficulties. Plainly put, the basic problem is this: It is not at all clear what quantum mechanics is about. What, in fact, does quantum mechanics describe?
References
1. J. S. Bell, Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics, Cambridge U.P., Cambridge, England (1987).
2. E. Schrädinger, Naturwissenschaften 23, 807 (1935);
English trans. by J. D. Trimmer, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. 124, 323 (1980); https://doi.org/PAPCAA
reprinted in J. A. Wheeler, W. H. Zurek, eds., Quantum Theory and Measurement, Princeton U.P., Princeton, N.J. (1983).3. P. A. Schilpp, ed., Albert Einstein, Philosopher‐Scientist, Library of Living Philosophers, Evanston, III. (1949).
4. W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, Harper and Row, New York (1958), p. 129.
5. W. Heisenberg, The Physicist’s Conception of Nature, trans. by A. J. Pomerans, Harcourt Brace, New York (1958), p. 15.
6. A. Einstein, B. Podolsky, N. Rosen, Phys. Rev. 47, 777 (1935).https://doi.org/PHRVAO
7. R. B. Griffiths, J. Stat. Phys. 36, 219 (1984).
8. R. Omnes, J. Stat. Phys. 53, 893, 933 (1988).
9. M. Gell‐Mann, J. B. Hartle, in Complexity, Entropy, and the Physics of Information, W. Zurek, ed., Addison‐Wesley, Reading, Mass. (1990), p. 425.
M. Gell‐Mann, J. B. Hartle, Phys. Rev. D 47, 3345 (1993).10. W. H. Zurek, Phys. Rev. D 26, 1862 (1982).https://doi.org/PRVDAQ
W. H. Zurek, PHYSICS TODAY, October 1991, p. 36 and April 1993, p. 84.11. S. Goldstein, D. Page, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 3715 (1995).https://doi.org/PRLTAO
12. A. M. Gleason, J. Math. and Mech. 6, 885 (1957).
13. J. S. Bell, Rev. Mod. Phys. 38, 447 (1966); https://doi.org/RMPHAT
reprinted in ref. 1.14. N. D. Mermin, Rev. Mod. Phys. 65, 803 (1993).https://doi.org/RMPHAT
15. S. Kochen, E. P. Specker, J. Math. and Mech. 17, 59 (1967).
16. J. S. Bell, Physics 1, 195 (1964);
reprinted in ref. 1.17. L. Hardy, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 1665 (1993).
S. Goldstein, Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 1951 (1994).https://doi.org/PRLTAO18. M. Gell‐Mann, J. B. Hartle, in Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on High Energy Physics, K. K. Phua, Y. Yamaguchi, eds., World Scientific, Singapore (1990).
More about the Authors
Sheldon Goldstein. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.