Quantum Theory without Observers—Part One

MAR 01, 1998

Despite the claims of most of the founding fathers, the appeal at a fundamental level to observers and measurement, so prominent in orthodox quantum theory, is not needed to account for quantum phenomena.

DOI: 10.1063/1.882184

Sheldon Goldstein

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?

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More about the authors

Sheldon Goldstein, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.