Linked Questions

6 votes
8 answers
4k views

If the probability of a gas molecule to have any velocity is zero then how can the molecule have any velocity at all?

The probability for a gas molecule to have any velocity $v$ is $0$ since there are infinite possibilities for the velocity for the gas molecule to have. If that's so then how come the gas molecule has ...
Kashmiri's user avatar
  • 1,330
11 votes
5 answers
2k views

Which basis does the wavefunction collapse to?

When we measure position for example, how does the system "know" that we're measuring position in order to collapse to a position eigenvector? Does the wave function always evolve from the state that ...
Jeff Bass's user avatar
  • 749
13 votes
7 answers
2k views

What problem is the Many-Worlds Interpretation actually solving? Is it a reframing of the measurement problem?

Before I state my question I want to say I am in no way an expert/professional in this field. I read quite a bit on the subject and I consider myself familiar with the basic concepts but I really want ...
flxh's user avatar
  • 233
2 votes
6 answers
2k views

Why does the double slit experiment not prove that the wave function is ontological?

To me, it seems that the interference pattern is the evidence that the wave function is a physical aspect of reality, but people still seem to be trying to decide whether or not it's ontological or ...
hermancain's user avatar
9 votes
6 answers
2k views

Is the wave function objective or subjective?

Here is a question I am curious about. Is the wave function objective or subjective, or is such a question meaningless? Conventionally, subjectivity is as follows: if a quantity is subjective then ...
Weissman's user avatar
  • 107
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Does this video from Veritasium imply that the uncertainty principle is false?

The video in reference : Is This What Quantum Mechanics Looks Like? At 4:47 to 5:10, he shows a situation meant to be an analogy to a quantum particle going through the double slit experiment and ...
one two's user avatar
  • 355
9 votes
2 answers
1k views

The Pusey, Barrett and Rudolph (PBR) theorem and "shut up and calculate"

I was looking around for a competent, recent, persuasive presentation of the "shut up and calculate" philosophy regarding interpretations of quantum mechanics, and google led me to Fuchs and Peres, "...
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
519 views

What is the definitive evidence we have that quantum theory's probabilistic nature is physical and not epistemic?

For example does superposition or wavefunction really occur in the physical quantum world or is it only a property of the quantum theory's framework and formalism to help us to make accurate ...
Markoul11's user avatar
  • 4,370
12 votes
2 answers
626 views

How can you be a realist and not posit an ontological model?

I have a specific technical question about how to formalize models for quantum interpretations. My question arises from the talk Why I am not a psi-ontologist, by Rob Spekkens at the Perimter ...
Emilio Pisanty's user avatar
0 votes
6 answers
919 views

I understand what it represents, but what physically is the wave function?

In quantum mechanics, I understand that the wave function represents the state of a particle and that the square of the wave function tells us the probability of a particle being found at a particular ...
user1551817's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
235 views

Epistemic vs. ontological interpretations of QM

There are several posts under   [quantum-interpretations] epistemic ontological,   but I'm not seeing an answer to my question there (nor from google searches)... I hadn't thought about it very much, ...
0 votes
1 answer
170 views

Is entanglement the only way to get mixed state that is consistent with the Schrödinger equation?

If we treat our entire system (say an electron and a bunch of atoms) quantum mechanically then all possible interactions will be unitary transformations. Thus any state that I describe will always be ...
Superfast Jellyfish's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
204 views

Psi Ontic interpretations of QM that can be made relativistic?

What Psi Ontic interpretations of QM can be made relativistic? Is the Many Worlds interpretation the only one?
user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
143 views

What does it mean to interpret the quantum state statistically in the Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph (PBR) Theorem?

In the Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph (PBR) paper “The quantum state cannot be interpreted statistically” [arXiv:1111.3328v1, later published as Nat. Phys. 8, 475 (2012)] the following claim is made: If a ...
Jacob Schneider's user avatar