The University of Sydney Foundations of Physics (SydFoP) seminar series for Semester 1, 2011 begins next week -- Wednesday 20th April at 11:30 in the philosophy common room, Main Quad.
Speaker: Mark van der Pals Title: A proposal for a solution to the measurement problem The measurement problem remains unsolved in quantum theory. It is intimately connected to the harmonic paradigm of quantum mechanics – the representation of states by wave functions or state vectors. It seems likely that the problem originates in our lack of understanding of the state vectors themselves. Not only do they represent physically distinguishable states in terms of a mysterious ‘sub-structure’ of linear superpositions of simple oscillations, but also they are associated with complex phase factors, as a result of which state vectors have a complex time dependence. It is the phase factors that determine the Schrödinger evolution of every state vector in the Hilbert space of quantum mechanics. All the interference effects of quantum mechanics depend on these phase factors, as does the spread of expectation values for states described by identical state vectors. Yet the phase factor itself remains ultimately mysterious. As one investigator put it, ‘It controls everything, but itself eludes scrutiny.’ Is there some underlying physical quantity or process that the phase factor represents? I argue that, yes, there is such a process. I describe it and show how a physical interpretation of the linear superpositions of quantum mechanics falls out of it, as does (I contend) a solution to the measurement problem. My proposal relies on retrocausality. In that context, a previous SydFop presenter, Peter Evans, noted that the cardinal vice of John Cramer’s transactional interpretation (which also relies on retrocausality) is its failure to provide a sufficient causal structure to constrain uniquely the behaviour of quantum systems – owing to a lack of symmetry in the theory, not its reliance on retrocausality itself. I show that, unlike Cramer’s proposal, my proposal has the symmetry to provide the requisite causal structure. The additional causal structure represents ‘hidden variables’. I show where the hidden variables live and how they do their work. All welcome. Please see http://bit.ly/SydFop for the latest program.
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