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The Philosophy of Quantum Physics

A special issue of Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300). This special issue belongs to the section "Quantum Information".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 September 2022) | Viewed by 20266

Special Issue Editors

Literature, Theory and Cultural Studies Program, Philosophy and Literature Program, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
Interests: philosophy of science; philosophy of mathematics; foundations of quantum theory and quantum information theory; history of quantum theory; application of quantum models beyond physics; philosophy; relationships among philosophy, mathematics, and science
Quantum Communication and Measurement Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Division of Natural Science and Mathematics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Interests: quantum information; foundations of quantum mechanics; quantum cryptography; quantum metrology; history and philosophy of science; quantum optics; stochastic processes; genetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Arguably more than any other physical theory, even relativity (which does offer some competition in this regard), quantum theory, throughout its history, especially after the discovery of quantum mechanics, has been defined by the role of philosophical thinking in it, on the part of physicists and philosophers alike. One might indeed argue that the philosophy of quantum theory, as a field, emerged from the debate concerning quantum foundations originating within physics itself, beginning with the famous confrontation between Bohr and Einstein concerning, in Bohr’s words, “epistemological questions in atomic physics,” and a response to and participation in this debate on the part of several major philosophical figures, such as Hans Reichenbach and Karl Popper. These symbiotic relationships have continued throughout the subsequent history extending to our own time, not the least because the debate concerning quantum foundations has continued with undiminished intensity, broadened, from early on, by the rise of quantum field theory, and more recently, quantum information theory. Building on this tradition, the aim of this Special Issue is to contribute to this debate by bringing together both physicists and philosophers, working in different areas of quantum foundations, most especially quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, with the aim exploring the deeper foundational questions arising in these areas, and by doing so, rethinking the origins and the nature of quantum foundations themselves. This task is, we think, especially urgent at the present stage of this debate.

Prof. Dr. Arkady Plotnitsky
Prof. Dr. Gregg Jaeger
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • quantum mechanics
  • quantum field theory
  • reality
  • locality
  • causality
  • determinism
  • probability

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 1309 KiB  
Article
Non-Kolmogorovian Probabilities and Quantum Technologies
by Federico Hernán Holik
Entropy 2022, 24(11), 1666; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e24111666 - 15 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1643
Abstract
In this work, we focus on the philosophical aspects and technical challenges that underlie the axiomatization of the non-Kolmogorovian probability framework, in connection with the problem of quantum contextuality. This fundamental feature of quantum theory has received a lot of attention recently, given [...] Read more.
In this work, we focus on the philosophical aspects and technical challenges that underlie the axiomatization of the non-Kolmogorovian probability framework, in connection with the problem of quantum contextuality. This fundamental feature of quantum theory has received a lot of attention recently, given that it might be connected to the speed-up of quantum computers—a phenomenon that is not fully understood. Although this problem has been extensively studied in the physics community, there are still many philosophical questions that should be properly formulated. We analyzed different problems from a conceptual standpoint using the non-Kolmogorovian probability approach as a technical tool. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Quantum Physics)
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23 pages, 5772 KiB  
Article
Unitary Evolution and Elements of Reality in Consecutive Quantum Measurements
by Dmitri Sokolovski
Entropy 2022, 24(7), 877; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e24070877 - 26 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1144
Abstract
Probabilities of the outcomes of consecutive quantum measurements can be obtained by construction probability amplitudes, thus implying the unitary evolution of the measured system, broken each time a measurement is made. In practice, the experimenter needs to know all past outcomes at the [...] Read more.
Probabilities of the outcomes of consecutive quantum measurements can be obtained by construction probability amplitudes, thus implying the unitary evolution of the measured system, broken each time a measurement is made. In practice, the experimenter needs to know all past outcomes at the end of the experiment, and that requires the presence of probes carrying the corresponding records. With this in mind, we consider two different ways to extend the description of a quantum system beyond what is actually measured and recorded. One is to look for quantities whose values can be ascertained without altering the existing probabilities. Such “elements of reality” can be found, yet they suffer from the same drawback as their EPR counterparts. The probes designed to measure non-commuting operators frustrate each other if set up to work jointly, so no simultaneous values of such quantities can be established consistently. The other possibility is to investigate the system’s response to weekly coupled probes. Such weak probes are shown either to reduce to a small fraction the number of cases where the corresponding values are still accurately measured, or lead only to the evaluation of the system’s probability amplitudes, or their combinations. It is difficult, we conclude, to see in quantum mechanics anything other than a formalism for predicting the likelihoods of the recorded outcomes of actually performed observations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Quantum Physics)
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8 pages, 280 KiB  
Article
Quantum Epistemology and Falsification
by Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano
Entropy 2022, 24(4), 434; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e24040434 - 22 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1516
Abstract
The operational axiomatization of quantum theory in previous works can be regarded as a set of six epistemological rules for falsifying propositions of the theory. In particular, the Purification postulate—the only one that is not shared with classical theory—allows falsification of random-sequences generators, [...] Read more.
The operational axiomatization of quantum theory in previous works can be regarded as a set of six epistemological rules for falsifying propositions of the theory. In particular, the Purification postulate—the only one that is not shared with classical theory—allows falsification of random-sequences generators, a task classically unfeasible. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Quantum Physics)
10 pages, 542 KiB  
Article
Contextual Inferences, Nonlocality, and the Incompleteness of Quantum Mechanics
by Philippe Grangier
Entropy 2021, 23(12), 1660; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e23121660 - 10 Dec 2021
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 2578
Abstract
It is known that “quantum non locality”, leading to the violation of Bell’s inequality and more generally of classical local realism, can be attributed to the conjunction of two properties, which we call here elementary locality and predictive completeness. Taking this point of [...] Read more.
It is known that “quantum non locality”, leading to the violation of Bell’s inequality and more generally of classical local realism, can be attributed to the conjunction of two properties, which we call here elementary locality and predictive completeness. Taking this point of view, we show again that quantum mechanics violates predictive completeness, allowing the making of contextual inferences, which can, in turn, explain why quantum non locality does not contradict relativistic causality. An important question remains: if the usual quantum state ψ is predictively incomplete, how do we complete it? We give here a set of new arguments to show that ψ should be completed indeed, not by looking for any “hidden variables”, but rather by specifying the measurement context, which is required to define actual probabilities over a set of mutually exclusive physical events. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Quantum Physics)
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15 pages, 291 KiB  
Article
The Elementary Particles of Quantum Fields
by Gregg Jaeger
Entropy 2021, 23(11), 1416; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e23111416 - 28 Oct 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2538
Abstract
The elementary particles of relativistic quantum field theory are not simple field quanta, as has long been assumed. Rather, they supplement quantum fields, on which they depend on but to which they are not reducible, as shown here with particles defined instead as [...] Read more.
The elementary particles of relativistic quantum field theory are not simple field quanta, as has long been assumed. Rather, they supplement quantum fields, on which they depend on but to which they are not reducible, as shown here with particles defined instead as a unified collection of properties that appear in both physical symmetry group representations and field propagators. This notion of particle provides consistency between the practice of particle physics and its basis in quantum field theory. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Quantum Physics)
33 pages, 383 KiB  
Article
Nature Has No Elementary Particles and Makes No Measurements or Predictions: Quantum Measurement and Quantum Theory, from Bohr to Bell and from Bell to Bohr
by Arkady Plotnitsky
Entropy 2021, 23(9), 1197; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e23091197 - 11 Sep 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1899
Abstract
This article reconsiders the concept of physical reality in quantum theory and the concept of quantum measurement, following Bohr, whose analysis of quantum measurement led him to his concept of a (quantum) “phenomenon,” referring to “the observations obtained under the specified circumstances,” in [...] Read more.
This article reconsiders the concept of physical reality in quantum theory and the concept of quantum measurement, following Bohr, whose analysis of quantum measurement led him to his concept of a (quantum) “phenomenon,” referring to “the observations obtained under the specified circumstances,” in the interaction between quantum objects and measuring instruments. This situation makes the terms “observation” and “measurement,” as conventionally understood, inapplicable. These terms are remnants of classical physics or still earlier history, from which classical physics inherited it. As defined here, a quantum measurement does not measure any preexisting property of the ultimate constitution of the reality responsible for quantum phenomena. An act of measurement establishes a quantum phenomenon by an interaction between the instrument and the quantum object or in the present view the ultimate constitution of the reality responsible for quantum phenomena and, at the time of measurement, also quantum objects. In the view advanced in this article, in contrast to that of Bohr, quantum objects, such as electrons or photons, are assumed to exist only at the time of measurement and not independently, a view that redefines the concept of quantum object as well. This redefinition becomes especially important in high-energy quantum regimes and quantum field theory and allows this article to define a new concept of quantum field. The article also considers, now following Bohr, the quantum measurement as the entanglement between quantum objects and measurement instruments. The argument of the article is grounded in the concept “reality without realism” (RWR), as underlying quantum measurement thus understood, and the view, the RWR view, of quantum theory defined by this concept. The RWR view places a stratum of physical reality thus designated, here the reality ultimately responsible for quantum phenomena, beyond representation or knowledge, or even conception, and defines the corresponding set of interpretations quantum mechanics or quantum field theory, such as the one assumed in this article, in which, again, not only quantum phenomena but also quantum objects are (idealizations) defined by measurement. As such, the article also offers a broadly conceived response to J. Bell’s argument “against ‘measurement’”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Quantum Physics)
21 pages, 3539 KiB  
Article
Dendrogramic Representation of Data: CHSH Violation vs. Nonergodicity
by Oded Shor, Felix Benninger and Andrei Khrennikov
Entropy 2021, 23(8), 971; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e23080971 - 28 Jul 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2486
Abstract
This paper is devoted to the foundational problems of dendrogramic holographic theory (DH theory). We used the ontic–epistemic (implicate–explicate order) methodology. The epistemic counterpart is based on the representation of data by dendrograms constructed with hierarchic clustering algorithms. The ontic universe is described [...] Read more.
This paper is devoted to the foundational problems of dendrogramic holographic theory (DH theory). We used the ontic–epistemic (implicate–explicate order) methodology. The epistemic counterpart is based on the representation of data by dendrograms constructed with hierarchic clustering algorithms. The ontic universe is described as a p-adic tree; it is zero-dimensional, totally disconnected, disordered, and bounded (in p-adic ultrametric spaces). Classical–quantum interrelations lose their sharpness; generally, simple dendrograms are “more quantum” than complex ones. We used the CHSH inequality as a measure of quantum-likeness. We demonstrate that it can be violated by classical experimental data represented by dendrograms. The seed of this violation is neither nonlocality nor a rejection of realism, but the nonergodicity of dendrogramic time series. Generally, the violation of ergodicity is one of the basic features of DH theory. The dendrogramic representation leads to the local realistic model that violates the CHSH inequality. We also considered DH theory for Minkowski geometry and monitored the dependence of CHSH violation and nonergodicity on geometry, as well as a Lorentz transformation of data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Quantum Physics)
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15 pages, 3067 KiB  
Article
Representation of the Universe as a Dendrogramic Hologram Endowed with Relational Interpretation
by Oded Shor, Felix Benninger and Andrei Khrennikov
Entropy 2021, 23(5), 584; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/e23050584 - 08 May 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4145
Abstract
A proposal for a fundamental theory is described in which classical and quantum physics as a representation of the universe as a gigantic dendrogram are unified. The latter is the explicate order structure corresponding to the purely number-theoretical implicate order structure given by [...] Read more.
A proposal for a fundamental theory is described in which classical and quantum physics as a representation of the universe as a gigantic dendrogram are unified. The latter is the explicate order structure corresponding to the purely number-theoretical implicate order structure given by p-adic numbers. This number field was zero-dimensional, totally disconnected, and disordered. Physical systems (such as electrons, photons) are sub-dendrograms of the universal dendrogram. Measurement process is described as interactions among dendrograms; in particular, quantum measurement problems can be resolved using this process. The theory is realistic, but realism is expressed via the the Leibniz principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles. The classical-quantum interplay is based on the degree of indistinguishability between dendrograms (in which the ergodicity assumption is removed). Depending on this degree, some physical quantities behave more or less in a quantum manner (versus classic manner). Conceptually, our theory is very close to Smolin’s dynamics of difference and Rovelli’s relational quantum mechanics. The presence of classical behavior in nature implies a finiteness of the Universe-dendrogram. (Infinite Universe is considered to be purely quantum.) Reconstruction of events in a four-dimensional space type is based on the holographic principle. Our model reproduces Bell-type correlations in the dendrogramic framework. By adjusting dendrogram complexity, violation of the Bell inequality can be made larger or smaller. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Quantum Physics)
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