A Spacetime Ontology Compatible with Quantum Mechanics

Młynarski, Kajetan

William M. Simpson

Abstract The primitive ontology approach to quantum mechanics seeks to account for quantum phenomena in terms of a distribution of matter in three-dimensional space (or four-dimensional spacetime) and a law of nature that describes its temporal development. This approach to explaining quantum phenomena is compatible with either a Humean or powerist account of laws. In this paper, I offer a powerist ontology in which the law is specified by Bohmian mechanics for a global configuration of particles. Unlike in other powerist ontologies, however, this law is not grounded in a structural power that is instantiated by the global configuration. Instead, I combine the primitive ontology approach with Aristotle’s doctrine of hylomorphism to create a new metaphysical model, in which the cosmos is a hylomorphic substance with an intrinsic power to choreograph the trajectories of the particles.

Travis Norsen

An apparently emerging consensus holds that Everettian Quantum Mechanics (EQM), in the Spacetime State Realism (SSR) version of Wallace and Timpson, involves ontological non-locality (i.e., non-separability) but is fully compatible with the dynamical notion of locality usually taken to be required by relativity. The claim of dynamical locality is based on the fact that the local beables postulated by the theory (namely, Reduced Density Matrices, RDMs, associated with localized regions) are not affected by interventions outside their past light cones. However, the theory's non-separability means that it posits non-local beables (namely RDMs for non-localized regions) in addition to the local ones. We argue here that the involvement of non-local beables introduces complications for extant formulations of dynamical locality and at least suggests, contrary to the emerging consensus, that SSR EQM should perhaps not be considered compatible with relativistic causality after all.

Valia Allori

Andre Peter Steynberg

Standard quantum mechanics interprets the probabilistic nature of particle interactions as a fundamental, irreducible property of the universe. This paper demonstrates that quantum probability is not an ontological fundamental of the entities themselves, but a geometric artifact derived from observing 5-dimensional continuous functions from restricted 4-dimensional spacetime. Under the Geometric Monism framework, an electron is modeled not as a discrete point-particle, but as a localized 4D twist representing a node of a continuous 5-dimensional Planck-scale standing wave. Because this standing wave cycles between 4D spacetime and the 5D bulk, the individual 4D node possesses a strict 50% temporal accessibility. When two independent entities interact, this individual 50% geometric restriction naturally yields a 25% joint accessibility, perfectly mirroring the 1/4 initial-state probability matrices of standard Quantum Electrodynamics. Combined with a strict 50% geometric probability of encountering a compatible opposite chiral twist (spin), these dimensional limits naturally manifest as probabilistic statistics to a 4D observer. Quantum field theory is therefore reinterpreted not as the fundamental ontology of reality, but as a highly accurate, necessary statistical framework for modeling under-sampled 5-dimensional continuum mechanics.