Providing a comprehensive exposition of the transactional interpretation (TI) of quantum mechanics, this book sheds new light on long-standing problems in quantum theory such as the physical meaning of the 'Born Rule' for the probabilities of measurement results, and demonstrates the ability of TI to solve the measurement problem of quantum mechanics. It provides robust refutations of various objections and challenges to TI, such as Maudlin's inconsistency challenge, and explicitly extends TI into the relativistic domain, providing new insight into the basic compatibility of TI with relativity and the meaning of 'virtual particles.' It breaks new ground in approaches to interpreting quantum theory and presents a compelling new ontological picture of quantum reality. This substantially revised and updated second edition is ideal for researchers and graduate students interested in the philosophy of physics and the interpretation of quantum mechanics.
A comprehensive exposition of the transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics (TI), this book sheds new light on longstanding problems in quantum theory and provides insight into the compatibility of TI with relativity. It breaks new ground in interpreting quantum theory, presenting a compelling new picture of quantum reality. The book shows how TI can be used to solve the measurement problem of quantum mechanics and explain other puzzles, such as the origin of the 'Born Rule' for the probabilities of measurement results. It addresses and resolves various objections and challenges to TI, such as Maudlin's inconsistency challenge. It explicitly extends TI into the relativistic domain, providing new insight into the basic compatibility of TI with relativity and the physical meaning of 'virtual particles'. This book is ideal for researchers and graduate students interested in the philosophy of physics and the interpretation of quantum mechanics.
This book is about how to understand quantum mechanics by means of a modal interpretation. Modal interpretations provide a general framework within which quantum mechanics can be considered as a theory that describes reality in terms of physical systems possessing definite properties. Quantum mechanics is standardly understood to be a theory about probabilities with which measurements have outcomes. Modal interpretations are relatively new attempts to present quantum mechanics as a theory which, like other physical theories, describes an observer-independent reality. In this book, Pieter Vermaas summarises the results of this work. The book will be of great value to undergraduates, graduate students and researchers in philosophy of science, and physics departments with an interest in learning about modal interpretations of quantum mechanics.