On some new tests of completeness of quantum mechanics

Jeffrey Bub

Marian Kupczyński

Abstract Quantum mechanics (QM) has led to spectacular technological developments, including the discovery of new constituents of matter and new materials: however, there is still no consensus regarding its interpretation and limitations. Some scientists and scientific writers promote some exotic interpretations and evoke quantum magic. In this paper we point out that magical explanations mean the end of the science. Magical explanations are misleading and counterproductive. We explain how a simple probabilistic local causal model is able to reproduce quantum correlations in Bell tests. We also discuss the difficulties of mathematical modeling of the physical reality and dangers of incorrect mental images. We examine in detail when and how a probabilistic model may completely describe a random experiment. We give some arguments in favor of the contextual statistical interpretation of QM. We conclude that we still do not know whether quantum theory provides a complete description of physical phenomena and we explain how it may be tested. We also point out, that there remain several open questions and challenges in QM, in quantum field theory and in the Standard Model. Moreover, there is still no consensus about how to reconcile quantum theory with general relativity and cosmology.

A Miranda

Approximation methods for calculating individual particle/ field motions in spacetime at the quantum level of accuracy (a key feature of the Bohm Picture of Quantum Mechanics (BP)), are studied. Modern textbook presentations of Quantum Theory are used throughout, but only to provide the necessary, already existing, tested formalisms and calculational techniques. New coherent insights, reinterpretations of old solutions and results, and new (in principle testable) quantitative and qualitative predictions, can be obtained on the basis of the BP that complete the standard type of postdictions and predictions.

T. E. Phipps

Guang-Liang Li

The Copenhagen interpretation presumes the legitimacy of quantum superpositions, attaches ``the probabilistic nature'' to quantum mechanics, brings observers into axioms of the theory, and claims that quantum mechanics is already a complete theory. Einstein disagreed with this interpretation; he argued against the legitimacy of quantum superpositions, worried about observers in the axioms, and considered quantum mechanics incomplete. Inspired by Einstein, Bell and his followers intended to complete quantum mechanics within the framework of local realism. They derived Bell inequalities, tested them by experiments, and proved Bell's theorem to interpret the experimental results. Regrettably, the experimental results are misinterpreted. This article introduces a new principle, the general principle of measurements, and provides its mathematical proof. Based on this principle, quantum mechanics can be completed within the framework of local realism by using disjunction (``or'') as the logical relation between orthonormal vectors spanning any given Hilbert space while keeping its general definition unchanged. Probabilistic predictions given by the completed theory and the current theory are exactly the same. Furthermore, by eliminating observers from the axioms and precluding inexplicable collapses of wave-functions, the completed theory alleviates much difficulty in understanding quantum mechanics and is intuitively comprehensible. In conclusion, Einstein's local-realist world-view is correct.

Giorgio Mantica, Joseph Ford