A constructive approach to the foundations of quantum mechanics

Douglas Bridges

Walter Smilga

David Z. Albert

It is argued that certain recent advances in the construction of a theory of the collapses of Quantum Mechanical wave functions suggest the possibility of new and improved foundations for statistical mechanics, foundations in which epistemic considerations play no role.

Dongsheng Wang

The abstract framework of quantum mechanics (QM) causes the well-known weirdness, which leads to the field of foundation of QM. We constructed the new concept, i.e., scope, to lay the foundation of quantum coherence and openness, also the principles of superposition and entanglement. We studied analytically and quantitatively the quantum correlations and information, also we discussed the physical essence of the existed entanglement measures. We compared with several other approaches to the foundation of QM, and we stated that the concept of scope is unique and has not been demonstrated before.

Robin Giles

Antonino Drago

I review the various algebraic foundations of quantum mechanics. They have been suggested since the birth of this theory till up to last year. They are the following ones: Heisenberg-Born-Jordan (1925), Weyl (1928), Dirac (1930), von Neumann (1936), Segal (1947), T.F. Jordan (1986), Morchio and Strocchi (2009) and Buchholz and Fregenhagen (2019). Three cases are stressed: 1) the misinterpretation of Dirac foundation; 2) von Neumann conversion from the analytic approach of Hilbert space to the algebraic approach of the rings of operators; 3) the recent foundation of quantum mechanics upon the algebra of perturbation Lagrangians. Moreover, historical considerations on the go-and-stop path performed by the algebraic approach in the history of QM are offered. The level of formalism has increased from the mere introduction of matrices till up to group theory and C*-algebras. But there was no progress in approaching closer the foundations of physics; therefore the problem of discovering an algebraic formulation of QM organized as a problem-based theory and making use of no more than constructive mathematics is open.