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Physics Research International

The Modal-Hamiltonian Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics as a Kind of “Atomic” Interpretation

Juan Sebastián Ardenghi, Olímpia Lombardi

Published Oct 30, 2011• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Modal interpretations are non-collapse interpretations, where the quantum state of a system describes its possible properties rather than the properties that it actually possesses. Among them, the atomic modal interpretation (AMI) assumes the existence of a special set of disjoint systems that fixes the preferred factorization of the Hilbert space. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the AMI and our recently presented modal-hamiltonian interpretation (MHI), by showing that the MHI can be viewed as a kind of “atomic” interpretation in two different senses. On the one hand, the MHI provides a precise criterion for the preferred factorization of the Hilbert space into factors representing elemental systems. On the other hand, the MHI identifies the atomic systems that represent elemental particles on the basis of the Galilei group. Finally, we will show that the MHI also introduces a decomposition of the Hilbert space of any elemental system, which determines with precision what observables acquire definite actual values.

DOI
10.1155/2011/379604

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Modal interpretations are non-collapse interpretations, where the quantum state of a system describes its possible properties rather than the properties that it actually possesses. Among them, the atomic modal interpretation (AMI) assumes the existence of a special set of disjoint systems that fixes the preferred factorization of the Hilbert space. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the AMI and our recently presented modal-hamiltonian interpretation (MHI), by showing that the MHI can be viewed as a kind of “atomic” interpretation in two different senses. On the one hand, the MHI provides a precise criterion for the preferred factorization of the Hilbert space into factors representing elemental systems. On the other hand, the MHI identifies the atomic systems that represent elemental particles on the basis of the Galilei group. Finally, we will show that the MHI also introduces a decomposition of the Hilbert space of any elemental system, which determines with precision what observables acquire definite actual values.
Abstract Since the aim of this book is to introduce the Modal-Hamiltonian Interpretation (MHI) in a comprehensive way, this chapter focuses on the family of Modal Interpretations of quantum mechanics, to which the MHI belongs. The purpose is, then, to recall the common features of the Modal Interpretations as well as the differences between them. In particular, the original proposal of van Fraassen is presented, and the Biorthogonal-Decomposition Modal Interpretation, the Spectral-Decomposition Modal Interpretation, the Atomic Modal Interpretation, and the Perspectival Modal Interpretation are described, pointing out their advantages and limitations.
Abstract In the present chapter, the Modal-Hamiltonian Interpretation (MHI) is introduced in terms of interpretative postulates. These postulates distinguish between type-properties and case-properties, and define quantum systems as bundles of properties. The Hamiltonian of the system plays a central role in the definition of systems and subsystems. Moreover, according to the MHI-Actualization Rule, the selection of the preferred context is based on the Hamiltonian. In this chapter, the MHI is introduced in a neutral way, without discussing its advantages over other proposals. The arguments supporting it will become clear in the following chapters, where its physical relevance will be explained (Chapter 5) and it will be applied to solve traditional interpretative challenges (Chapter 6).
Given the impressive success of environment-induced decoherence (EID), nowadays no interpretation of quantum mechanics can ignore its results. The modal-Hamiltonian interpretation (MHI) has proved to be effective for solving several interpretative problems, but since its actualization rule applies to closed systems, it seems to stand at odds with EID. The purpose of this article is to show that this is not the case: the states einselected by the interaction with the environment according to EID (the elements of the “pointer basis”) are the eigenvectors of an actual-valued observable belonging to the preferred context selected by the MHI.
Abstract Although it is usual to read that non-relativistic quantum mechanics is covariant, and even invariant, under the Galilei transformations, this topic has scarcely been addressed in the standard literature on the theory. This fact has, at least, two undesirable consequences. On the one hand, the meanings of the concepts of covariance and invariance are not precisely elucidated. On the other hand, one is left without a clear idea about in what sense the covariance and/or invariance of quantum mechanics can be asserted. This situation has its counterpart in the field of the interpretation of quantum mechanics: the relevance of the Galilei group is rarely discussed in the impressive amount of literature on the subject. The general premise underlying the present chapter is that the relationship between interpretation and Galilei transformations deserves to be seriously analyzed: the fact that the theory is covariant under the Galilei group does not guarantee the same property for the interpretation because, in general, interpretations add interpretative postulates to the formal structure of the theory. On this basis, and after clarifying the concepts of covariance and invariance, this chapter considers in what sense quantum mechanics is covariant and under what conditions it is invariant under the transformations of the Galilei group. This conceptual framework will provide the tools to study the result of the application of the Galilei transformations to the Modal-Hamiltonian interpretative postulates.
Abstract Since the Modal-Hamiltonian Interpretation (MHI) is based on the formalism and the minimal interpretation of Standard Quantum Mechanics (SQM), this chapter may seem superfluous: it could be argued that everyone knows what SQM is. However, as remarked in the previous chapter, the identification of SQM is not as immediate as is usually assumed. Therefore, if an interpretation of quantum mechanics is to be precisely developed, the underlying theoretical commitments must be clear from the very beginning. The second reason why this chapter is not superfluous is that the MHI differs from the traditional Hilbert space formulation of SQM by adopting the algebraic formalism as its departing point. Although this might seem a minor formal detail, it will play a central role in the ontological picture arising from the MHI interpretation, as will be seen in Chapter 10.
The aim of this paper is to introduce a new member of the family of the modal interpretations of quantum mechanics. In this modal-Hamiltonian interpretation, the Hamiltonian of the quantum system plays a decisive role in the property-ascription rule that selects the definite-valued observables whose possible values become actual. We show that this interpretation is effective for solving the measurement problem, both in its ideal and its non-ideal versions, and we argue for the physical relevance of the property-ascription rule by applying it to well-known physical situations. Moreover, we explain how this interpretation supplies a description of the elemental categories of the ontology referred to by the theory, where quantum systems turn out to be bundles of possible properties.