Ignorance Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

Clark Glymour

Silvester Sabathiel

Neal Grossman

The “Ignorance Interpretation” of quantum mechanical mixtures holds, roughly, that whenever a system S belongs to an ensemble, which is represented by a mixed statistical operator U = Σpi P[ψi] (0 ≤ pi ≤ 1, Σipi = 1, P[ψi] is the projection operator for the state ψi), then S is in some pure state, although we are ignorant as to which one. It has been concluded, e.g. by van Fraassen, that “the ignorance interpretation is untenable,” and he presumably favors adopting “the position that mixtures of pure states are themselves new states ... to say that a system is in a proper mixture is to say that it is not in a pure state.” I wish to argue in this paper that there are no good grounds for rejecting the ignorance interpretation.

Timothy D. Andersen

The problem of how to interpret quantum mechanics has persisted for a century. The disconnect between the wavefunction state vector and what is observed in experimental apparati has had no shortage of explanations. But all explanations so far fall short of a compelling and complete interpretation. In this letter, I present a novel interpretation called dynamic histories. I show mathematically how quantum mechanics can be reinterpreted as deterministically evolving dynamical world lines in a 5D universe. Quantum probabilities can be then be reinterpreted as stemming from ignorance of the state of our own world line. Meanwhile, the lack of observed superposition in experimental apparati is explained in that we only live on a single history with a definite set of properties. Hence, superposition is not an actual state of a particle but a model of ignorance as in classical probability theory. This explains nonlocal effects without superluminal communication. I also discuss how this relates to 5D Kaluza-Klein theory.

Stig Stenholm, Luigi Accardi, Guillaume Adenier +5 more

‎Louis Marchildon