The Transactional Interpretation: Still Viable and Still the Best Account of the Born Rule

Nicolaas P. Landsman

Emily Adlam, Jacob A. Barandes

Any viable interpretation of quantum theory needs to account for the Born rule, from which the theory gets its probabilistic empirical predictions. In this paper, we give an overview of possible approaches to this problem in the context of the Many Worlds interpretation. We argue that, for structural reasons, none of them can possibly succeed. More precisely, we argue that the Many Worlds interpretation must obtain the Born rule by proceeding either axiomatically, deductively, or inductively, and that all three of these approaches run into general, fundamental obstructions.

Alexia Auffèves, Philippe Grangier

J. G. Cramer

Ruth E. Kastner

This chapter reviews the original transactional interpretation as based on the Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory of radiation and demonstrates how the Born Rule for the probabilities of outcomes is a direct physical consequence of the transactional formulation. The chapter also accounts for the nature of “null measurements” and applies the transactional picture to the famous two-slit experiment to gain a better understanding of what it means for the experiment to be “finished” and how transactions illuminate the appearance and disappearance of interference based on the type of measurement being performed.

J. G. Cramer