A Possible Explanation of Quantum Mechanics

Diederik Aerts

Jeffrey Alan Barrett

This paper is concerned with the possibility and nature of relativistic hidden-variable formulations of quantum mechanics. Both ad hoc teleological constructions and frame-dependent constructions of spacetime maps are considered. While frame-dependent constructions are clearly preferable, a many-maps theory based on such constructions fails to provide dynamical explanations for local quantum events. Here the hidden-variable dynamics used in the frame-dependent constructions is just a rule that serves to characterize the set of all possible spacetime maps. While not having dynamical explanations of the values of quantum-mechanical measurement records is a significant cost, it may prove too much to ask for dynamical explanations in relativistic quantum mechanics.

Michael E. Cuffaro

Michael Janas, Michael E. Cuffaro, Michel Janssen B

Tejinder P. Singh

At present, there are two possible, and equally plausible, explanations for the physics of quantum measurement. The first explanation, known as the many-worlds interpretation, does not require any modification of quantum mechanics, and asserts that at the time of measurement the Universe splits into many branches, one branch for every possible alternative. The various branches do not interfere with each other because of decoherence, thus providing a picture broadly consistent with the observed Universe. The second explanation, which requires quantum mechanics to be modified from its presently known form, is that at the time of measurement the wave-function collapses into one of the possible alternatives. The two explanations are mutually exclusive, and up until now, no theoretical reasoning has been put forward to choose one explanation over the other. In this article, we provide an argument which implies that the collapse interpretation is favored over the many-worlds interpretation. Our starting point is the assertion (which we justify) that there ought to exist a reformulation of quantum mechanics which does not refer to a classical spacetime manifold. The need for such a reformulation implies that quantum theory becomes non-linear on the Planck mass/energy scale. Standard linear quantum mechanics is an approximation to this non-linear theory, valid at energy scales much smaller than the Planck scale. Using ideas based on noncommutative | >=

Dirk Aerts