Quantum Mechanics—A Survey

Sujeevan Sivasundaram, Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen

Even though quantum mechanics has existed for almost 100 years, questions concerning the foundation and interpretation of the theory still remain. These issues have gathered more attention in recent years, but does this mean that physicists are more aware of foundational issues concerning quantum mechanics? A survey was sent out to 1234 physicists affiliated to 8 different universities. 149 responded to the questions, which both concerned foundational issues related to quantum mechanics, specifically, as well as questions concerning interpretations of physical theories in general. The answers to the survey revealed that foundational concepts in quantum mechanics are still a topic that only a minority of physicists are familiar with, although a clear majority of physicists find that interpretations of physical theories are important. The various questions, as well as how the respondents answered, are presented. The survey intends to give an overview of what the opinion of the physics community, in general, is concerning issues related to quantum mechanics.

Krishna Thyagarajan

Matthew Leifer, Nathan L. Harshman

"In what follows, Matt Leifer and Nathan Harshman present opposing views on the value of surveys on foundational attitudes towards quantum mechanics. Three such surveys were recently published and their results are summarized in Table 1. Matt takes the `point,’ arguing that such surveys are not useful, while Nathan takes the `counterpoint.’ A complete set of references for both is given at the end."

Ahmad A. Kamal

Albert Messiah

Christoph Sommer

Although it has been almost 100 years since the beginnings of quantum mechanics, the discussions about its interpretation still do not cease. Therefore, a survey of opinions regarding this matter is of particular interest. This poll was conducted following an idea and using the methodology of Schlosshauer et al. (arXiv:1301.1069 [quant-ph]), but among a slightly different group. It is supposed to give another snapshot of attitudes towards the interpretation of quantum mechanics and keep discourse about this topic alive.