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Physics Today

There is no quantum measurement problem

N. David Mermin

Published Jun 1, 2022• 32 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The idea that the collapse of a quantum state is a physical process stems from a misunderstanding of probability and the role it plays in quantum mechanics.
DOI
10.1063/pt.3.5027

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In a recent note David Mermin attributed the idea that wave function collapse is a physical process to a misunderstanding of probability and the role it plays in quantum mechanics. There are, however, further misconceptions at play, some of which are shared by Mermin himself and more generally by QBists. The main objective of the present comment on his note is to explain why I disagree with his reading of a well-known passage by Niels Bohr, in particular the ambiguity of the first-person plural he perceives in Bohr's reference to "our description of nature" and "our experience."
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The paper describes a solution to the problem of quantum measurement that has been proposed recently. The literal understanding of the basic rule of quantum mechanics on identical particles violates the cluster separation principle and so leads to difficulties. A proposal due to Peres of how such difficulties could be removed is reformulated and extended. Cluster separability leads to a locality requirement on observables and to the key notion of separation status. Separation status of a microsystem is shown to change in preparation and registration processes. The indispensability of detectors plays an important role. Changes of separation status are alterations of kinematic description rather than some parts of dynamical trajectories and so more radical than 'collapse of the wave function'. Textbook quantum mechanics does not provide any information of how separation status changes run, hence new rules must be formulated. This enables to satisfy the objectification requirement for registrations. To show how the ideas work, a simplified model of registration apparatus is constructed.