Principles of an Objective Quantum Theory of Wave Packets

V. Frolov

The problem of existence in philosophy and modern fundamental physics is discussed. In quantum mechanics, the attribute of existence is attributed not only to objects and physical fields, but also to wave packets, the main functions of which are to indicate the list of possibilities that can be realized after the reduction of the wave packet. At the same time, the wave packets gravitate . Therefore, from the point of view of philosophy, wave packets ( Possible ) should be ranked among the Being as its separate element in addition to objects and physical fields. Further, using an example from mechanics, the statement is made that the true reality is described precisely by quantum mechanics, while the classical theory gives only a description of reality that is close to reality, but nevertheless an illusory description. In this sense, the complementarity principle of N. Bohr is not an addition or a contradiction but must be resolved by the primacy in favor of quantum mechanics.

Roy J. Glauber

F. Pat Eblen

Paper abstract: All physical theories rely—implicitly or explicitly—on foundational objects that are taken as irreducible. These objects, referred to here as physical primitives, define what the theory accepts as a single physically realizable instance. This paper examines the notion of a physical primitive from first principles and argues that many traditional primitives used in physics are physically unrealizable. We then show that a complex Gaussian wave packet uniquely satisfies the requirements for a physically realizable primitive capable of representing a single instance of any physical value.

Sofia Wechsler

When a quantum object -- a particle as we call it in a non-rigorous way -- is described by a multi-branched wave- function, with the corresponding wave-packets occupying separated regions of the time-space, a frequently asked question is whether the quantum object is actually contained in only one of these wave-packets. If the answer is positive, then the other wave-packets are called in literature empty waves. The wave-packet containing the object is called a full wave, and is the only one that would produce a recording in a detector. A question immediately arising is whether the empty waves may also have an observable effect. Different works were dedicated to the elucidation of this question. None of them proved that the hypothesis of full/empty waves is correct - it may be that the Nature is indeed non-deterministic and the quantum object is not confined to one region of the space-time. All the works that proved that the empty waves have an effect, in fact, proved that if there exist full and empty waves, then the latter may have an observable effect. This is also the purpose and the limitation of the present work. What is shown here is that if the hypothesis is true, the empty waves have an influence. An experiment is indicated which reveals this influence. The analysis of the experiment is according to the quantum formalism. This experiment has the advantage of being more intuitive and practically more feasible than a previous proposal also in agreement with the quantum formalism. However, the presently proposed experiment also shows that the quantum theory is not in favor of the above hypothesis.

B.T. Geylikman