“Relative State” Formulation of Quantum Mechanics

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Nikolay Dementev

Geist, Jon

Everett's "Relative State Formulation of Quantum Mechanics" (RSQM), which appeared in Reviews of Modern Physics, is based on his thesis "The Theory of the Universal Wavefunction". The most noteworthy property of these works is the claim by other authors that these works are the seminal contribution to Many Worlds theories of branching realities and the claim that practical laboratory experimental tests of RSQM are not possible. This report shows that Everett's two works describe a formulation of quantum mechanics that contradicts an overwhelming body of experimental physics.

M. J. Luo

Hugh Everett

The task of quantizing general relativity raises serious questions about the meaning of the present formulation and interpretation of quantum mechanics when applied to so fundamental a structure as the space-time geometry itself. This paper seeks to clarify the foundations of quantum mechanics. It presents a reformulation of quantum theory in a form believed suitable for application to general relativity. The aim is not to deny or contradict the conventional formulation of quantum theory, which has demonstrated its usefulness in an overwhelming variety of problems, but rather to supply a new, more general and complete formulation, from which the conventional interpretation can be deduced. The relationship of this new formulation to the older formulation is therefore that of a metatheory to a theory, that is, it is an underlying theory in which the nature and consistency, as well as the realm of applicability, of the older theory can be investigated and clarified.

Juanca Carrasco-Martinez

The principle of relativity is extended to accommodate finite-mass observers with quantum properties by introducing two operational requirements: (i) equivalence of observers at the level of transition amplitudes, and (ii) the impossibility for an observer to access its own quantum state of motion. This results in a fully relative formulation of quantum mechanics with observer-dependent Hilbert spaces, relative quantization rules, and novel uncertainty relations, while also elucidating some interpretational issues present in the current formulation of quantum mechanics and giving experimentally testable signatures.