Free will in the framework of elementary process theory

Wim Christiaens

Wim Christiaens

Klaas Landsman

Marcoen J. T. F. Cabbolet

A fundamental question in the debate about the interpretations of quantum mechanics (QM) is whether the universe is fundamentally deterministic or fundamentally probabilistic. This self-contained paper shows for a microsystem made up of a single neutron that is initially at rest in a stationary force-free environment, that even if the individual processes by which the microsystem evolves are fundamentally deterministic as described by a strictly deterministic model of the Elementary Process Theory (EPT), then still our most precise knowledge of the outcome of a position measurement on the microsystem is fundamentally probabilistic. Generalizing, the conclusion is that the EPT is inconsistent with orthodox QM, but consistent with $ψ$-epistemic QM.

Marcoen J. T. F. Cabbolet

Abstract Recently, the Elementary Process Theory has been introduced as an axiomatic system with a potential application as a foundational framework for physics. This addendum clarifies the primitive concepts ‘phase quantum’ and ‘monad’ that play a central role in the physical picture that arises from the axiomatic system.