Bonn 2025 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 3: Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: The Measurement Problem and the Many Worlds Interpretation

AGPhil 3.2: Vortrag

Dienstag, 11. März 2025, 11:45–12:15, HS XVII

An interpretation-independent formulation of the measurement problem — •Antoine Soulas — University of Vienna, Austria — IQOQI Vienna, Austria

In this presentation, we do not try to solve the measurement problem of quantum mechanics (QM), but rather to properly formulate it. One of the reasons why it still lacks a precise, agreed definition is that the problem may take very different forms depending on the interpretation of QM embraced. We propose to identify the common root of the puzzle in an interpretation-independent way (i.e. as a property of the probabilities only) and derive its ontological consequences. The key point is that the violation of the total probability formula in QM does not allow to construct an objective ontology, independent from epistemology. This enables us to:

(i) shed light on the ubiquitous presence of the total probability formula in the quantum foundations literature (definition of hidden variables, historical and modern formulation of Bell's theorem, absoluteness of observed events in the local friendliness theorem, macrorealism à la Leggett-Garg, ontological models à la Spekkens...);

(ii) study how the problem manifests itself in five famous interpretations of QM (Copenhaguen, collapse-models, Bohmian mechanics, many-worlds and relational QM) : how they propose to solve it and which new difficulties arise. This provides a fresh look on the different interpretations, and allows to better compare them.

Keywords: Measurement problem; Interpretation of quantum mechanics; Decoherence