Epistemic and Ontic Quantum States
Equipped with the tools of time-dependent perturbation theory and second quantization for the Schrödinger and Maxwell fields, we are now at a stage where we can start to discuss interpretations of quantum mechanics. Interpretations of quantum mechanics ar
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Epistemic and Ontic Quantum States
Equipped with the tools of time-dependent perturbation theory and second quantization for the Schrödinger and Maxwell fields, we are now at a stage where we can start to discuss interpretations of quantum mechanics. Interpretations of quantum mechanics are primarily concerned with two related questions: - What happens during an observation of a quantum system? - What (if anything) does quantum mechanics tell us about the world outside of our minds? The philosophical study of the world as an objective existence beyond and independent from our minds is the field of ontology. The second question can therefore also be addressed as the question for a quantum ontology. Quantum mechanics textbooks are sometimes criticized for not addressing these questions, but there are good and defendable reasons for this: Textbooks should generically focus on established and widely accepted knowledge, while eventually adding some refinement here or there, instead of dwelling on unsettled questions. This chapter, on the other hand, deals with unsettled questions. The debate about the interpretation of quantum mechanics has remained an active and controversial field of scientific inquiry on the intersection of philosophy and physics ever since the 1920s, and will likely remain so for many more years to come. Another (likely legitimate) reason is that quantum mechanics is one of the most successful theories ever conceived, and fortunately it can be used perfectly well without ever worrying about quantum ontology. What merit could there possibly be in distracting and maybe even side-tracking our students with the notoriously difficult interpretational questions of quantum mechanics, when all the successful and proven applications of the theory happily exist without any generally agreed upon interpretation? Finally, since the community of philosophers and physicists actively studying these problems has not settled on one widely accepted solution, a thorough © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 R. Dick, Advanced Quantum Mechanics, Graduate Texts in Physics, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57870-1_19
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19 Epistemic and Ontic Quantum States
discussion of the field requires full research monographs, whereas a single chapter has to be limited to basic discussions and eventually a presentation of the author’s preferred views on the topic. Therefore I should also caution the reader that many assertions in this chapter are debatable and, depending on their own views, could provoke negative responses from other researchers of quantum foundations. The reader can rest assured that all the other chapters in this book, just like the chapters in many other standard quantum mechanics textbooks, do not depend on any particular interpretation of the formalism. Readers who would like to study the subject in depth, and would like to get a balanced view, are well advised to read many of the pertinent research monographs to gain insight
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