The wave function as a true ensemble

Jonte R Hance*, Sabine Hossenfelder

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)
75 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In quantum mechanics, the wave function predicts probabilities of possible measurement outcomes, but not which individual outcome is realized in each run of an experiment. This suggests that it describes an ensemble of states with different values of a hidden variable. Here, we analyse this idea with reference to currently known theorems and experiments. We argue that the ψ-ontic/epistemic distinction fails to properly identify ensemble interpretations and propose a more useful definition. We then show that all local ψ-ensemble interpretations which reproduce quantum mechanics violate statistical independence. Theories with this property are commonly referred to as superdeterministic or retrocausal. Finally, we explain how this interpretation helps make sense of some otherwise puzzling phenomena in quantum mechanics, such as the delayed choice experiment, the Elitzur–Vaidman bomb detector and the extended Wigner’s friends scenario.
Original languageEnglish
Article number20210705
Number of pages14
JournalProceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Volume478
Issue number2262
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
S.H. acknowledges support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under grant no. HO 2601/8-1. J.R.H. is supported by the University of York’s EPSRC DTP grant no. EP/R513386/1, and the EPSRC Quantum Communications Hub (funded by the EPSRC grant no. EP/M013472/1). Acknowledgements

Funding Information:
S.H. acknowledges support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under grant no. HO 2601/8-1. J.R.H. is supported by the University of York's EPSRC DTP grant no. EP/R513386/1, and the EPSRC Quantum Communications Hub (funded by the EPSRC grant no. EP/M013472/1).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors.

Research Groups and Themes

  • QETLabs
  • Centre for Science and Philosophy
  • Bristol Quantum Information Institute

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  • QComms2: 8031 EP/T001011/1 Quantum Communication Hub via York

    Rarity, J. G. (Principal Investigator), Nejabati, R. (Co-Investigator), Simeonidou, D. (Co-Investigator), Sahin, D. (Co-Investigator), Kanellos, G. (Co-Investigator), Aktas, D. V. C. (Researcher), Joshi, S. K. (Researcher), Lowndes, D. L. D. (Researcher), Venkatachalam, N. (Researcher), Hugues Salas, E. (Researcher), Woodland, E. M. (Manager), Erven, C. (Co-Investigator), Zhang, P. (Student), Hance, J. R. (Student), Clark, M. J. H. (Student), Rosenfeld, L. M. (Researcher), Hastings, E. M. J. (Student), Johlinger, F. B. (Student), Wang, R. (Researcher), Stange Tessinari, R. (Researcher), Solomons, N. R. (Student), Fasoulakis, T. (Student) & Alia, O. (Researcher)

    1/12/1930/11/24

    Project: Research

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