Wavefunctions can Simultaneously Represent Knowledge and Reality

Jonte R. Hance; John Rarity; James Ladyman

Wavefunctions can Simultaneously Represent Knowledge and Reality

Jonte R. Hance, John Rarity, James Ladyman

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Abstract

Harrigan and Spekkens give formal definitions for the wavefunction in quantum mechanics to be $\psi$-ontic or $\psi$-epistemic, such that the wavefunction can only be one or the other. We argue that nothing about the informal ideas of epistemic and ontic interpretations rules out wavefunctions representing both reality and knowledge. The implications of the Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph theorem and many other issues need to be rethought in the light of our analysis.

Original language	English
Number of pages	6
Journal	arXiv
Publication status	Unpublished - 16 Jan 2021

Keywords

quant-ph
physics.hist-ph

Access to Document

Full-text PDF (submitted manuscript)
This is the submitted manuscript (SM). It first appeared online via arXiv at https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.06436
Submitted manuscript, 352 KB

https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.06436

Cite this

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