Quantum Ontology Book Review

The subtitle to this annoying and frustrating book is " A Guide to the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics ". This book is targeted at philosophers – those who already have a bias towards Metaphysics, as there is little here of value to physicists – even quantum theorists; it should be avoided by physics students, as it will add to confusion and destroy any faith in a central physics theory before they have been indoctrinated with the view that only a mathematical knowledge is needed for quantum mechanics (QM). The reputation of QM has been greatly exaggerated with very little comparison with the real world – namely the simplest atom in existence: the one electron hydrogen atom. Contrary to its public reputation, QM has never been extended to more complex atoms or molecules. Worse, there are numerous conflicting interpretations of the mathematics of QM. These problems are hidden behind the implicit retention of the metaphysics of classical physics, which have become the de facto world-view of the hidden foundations of modern thinking. This book has failed in its attempts to penetrate this vast deception that is blocking progress in thinking about the micro-world.

The emergence of quantum mechanics in 1920s opened an intense discussion, which continues to these days, about its interpretation. This article aims to contribute to this discussion. First, a definition of ontic (really existing) and epistemic (pertaining to knowledge) states of a quantum system is proposed. Based on these definitions, the key concepts and postulates of quantum mechanics such as quantum state collapse, measurements and system properties, and statistical inference are discussed. An alternative interpretation of degenerate ontic states is presented. The proposed ontological and epistemological framework for quantum mechanics is applied to derive some key properties of quantum probability calculus, to explain Schrödinger's cat paradox, to redefine quantum entanglement, to examine Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox, and to substantiate the principle of local causality. This framework is further compared with the quantum histories approach, quantum information approach, and spontaneous collapse approach.

Open Theology, 2018

Contemporary theology has realized the importance of integrating what we know from the “new physics”-quantum mechanics and relativity theory-into the metaphysical and ontological categories used by theology to consider God, the world, and the God-world relationship. The categories of subjectivity and relationality have risen to prominence in these discussions. Both academic and popular presentations can obscure the vital distinction between what physicists agree on concerning quantum mechanics and the contested interpretation of quantum mechanics, or what quantum mechanics reveals about reality. After (1) summarizing the significant distinction between quantum mechanics per se and the interpretations of quantum mechanics and (2) the agreed upon quantum mechanical experimental procedure and its attendant mathematical formalism, as well as a few of the foremost interpretations, this paper (3) attempts a minimalist culling of some rudimentary but clear ontological principles and categories from what is agreed upon in quantum mechanics, without appeals-tacit or explicit-to one of the many controversial interpretations or to contestable philosophical assumptions and deductions, and these are: experience, subjectivity, relationship, and event. The paper closes by (4) commending one speculative scheme that is especially conducive to developing an interpretation of quantum mechanics consonant with the ontological principles and categories so derived, that of Alfred North Whitehead.

2012

What is quantum mechanics about? The most natural way to interpret quantum mechanics realistically as a theory about the world might seem to be what is called wave function ontology: the view according to which the wave function mathematically represents in a complete way fundamentally all there is in the world. We argue that: • Strictly speaking, it is not possible to interpret quantum theories as theories about the wave function; • Even if the wave function is supplemented by additional non-ontological structures, there are reasons not to take the resulting theory seriously; • All quantum theories should be regarded as theories in which physical objects are constituted by a primitive ontology. The primitive ontology is mathematically represented in the theory by a mathematical entity in three-dimensional space, or space-time.

Quantum theory shows that natural laws cannot be understood as ruling single events since the latter occur randomly. Nevertheless, the physical world shows everywhere order whose source cannot be represented by the latter. It is shown that this order is due to the presence of quantum correlations. Since their e↵ect is to reduce the space of the possible events, they can be considered as causal factors. However, being correlations, they do not display the dynamic character that would be required in order to produce a determinate e↵ect. This is why they need additional local factors in order to concur to the production of a certain event. If not so, this would even imply a violation of Einstein’s locality since correlations could be used by themselves to transmit superluminal signals. Due to such a character of correlation, they can be understood as kind of potential reality needing actual (and local) context to be e↵ective. This allows also a distinction that is classically unknown between locality and globality. Such a distinction solves the important problem of measurement showing that ultimately we have irreversible local processes while globally everything is still reversible. In particular, it is a shift of information that can explain this local phenomenon. In fact, quantum systems are essentially information and also the measurement process is ultimately a dealing with information: information processing (preparing a system), information sharing (coupling a system with an apparatus) and information selection (detecting). State, observable and property appear as equivalence classes of these three procedures, respectively. Finally, the distinction between interpreted and uninterpreted ontology is considered in a Kantian perspective, but it is also shown that the approach supported here is rather a critical realism.

arXiv (Cornell University), 2021

In this paper, epistemology and ontology of quantum states are discussed based on a completely new way of founding quantum theory. The fundamental notions are conceptual variables in the mind of an observer or in the joint minds of a group of observers. These conceptual variables are very often accessible, that is, it is possible to find values of the variables by doing experiments or by making measurements. An important notion is that of maximal accessibility. It is shown here that this new machinery may facilitate the discussion of when a specific quantum state can be given an ontological interpretation, and also the more speculative question whether all states can be given such an interpretation. The discussion here is general, and has implications for the basic problem of how one should look upon information from experiments and measurement, in particularly the question concerning when this information may reflect properties of the real world.

Quanta, 2014

The issue of ontology in quantum mechanics, or equivalently the issue of the reality of the wave function is critically examined within standard quantum theory. It is argued that though no strict ontology is possible within quantum theory, ingenious measurement schemes may still make the notion of a FAPP Ontology i.e ontology for all practical purposes (a phrase coined by John Bell), meaningful and useful.

2017

The meaning of the wave function has been a hot topic of debate since the early days of quantum mechanics. Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in this long-standing question. Is the wave function ontic, directly representing a state of reality, or epistemic, merely representing a state of (incomplete) knowledge, or something else? If the wave function is not ontic, then what, if any, is the underlying state of reality? If the wave function is indeed ontic, then exactly what physical state does it represent? In this book, I aim to make sense of the wave function in quantum mechanics and find the ontological content of the theory. The book can be divided into three parts. The first part addresses the question of the nature of the wave function (Chapters 1-5). After giving a comprehensive and critical review of the competing views of the wave function, I present a new argument for the ontic view in terms of protective measurements. In addition, I also analyze the origin of the wave function by deriving the free Schroedinger equation. The second part analyzes the ontological meaning of the wave function (Chapters 6, 7). I propose a new ontological interpretation of the wave function in terms of random discontinuous motion of particles, and give two main arguments supporting this interpretation. The third part investigates whether the suggested quantum ontology is complete in accounting for our definite experience and whether it needs to be revised in the relativistic domain (Chapters 8, 9).

2017

Modern physics is based on two big pillars, the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics; the first describes the macro-cosmos, the second one the micro-cosmos. With the relativity we have witnessed a revolution of concepts of space and time, with quantum physics very unusual weird and out of any classical logic phenomena have been and are being discovered, with all implications at ontological level in relation to the nature of reality. The features of quantum mechanics are seen as puzzling, but also as a resource to be developed, rather than a problem to be solved. It gave rise not only to interpretative puzzles, but also to new concepts in computational environment and in information theory. In this paper, after a general introduction to quantum physics and its key concepts, I focus the attention on its various interpretations, on cosmological concepts like the creation of the universe, the concept of multiverse, the fine tuning, the intentionality, the quantum computation, the ...

Topoi, 2015

In the first part of the paper I argue that an ontology of events is precise, flexible and general enough so as to cover the three main alternative formulations of quantum mechanics as well as theories advocating an antirealistic view of the wave function. Since these formulations advocate a primitive ontology of entities living in four-dimensional spacetime, they are good candidates to connect that quantum image with the manifest image of the world. However, to the extent that some form of realism about the wave function is also necessary, one needs to endorse also the idea that the wave function refers to some kind of power. In the second part, I discuss some difficulties raised by the recent proposal that in Bohmian mechanics this power is holistically possessed by all the particles in the universe.