Quantum Measurement Problem

A double-slit optical system was used to test the possible role of consciousness in the collapse of the quantum wavefunction. The ratio of the interference pattern's double-slit spectral power to its single-slit spectral power was predicted to decrease when attention was focused toward the double slit as compared to away from it. Each test session consisted of 40 counterbalanced attention-toward and attention-away epochs, where each epoch lasted between 15 and 30 s. Data contributed by 137 people in six experiments, involving a total of 250 test sessions, indicate that on average the spectral ratio decreased as predicted (z=-4:36, p=6·10 -6 ). Another 250 control sessions conducted without observers present tested hardware, software, and analytical procedures for potential artifacts; none were identified (z=0:43, p=0:67). Variables including temperature, vibration, and signal drift were also tested, and no spurious influences were identified. By contrast, factors associated with consciousness, such as meditation experience, electrocortical markers of focused attention, and psychological factors including openness and absorption, significantly correlated in predicted ways with perturbations in the double-slit interference pattern. The results appear to be consistent with a consciousness-related interpretation of the quantum measurement problem. Ó 2012 Physics Essays Publication.

Quantum physicists have made many attempts to solve the quantum measurement problem, but no solution seems to have received widespread acceptance. The time has come for a new approach. In Sense Perception and Reality: A Theory of Perceptual Relativity, Quantum Mechanics and the Observer Dependent Universe and in a new paper The End of Realism I suggest the quantum measurement problem is caused by a failure to understand that each species has its own sensory world and that when we say the wave function collapses and brings a particle into existence we mean the particle is bought into existence in the human sensory world by the combined operation of the human sensory apparatus, particle detectors and the experimental set up. This is similar to the Copenhagen Interpretation suggested by Niels Bohr and others, but the understanding that the collapse of the wave function brings a particle into existence in the human sensory world removes the need for a dividing line between the quantum world and the macro world. The same rules can apply to both worlds and the ideas stated in this paper considerably strengthen the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics.

In this monograph, I develop 1) a new interpretation of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, 2) an interpretation of Kant's philosophy of science in his Critique of the Power of Judgment that is consistent with 1) and 3) a new Kantian interpretation of quantum physics. These interpretations are not independent of each other – together they constitute a consistent interpretation of the First and Third Critiques (and the Critique of Practical Reason, although that is not included in the discussion) that is also consistent with contemporary science. In general, my interpretation of Kant's Critical metaphysics is consistent with special and general relativity as well as quantum physics (quantum field theory and quantum mechanics).
In the first part, I present a weak ontological reading of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason in which I argue that the most viable interpretation of the noumenal realm in this Critique (and also in his Critical philosophy in general) is to understand it as a realm outside Kant's conception of nature (systemic nature governed by mechanism), regulated by the transcendental principle of freedom (as an absolute spontaneous, albeit, effective causality). In this manner this principle of freedom does not merely become logically possible; it becomes conceivable as something that could really exist if the world is perceived in accordance with Kant’s Critical metaphysics.
In the second part, I present a new reading of Kant's philosophy of science in the Critique of the Power of Judgment. I show that Kant's conception of the noumenal realm, now called the supersensible realm, is essential to the concepts that he develops in this part of his philosophy of science. As such this realm should not be ignored; it actually gives a certain advantage to Kant's conceptual framework in the context of the current scientific debate. I argue that Kant argues that at least some products of nature may conceivably be produced non-mechanistically if a supersensible realm, as well as a different kind of effective causality, exist. Such a causality would involve a potentiality that non-extended wholes-and-parts (in the supersensible realm) have to produce material parts and aggregated wholes in nature. As such this causality builds upon the transcendental idea of freedom introduced in the First Critique.
In the third part, I present a new interpretation of quantum physics in accordance with my weak ontological reading of Kant's philosophy of science in the Critique of the Power of Judgement. In this interpretation, the pre-measurement quantum and classical ‘worlds’ are regarded as two distinct modes of existence, which respectively ground two heterogeneous kinds of effective causality, namely deterministic causality and spontaneous causality, which is taken as manifest in the reduction of the wave packet. In the Third Critique this last kind of causality is conceptualized as a spontaneous potentiality that allows non-extended wholes-and-parts (now taken as superpositions of states) to produce material parts and aggregated wholes (now taken as observable outcomes) in nature. I relate this spontaneous potentiality to the Bohm potential. A solution to the well-known measurement problem is developed and some features in quantum mechanics, for example non-separability and non-locality, are discussed in this context.

دراین مقاله تعبیر بدیلی، تحت عنوان سیگما، برای بردار حالت مکانیک کوانتوم پیشنهاد می‌شود که با در نظر گرفتن اجزاء زمانی برای اشیاء (چهاربعدگرایی)، مدلی برای حل مسألۀ اندازه‌گیری عرضه می‌کند. ظرفیت و قدرت تبیینی این مدل را برای حل سه مسألۀ اندازه‌گیری، یعنی مسألۀ نتیجه، مسألۀ آمار و مسألۀ اثر مورد بررسی قرار خواهیم داد و به‌اجمال استدلال می‌کنیم که تعبیر سیگما حداقل به‌‌همان اندازۀ تعابیر دیگر معقول است

The Bohr Einstein debate on the meaning of quantum physics involved Einstein inventing a series of thought experiments to challenge the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum physics. Einstein disliked many aspects of the Copenhagen Interpretation especially its idea of an observer dependent universe. Bohr was able to answer all Einstein’s objections to the Copenhagen Interpretation and so is usually considered as winning the debate. However the debate has continued into the present time as many scientists have been unable to accept the idea of an observer dependent universe and many alternatives to the Copenhagen Interpretation have been proposed. However none of the alternatives has won general acceptance because all have problems that make them implausible or impossible.

Is there a world out there when nobody is looking? This is a question that medieval Buddhist scholiasts struggled with over many centuries, giving rise to a variety of competing positions. In this article, I identify a loop that runs through and structures seemingly antithetical positions—some realist, some antirealist—in these debates. My claim is that the loop is a feature of our lifeworld, and thus any serious reflection on the mind/world relationship is bound to get entangled in it. Even modern physics has come up against it, such that rival positions advanced by quantum theorists are structurally analogous to positions proffered in medieval Buddhist writings. I conclude by turning to the Chan Buddhist tradition, which is often mischaracterized as hostile to philosophical analysis. Chan is among the few Buddhist schools that recognize, foreground, and celebrate the manner in which mind and world enfold each other. As such, this paper foregrounds the decidedly philosophical insights of the Chan tradition.

Cognitive psychology researchers have developed techniques that can detect the effects subliminal priming has on human reaction time. These methods can be used to bring the Von Neumann/Wigner Consciousness Causes Collapse interpretation of quantum mechanics to a falsifiable empirical test. An experimental condition can be constructed that, according to this interpretation, would produce an unconsciousness semantic prime existing in a state of superposition. By measuring the effects that this uncollapsed and unconscious prime has on subjects’ reaction time to semantically congruent stimuli as compared to control conditions researchers should be able to determine whether or not it is possible to produce a wave function collapse prior to any interaction with consciousness. This brief paper will endeavor to present the design of such an experiment. The potential findings may have far reaching implications regarding the notion of objective realism.

The idea at the core of the New Mechanical account of explanation can be summarized in the claim that explaining means showing ‘how things work’. This simple motto hints at three basic features of Mechanistic Explanation (ME): ME is an explanation-how, that implies the description of the processes underlying the phenomenon to be explained and of the entities that engage in such processes. These three elements trace a fundamental contrast with the view inherited from Hume and later from strict logical empiricism (see Creath 2017), focused on epistemic and formal features of science and according to which issues concerning the kind of entities and processes that lie within a theory’s domain are extraneous to science and belong instead to ontology or metaphysics. Philosophers belonging to the new mechanical philosophy believe that the received view of scientific explanation (Hempel 2001), pivoting on the notion of law of nature, overshadows this insight. Since its origin in the 17th century, mechanical philosophy aimed to explain natural phenomena by reducing them to mechanisms. Traditional attempts to define the concept of mechanism involved the identification of a limited set of fundamental elements as, for instance, contact action, action at a distance, inertial motion (see e.g. Hesse 2005), and, more recently, transmission of a mark, or of a conserved quantity (see Frisch, this volume). The new mechanical philosophy rejects this austere characterization of mechanisms and mechanistic explanation and aim at providing a novel, philosophically rigorous explication of the concept of mechanism and of its role in scientific explanation and practice. ME has been adopted with profit in philosophy of special sciences (for instance in biomedical sciences, e.g. in the explanation of chemical transmission at synapses ((Machamer, Darden and Craver 2000), MDC henceforth); but also in social sciences, e.g. the three kinds of social mechanisms in Coleman’s analysis of Max Weber’s account of the role of the Protestant ethic in the growth of capitalism (Hedström and Swedberg 1998)), where exceptionless regularities are rarely ever found. In physics, it is generally possible to formulate explanations in law-based form, with the result that the plurality of explanatory forms might be overlooked. This should not come as a surprise, given that physics was the main inspiration for logical empiricists, and, in particular, Newtonian physics was a template for Hempel’s formulation of the covering law model. However, this situation is unfortunate, since, we will argue, knowing how things work is often part of the explanation of physical phenomena. In this chapter, we provide an introduction to the basic features of ME, with specific focus on its application to physics (section 1). The main part of the chapter is devoted to the defence of two theses: on the one hand, some domains of physics are not compatible with mechanistic reasoning and explanation (section 2); on the other hand, a comprehensive account of explanation in physics can’t dispense with ME (section 3).

This groundbreaking work is bringing together quantum physicists and philosophers in an unprecedented way... Making a tabula rasa from all its historical and heuristical developments, it presents Quantum Field Theory in its modern form in a exquisitely simple mathematical apparatus, nonetheless completely well-defined and fully functional... Focusing on the underlying ontology of Quantum Field Theory, which turns out to be very similar to the classical metaphysics of Spinoza's Ethics, it provides a solid fundament for any philosophical discussion of its interpretation.
This book ought to become compulsory reading not only for all philosophers interested by the metaphysical and ethical implications of Quantum Physics, but also for all physicists working on the foundations of Physics, on Quantum Measurement and on Decoherence Theory.

It has been usually assumed that under very general and common conditions the outcome of a collision experiment does not depend on the properties of the projectiles' beam [1]. However, recent evidence in ionization experiments [2] points to a breakdown of these conditions and a dependence of the collision outcome on the incident beam's coherence properties. These facts open the question of how is the result of a collision affected by the preparation of the projectiles' beam.
This thesis presents a study of this problem analyzing inconsistencies of the standard stationary formulation of the scattering theory [1], and how these can affect the interpretation of projectile's coherence effects in ion impact collision experiments. To get this done, the framework of the De Broglie-Bohm formulation [3, 4] was used, which has recently recovered its lost mommentum due to its ability to deal with novel weak measurement results [5, 6]. In addition, this formulation is an advantageous option to describe a number of physical problems of current interest, such as the method of quantum trajectories developed by Robert E. Wyatt [7], or the study of effects such as the appearance of vortices in multichannel processes [8].

A new 'wave-particle non-dualistic interpretation at a single-quantum level' is presented by showing the physical nature of Schrödinger's wave function as an 'in-stantaneous resonant spatial mode' to which a particle's motion is confined. The initial phase associated with a state vector is identified to be related to a particular position eigenstate of the particle and hence, the equality of quantum mechanical time to classical time is obtained; this equality automatically explains the emergence of classical world from the underlying quantum world. Derivation of the Born rule as a limiting case of the relative frequency of detection is provided for the first time, which automatically resolves the measurement problem. Also, the Born rule derivation is supplemented with a geometrical interpretation. 'What's really going on' in Young's double-slit and Wheeler's delayed-choice experiments is explained at a single-quantum level. Also, an interference experiment is proposed to verify the correctness of the non-dualistic interpretation.

A double-slit optical system was used to test the possible role of consciousness in the collapse of the quantum wavefunction. The ratio of the interference pattern's double-slit spectral power to its single-slit spectral power was predicted to decrease when attention was focused toward the double slit as compared to away from it. Each test session consisted of 40 counterbalanced attention-toward and attention-away epochs, where each epoch lasted between 15 and 30 s. Data contributed by 137 people in six experiments, involving a total of 250 test sessions, indicate that on average the spectral ratio decreased as predicted (z=-4:36, p=6·10 -6 ). Another 250 control sessions conducted without observers present tested hardware, software, and analytical procedures for potential artifacts; none were identified (z=0:43, p=0:67). Variables including temperature, vibration, and signal drift were also tested, and no spurious influences were identified. By contrast, factors associated with consciousness, such as meditation experience, electrocortical markers of focused attention, and psychological factors including openness and absorption, significantly correlated in predicted ways with perturbations in the double-slit interference pattern. The results appear to be consistent with a consciousness-related interpretation of the quantum measurement problem. Ó 2012 Physics Essays Publication.

A new 'wave-particle non-dualistic interpretation at a single-quantum level' is presented by showing the physical nature of Schrödinger's wavefunction as an 'instantaneous resonant spatial mode' to which a particle's motion is confined. The initial phase associated with a state vector is identified as related to a particular eigenstate of an observable and hence, the Born rule is derived as a limiting case of the relative frequency of detection along with an augmentation of a geometrical interpretation. This derivation automatically resolves the measurement problem. The Copenhagen interpretation is shown to be the statistical average of the non-dualistic interpretation. The position eigenvalues of a moving particle's eigenstate lie on a classical path of least action-resulting in the equality of quantum mechanical and classical times. This equality reveals the emergence of classical world from the underlying quantum world. "What's really happening?" in Young's double-slit experiment is explained at a single-quantum level. An interference experiment is proposed to verify the instantaneous nature of the wavefunction.

О КОНТЕКСТУАЛЬНОЙ РЕАЛЬНОСТИ КВАНТОВЫХ ОБЪЕКТОВ
В рамках контекстуального реализма применительно к философии физики мы делаем акцент на правильном понимании концепта физической реальности, на необходимости принимать во внимание категориальное различие между идеальным и реальным и на зависимости онтологии физической реальности от контекста. Проблема теоретического доступа к физической реальности, или проблема «провала» между физической теорией и реальностью (применением теории), есть псевдопроблема. Это инстанциация витгенштейновской проблемы следования правилу. В частности, псевдопроблемой является проблема измерения в квантовой механике. Дуализм квантового наблюдателя и наблюдаемой системы отвергается. В то же время между ними сохраняется различие. Это различие, однако, не субстанциальное, а категориальное и зависит от точки зрения. Контекстуальный реализм позволяет объяснить квантовые корреляции причинным и локальным образом как корреляции в контексте.

Ключевые слова: контекстуальный реализм; контекстуальная онтология; проблема доступа; проблема следования правилу; квантовая механика; квантовая проблема измерения; квантовая корреляция

I.E. Pris
ON CONTEXTUAL REALITY OF QUANTUM OBJECTS Within the contextual realism in respect to the philosophy of physics, we focus on a correct understanding of the concept of physical reality, the necessity of taking into account a categorical distinction between the ideal and the real, and the context dependence of ontology of physical reality. The problem of theoretical access to physical reality, or the problem of a "gap" between a physical theory and reality (i.e. theory application), is a pseudo-problem. This is an instantiation of the Witt-gensteinian rule-following problem. In particular, the quantum "measurement problem" is a pseudo-problem. The dualism of the quantum observer and the observed system is rejected. At the same time, there is a difference between them. However, this difference is not substantial, but categorical, and depends on a point of view. The contextual realism makes it possible to explain quantum correlations causally and locally as correlations in the context.

Abstract: Some observations are presented starting from the classical and well-known article by Vladimir Fock “Quantum Physics and Philosophical Problems”, published in 1971. In this article, which crowns and summarizes for Western readers a long and complicated reflection on the foundations of quantum mechanics (QM), Fock illustrates his “minimal” interpretation of this theory. By minimal we mean that it only uses concepts related to the operational aspects of the measurement procedures, avoiding any mention to definite quantum onthologies (Bell’s beables). It is argued that, by taking into account the
time reversal invariance of the microscopic processes and introducing the notion of irreversibility in an appropriate manner, Fock’s description becomes an anticipation of the
“transaction” notion introduced by Cramer a decade later. So, the concept of “collapse” gets rid of its features of a QM “freak” postulate to become a new way to look at the elementary quantum processes.
Keywords: Wavefunction Collapse; Fock Quantum Measurement; Transactional
Interpretation of QM; Observer in Quantum System Theor

Quantum physicists have made many attempts to solve the quantum measurement problem, but no solution seems to have received widespread acceptance. The time has come for a new approach. In Sense Perception and Reality: A Theory of Perceptual Relativity, Quantum Mechanics and the Observer Dependent Universe I suggest the quantum measurement problem is caused by a failure to understand that each species has its own sensory world and that when we say the wave function collapses and brings a particle into existence we mean the particle is brought into existence in the human sensory world by the combined operation of the human sensory apparatus, particle detectors and the experimental set up. This is similar to the Copenhagen Interpretation suggested by Niels Bohr and others, but the understanding that the collapse of the wave function brings a particle into existence in the human sensory world removes the need for a dividing line between the quantum world and the macro world. The same rules can apply to both worlds and the ideas stated in this paper considerably strengthen the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Developing Planck scale physics requires addressing problem of time, quantum reduction, determinism and continuum limit. In this article on the already known foundations of quantum mechanics, a set of proposals of dynamics is built on fully constrained discrete models: 1) Self-Evolution-Flow of time in the phase space in a single point system, 2) Local Measurement by Local Reduction through quantum diffusion theory, quantum diffusion equation is rederived with different assumptions, 3) Quantum Evolution of a MultiPoint Discrete Manifold of systems through a foliation chosen dynamically, and 4) Continuum Limit, and Determinism are enforced by adding terms and averaging to the action. The proposals are applied to the various physical scenarios such as: 1) Minisuperspace reduced cosmology of isotropic and homogenous universe with scalar field, 2) Expanding universe with perturbation, and 3) Newtonian universe. Ways to experimentally test the theory is discussed. This article is a further revision of its previous revision.

The aim of this essay is to distinguish and analyze several difficulties confronting attempts to reconcile the fundamental quantum mechanical dynamics with Born's rule. It is shown that many of the proposed accounts of measurement fail at least one of the problems. In particular, only collapse theories and hidden variables theories have a chance of succeeding, and, of the latter, the modal interpretations fail. Any real solution demands new physics.

How would an electron be able to differentiate between incident photons of varying energy (frequency) and respond accordingly? By what method or means it measures the frequency of an incident photon? Decide if it's above the threshold frequency of the metal, and then escape the metal surface with calculative amount of kinetic energy? <br>Do we have answers to these questions?

In this paper I give a major update of quantum gravity framework project. The heuristic conceptual framework proposed in previous versions is expanded to include structure formation and consciousness in the universe. A Path Integral version of decoherence in curved space-time is introduced as major update. Then we discuss the philosophical insights into structure formation in the universe and consciousness. We introduce various mathematical concepts to describe structure formation in the universe and consciousness.

A double-slit optical system was used to test the possible role of consciousness in the collapse of the quantum wavefunction. The ratio of the interference pattern's double-slit spectral power to its single-slit spectral power was predicted to decrease when attention was focused toward the double slit as compared to away from it. Each test session consisted of 40 counterbalanced attention-toward and attention-away epochs, where each epoch lasted between 15 and 30 s. Data contributed by 137 people in six experiments, involving a total of 250 test sessions, indicate that on average the spectral ratio decreased as predicted (z=-4:36, p=6·10 -6 ). Another 250 control sessions conducted without observers present tested hardware, software, and analytical procedures for potential artifacts; none were identified (z=0:43, p=0:67). Variables including temperature, vibration, and signal drift were also tested, and no spurious influences were identified. By contrast, factors associated with consciousness, such as meditation experience, electrocortical markers of focused attention, and psychological factors including openness and absorption, significantly correlated in predicted ways with perturbations in the double-slit interference pattern. The results appear to be consistent with a consciousness-related interpretation of the quantum measurement problem. Ó 2012 Physics Essays Publication.

In this slides I have tried to define secret sharing mathematically and discussed the classical secret sharing scheme named (k,n) threshold scheme given by Adi Shamir (Commun. ACM 22, 612) in 1979 and in continuation the QSS scheme was prsented here which was given by Hilery et. al. ( Phys. Rev. A 59, 1829) in 1999.

By what means or method does any charged particle, (e.g. proton or electron) measure the distance between itself and any other charged particle? How does it always gauges the distance so precisely?How does an electron or proton measure its own charge amount? By what means they are able to do so? Are they self-aware?By what method it measures the charge quantity of any charged particle placed in its vicinity? How does it differentiate between the nature of that particle, whether it is negatively charged or positively charged? And after all this data collection by any fundamental particle, it applies the needful force?We will need to defend and justify our reasoning if we stand for or against the argument.

This dissertation is a phenomenological investigation of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. The primary subject matter for description and analysis is scientific instruments and their use in experiments which elicit the measurement problem. A methodological critique is mounted against the ontological commitments taken for granted in the canonical interpretations of quantum theory and the scientific activity of measurement as the necessary interface between theoretical interest and perceptual results. I argue that an aesthetic dimension of reality functions as aproto-scientific establishment of sense-making that constantly operates to set integratively all other cognitively neat determinations, including scientifically rendered objects that are intrinsically non-visualizable. The way in which data "key in" to the original and originative register of the sensible in observation is clarified by examining prostheses, measuring apparatuses and instruments that are sense-conveying and -integrative with the human sensorium. Experiments, technology and instrumentation are examined in order to understand how knowing and that which is known is bonded by praxis-aisthesis. Quantum measurement is a praxic-dynamie activity and homologically structured and structur ing functional engagement in terms of instantiation, quantifiability, and spatiotemporal differentiation. The distinctions between a beauty-aesthetic and praxis-aisthesis are delineated. It is argued that a beauty-aesthetic is a construal of the economic dimension of scientific objects and work, and is not the primary manner in which the aesthetic dimension is disclosed. The economic dimension of abstractions reduces to an austere aesthetic of calculative economy. Nature itself, however, is not stingy; it is intrinsically capacious, extravagant, full of surprise, nuance, ambiguity and allusiveness. The capaciousness of Nature and the way in which we are integratively set within Nature in a materiality-phenomenality correlation discloses Nature's constituent potential, a condition more primitive than causal interplay. Finally, the relation between a physical mechanism or process and its functional mathematical representation is clarified. No physical mechanism or process accounts for the empirical effects of measurement outcomes in some quantum mechanical experiments. Within the milieu of ordinary perceptual experience, complete with its horizonal structure of spatiality and temporality, something uncaused is encountered which resists full determination in terms of mathematical representation. Keywords: Quantum Mechanics, Measurement Problem, Phenomenology, Prosthesis, Aesthetic

How does an electron measure the frequency of an incident photon during photoelectric phenomenon? Decide if it's above the threshold frequency of the metal? And then escape the metal surface? Or for that matter if we discuss upon electromagnetism, how does a proton (or electron) measure the charge quantity of any charged particle placed in its vicinity? And know the nature of that particle, i.e. if it's negatively or positively charged? By what means or method it measures the distance between itself and that charged particle? And how does it know its own charge amount? Distance perception (measurement) in space is a striking property of any elementary particle. Even human beings, the most sentient beings on planet cannot perceive or measure distance in space accurately. Measurement of frequency of an incident photon (by outermost electrons of metal) requires intense pondering. How are we going to explain and justify their (electrons, protons) undefended and expressive proper...

GRW theory postulates a stochastic mechanism assuring that every so often the wave function of a quantum system is 'hit', which leaves it in a localised state. How are we to interpret the probabilities built into this mechanism? GRW theory is a firmly realist proposal and it is therefore clear that these probabilities are objective probabilities (i.e. chances). A discussion of the major theories of chance leads us to the conclusion that GRW probabilities can be understood only as either single case propensities or Humean objective chances. Although single case propensities have some intuitive appeal in the context of GRW theory, on balance it seems that Humean objective chances are preferable on conceptual grounds.

This paper proposes a resolution of the delayed-choice paradox of the Conventional Theory of quantum mechanics, where a particle seems to know what will happen in the future, and changes its present behavior accordingly. A comparison of the Conventional Theory with an Advanced Theory and a Symmetrical Theory of the same delayed-choice experiment suggests that the apparent paradox is caused by an incorrect assumption about the interaction of a wavefunction with a beam-splitter. Once this assumption is corrected, there is no delayed-choice paradox in any of the three theories.

A significant lacuna for phenomenological investigation of the natural sciences emerged from early analyses articulated on the theme of the mathematization of nature. This paper argues that one way to account for the suasiveness of the scientific outlook is by systematic attention to the aesthetic dimension of human experience and reality. I offer a preliminary delineation of the features of a phenomenological thematic of aesthesis as a disclosive dimension of the world, aesthetic processes and validity criteria, and the human activity of imaginativity by which aesthetic-scientific signs of validity prevail even when they contravene theoretical prediction or computational correctness.

Quantum mechanics is a field that needs a new kind of philosophical investigation. The measurement problem in quantum mechanics has three features that lend themselves to a phenomenological approach: (1) ‘measurements’ involve the problem of human subjectivity because they are something we make; (2) interpretations of the problem ultimately appeal to a fundamentally bifurcated world with “gaps” in its conceptualization; (3) the measurement problem is fundamentally a problem of perception. Phenomenology has, prima facie, much to offer in an analysis of these features. This paper proposes some initial theses and clarifications for a naturalized phenomenology of quantum physics.

In this paper, I discuss the possible relations between Fritz London's account of the status of the observer in quantum physics and transcendental phenomenology. Firstly, I discuss Steven French's interpretation of London's thesis as a phenomenological account of the status of the observer, along with the objections Otávio Bueno has brought forward. Secondly, refusing in part both French's and Bueno's theses for several reasons, I propose another way of reading London's thesis in the framework of transcendental phenom-enology. Namely, I put London's account of the observer against the backdrop of Husserl's analyses of the objectifying acts and objectual constitution. Finally, I end this article with some criticisms of what seems to me the ontological indigency of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics, to which "spirit" London also belongs.

Possible solution of the Schrödinger's cat paradox is considered.We pointed out that: the collapsed state of the cat always shows definite and predictable measurement outcomes even if Schrödinger's cat consists of a superposition: cat = livecat + deathcat

Merleau-Ponty’s radical reflection conceptualizes the transcendental and the empirical as intertwined, emerging only via an écart. I advance this concept of transcendental-empirical intertwining/écart by studying the problem of measurement in science, in both general and quantum mechanical contexts. Section one analyses measurement, focusing on issues of temporality, to show how measurement entails a transcendental that intertwines/diverges with the empirical. Section two briefly interprets this result via Merleau-Ponty’s concept of depth, showing how measurement reveals temporality as not being an already given ground guaranteeing the transcendental in advance: temporality is instead ‘deep’, itself involving an écart of transcendental and empirical operations.

If Alice and Bob start out with an entangled state |Ψ AB , Bob may update his state to |ϕ B either by performing a suitable measurement himself, or by receiving the information that a measurement by Alice has steered that state. While Bob's update on his state is identical, his update on Alice's state differs: if Bob has performed the measurement, he has steered the state |χ←(ϕ) A of Alice; if Alice has made the measurement, to steer |ϕ B on Bob she must have found a different state |χ→(ϕ) A. Based on this observation, a consequence of the well-known "Hardy's ladder", we show that information from direct measurement must trump inference from steering. The erroneous belief that both paths should lead to identical conclusions can be traced to the usual prejudice that measurements should reveal a pre-existing state of affairs. We also prove a technical result on Hardy's ladder: the minimum overlap between the steered and the steering state is 2 √ p0pn−1/(p0 + pn−1), where p0 and pn−1 are the smallest (non-zero) and the largest Schmidt coefficients of |Ψ AB .

The quantum formalism can be completed by assuming that a density operator can also represent a pure state. An 'extended Bloch representation' (EBR) then results, in which not only states, but also the measurement-interactions can be represented. The Born rule is obtained as an expression of the subjective lack of knowledge about the measurement-interaction that is each time actualized. Entanglement can also be consistently described in the EBR, as it remains compatible with the principle according to which a composite entity exists only if its components also exist, and therefore are in pure states.

A generalized Bloch sphere, in which the states of a quantum entity of arbitrary dimension are geometrically represented, is investigated and further extended, to also incorporate the measurements. This extended representation constitutes a general solution to the measurement problem, inasmuch it allows to derive the Born rule as an average over hidden-variables, describing not the state of the quantum entity, but its interaction with the measuring system. According to this modelization, a quantum measurement is to be understood, in general, as a tripartite process, formed by an initial deterministic decoherence-like process, a subsequent indeterministic collapse-like process, and a final deterministic purification-like process. We also show that quantum probabilities can be generally interpreted as the probabilities of a first-order non-classical theory, describing situations of maximal lack of knowledge regarding the process of actualization of potential interactions, during a measurement.

We present a method for measuring quantum states encoded in temporal modes of photons. The basis for the multilevel quantum states is defined based on modes propagating in a dispersive medium, which is a fiber in this case. The propagation and time-resolved single photon detection allows us to define a positive-operator valued measurement (POVM). The POVM depends on the amount of dispersion and the characteristics of a detector. This framework is numerically tested by performing quantum state tomography on a large number of states for a set of realistic experimental settings. Finally, the average fidelity between the expected and reconstructed states for qubits and qutrits is computed.

Some observations are presented starting with the well-known article by Vladimir Fock "Quantum Physics and Philosophical Problems", published in 1971. In this article, which summarizes for Western readers a long and complicated reflection of the foundations of quantum mechanics (QM), Fock illustrates his "minimal" interpretation of this theory. By minimal, we mean that it only uses concepts related to the operational aspects of the measurement procedures, avoiding any mention of definite quantum ontologies (Bell's beables). It is argued that, by taking into account the time reversal invariance of the microscopic processes and introducing the notion of irreversibility in an appropriate manner, Fock's description becomes an anticipation of the "transaction" notion introduced by Cramer a decade later. So, the concept of "collapse" does retain the features of a QM "freak" postulate to become a new way to look at the elementary quantum processes.