This is a list of this week’s papers on quantum foundations published in various journals or uploaded to preprint servers such as arxiv.org and PhilSci Archive. de Sitter-invariant special relativity and the dark energy problem. (arXiv:1704.02120v2 [gr-qc] UPDATED) gr-qc updates on arXiv.org on 2017-4-15 1:11am GMT Authors: A. Araujo, D. F. Lopez, J. G. Pereira The replacement of the Poincar\’e-invariant Einstein special relativity… Read more →
Quantum detection of wormholes. (arXiv:1702.01720v2 [quant-ph] UPDATED) gr-qc updates on arXiv.org on 2017-4-08 12:56am GMT Authors: Carlos Sabín We show how to use quantum metrology to detect a wormhole. A coherent state of the electromagnetic field experiences a phase shift with a slight dependence on the throat radius of a possible distant wormhole. We show that this tiny correction is, in… Read more →
The Effectiveness of Mathematics in Physics of the Unknown Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited. on 2017-3-31 6:18pm GMT Grinbaum, Alexei (2017) The Effectiveness of Mathematics in Physics of the Unknown. [Preprint] On the Choice of Algebra for Quantization Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited. on 2017-3-31 6:16pm GMT Feintzeig, Benjamin H. (2017) On the Choice of Algebra… Read more →
Per Östborn (Lund University, Sweden) We derive the Hilbert space formalism of quantum mechanics from epistemic principles. A key assumption is that a physical theory that relies on entities or distinctions that are unknowable in principle gives rise to wrong predictions. An epistemic formalism is developed, where concepts like individual and collective knowledge are used, and knowledge may be actual… Read more →
Classical Branch Structure from Spatial Redundancy in a Many-Body Wave Function PRL: General Physics: Statistical and Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Information, etc. on 2017-3-24 2:00pm GMT Author(s): C. Jess Riedel When the wave function of a large quantum system unitarily evolves away from a low-entropy initial state, there is strong circumstantial evidence it develops “branches”: a decomposition into orthogonal components that… Read more →
Quantum Probabilities as Behavioral Probabilities. (arXiv:1703.05691v1 [q-bio.NC]) quant-ph updates on arXiv.org on 2017-3-18 9:36am GMT Authors: V.I. Yukalov, D. Sornette We demonstrate that behavioral probabilities of human decision makers share many common features with quantum probabilities. This does not imply that humans are some quantum objects, but just shows that the mathematics of quantum theory is applicable to the description of human… Read more →
The unexpected resurgence of Weyl geometry in late 20-th century physics. (arXiv:1703.03187v1 [math.HO]) gr-qc updates on arXiv.org on 2017-3-11 7:48am GMT Authors: Erhard Scholz Weyl’s original scale geometry of 1918 (“purely infinitesimal geometry”) was withdrawn by its author from physical theorizing in the early 1920s. It had a comeback in the last third of the 20th century in different contexts: scalar… Read more →
Tom Campbell, Houman Owhadiy, Joe Sauvageauz, David Watkinson Can the hypothesis that reality is a simulation be tested? We investigate this question based on the assumption that if the system performing the simulation is fi nite (i.e. has limited resources), then to achieve low computational complexity, such a system would, as in a video game, render content (reality) only at the moment that information… Read more →
Reversible time travel with freedom of choice. (arXiv:1703.00779v1 [gr-qc]) quant-ph updates on arXiv.org on 2017-3-04 8:42am GMT Authors: Ämin Baumeler, Fabio Costa, Timothy C. Ralph, Stefan Wolf, Magdalena Zych General relativity predicts the existence of closed time-like curves, along which a material object could travel back in time and interact with its past self. The natural question is whether this possibility leads to inconsistencies: Could… Read more →
Jean Bricmont (IRMP, Universite catholique de Louvain) The goal of this paper is to explain how the views of Albert Einstein, John Bell and others, about nonlocality and the conceptual issues raised by quantum mechanics, have been rather systematically misunderstood by the majority of physicists. Full text
Would Superluminal Influences Violate the Principle of Relativity ? Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited. on 2017-2-25 8:57pm GMT Peacock, Kent A. (2014) Would Superluminal Influences Violate the Principle of Relativity ? [Published Article or Volume] The Manipulability Account of Causation Applied to Typical Physical Systems Philsci-Archive: No conditions. Results ordered -Date Deposited. on 2017-2-25 8:57pm GMT Vervoort, Louis… Read more →
