In Praise and in Criticism of the Model of Continuous Spontaneous Localization of the Wave-Function

Wechsler, Sofia

doi:10.4236/jqis.2020.104006

“…[21] However, as Wechsler notes, "All these interpretations ignored the well known experimental fact that the reduction of the wave-function occurs in the presence of a macroscopic object and perturbs so many of its particles until its macroscopic state changes." [22] How many irreversible state transitions does a C 60 buckyball undergo during a quantum experiment? Is it a normal object?…”

Section: Local Decoherencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…But the number that get through will be astronomically small. The failures in a quantum experiment are destroyed (see Wechsler [22]).…”

Section: Some Issues With Waves and Composite Objectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of Objective Reality in an Irreversible Friend thought Experiment

Shuler¹

2021

Preprint

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Background: Recently some photon models of a Wigner's friend experiment have led investigators to suggest objective reality does not exist, and to publish non-academic articles with such claims. The public is not equipped to evaluate the severe limitations of these experiments. The separation of Wigner from the experiment and use of only reversible coherent processes for the friend allow operations that are not possible in ordinary reality according to the latest quantum research. Methods: We suggest directly testing the implied claim that objective reality, including incoherent objects with irreversible non-destructive memory, can be held in superposition. We suspect it will fail, but provide for a graduated approach that may discover something about the conditions for superposition collapse. To this end we design a thought experiment to model the objective world, investigating under what conditions experimenters in the same world (ensemble member) will be able to record a result and find it does not appear to change. An observer has a viewing apparatus and a memory apparatus. A second uncorrelated viewer of the same recorded result is employed to obtain objectivity. By hypothesis the uncorrelated second viewer obtains the same view of the measurement record as the first observer. There are not two measurements. This is not an investigation of hidden variables. Results: To model the objective world, incoherent and irreversible processes must be included. To test for superposition, coherence has to be established. These seem to present a contradiction. Conclusions: The thought experiment has suggested new places to look other than size for the origin of objective reality from the quantum world, casts doubt on the Many-Worlds interpretation, and provides a method of testing it.

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“…[19] However, as Wechsler notes, "All these interpretations ignored the well known experimental fact that the reduction of the wave-function occurs in the presence of a macroscopic object and perturbs so many of its particles until its macroscopic state changes." [20] How many irreversible state transitions does a C60 buckyball undergo during a quantum experiment? Is it a normal object?…”

Section: Local Decoherencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…But the number that get through will be astronomically small. The failures in a quantum experiment are destroyed (see Wechsler [20]).…”

Section: Some Issues With Waves and Composite Objectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of Objective Reality in an Irreversible Friend thought Experiment

Shuler¹

2020

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Recently some photon models of a Wigner's friend experiment have led investigators to suggest objective reality does not exist, and to publish non-academic articles with such claims. The public is not equipped to evaluate the severe limitations of these experiments. The separation of Wigner from the experiment and use of only reversible coherent processes for the friend allow operations that are not possible in ordinary reality according to the latest quantum research. Methods: We suggest directly testing the implied claim that objective reality, including incoherent objects with irreversible non-destructive memory, can be held in superposition. We suspect it will fail, but provide for a graduated approach that may discover something about the conditions for superposition collapse. To this end we design a thought experiment to model the objective world, investigating under what conditions experimenters in the same world (ensemble member) will be able to record a result and find it does not appear to change. An observer has a viewing apparatus and a memory apparatus. A second uncorrelated viewer of the same recorded result is employed to obtain objectivity. By hypothesis the uncorrelated second viewer obtains the same view of the measurement record as the first observer. There are not two measurements. This is not an investigation of hidden variables. Results: To model the objective world, incoherent and irreversible processes must be included. To test for superposition, coherence has to be established. These seem to present a contradiction. Conclusions: The thought experiment has suggested new places to look other than size for the origin of objective reality from the quantum world, casts doubt on the Many-Worlds interpretation, and provides a method of testing it.

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“…The CSL model of collapse was successfully applied in [19] to the process in a detector, showing how the localization appears when more and more particles from the detector are involved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Quantum Mechanics <i>Needs</i> the Principle of Wave-Function Collapse—But This Principle Shouldn’t Be <i>Misunderstood</i>

Wechsler¹

2021

JQIS

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The postulate of the collapse of the wave-function stands between the microscopic, quantum world, and the macroscopic world. Because of this intermediate position, the collapse process cannot be examined with the formalism of the quantum mechanics (QM), neither with that of classical mechanics. This fact makes some physicists propose interpretations of QM, which avoid this postulate. However, the common procedure used in that is making assumptions incompatible with the QM formalism. The present work discusses the most popular interpretations. It is shown that because of such assumptions those interpretations fail, i.e. predict for some experiments results which differ from the QM predictions. Despite that, special attention is called to a proposal of S. Gao, the only one which addresses and tries to solve an obvious and major contradiction. A couple of theorems are proved for showing that the collapse postulate is necessary in the QM. Although non-explainable with the quantum formalism, this postulate cannot be denied, otherwise one comes to conclusions which disagree with the QM. It is also proved here that the idea of "collapse at a distance" is problematic especially in relativistic cases, and is a misunderstanding. Namely, in an entanglement of two quantum systems, assuming that the measurement of one of the systems (accompanied by collapse of that system on one of its states) collapses the other systems, too without the second system being measured, which leads to a contradiction.

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In Praise and in Criticism of the Model of Continuous Spontaneous Localization of the Wave-Function

Cited by 9 publications

References 30 publications

Emergence of Objective Reality in an Irreversible Friend thought Experiment

Emergence of Objective Reality in an Irreversible Friend thought Experiment

Emergence of Objective Reality in an Irreversible Friend thought Experiment

The Quantum Mechanics <i>Needs</i> the Principle of Wave-Function Collapse—But This Principle Shouldn’t Be <i>Misunderstood</i>

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In Praise and in Criticism of the Model of Continuous Spontaneous Localization of the Wave-Function

Cited by 9 publications

References 30 publications

Emergence of Objective Reality in an Irreversible Friend thought Experiment

Emergence of Objective Reality in an Irreversible Friend thought Experiment

Emergence of Objective Reality in an Irreversible Friend thought Experiment

The Quantum Mechanics &lt;i&gt;Needs&lt;/i&gt; the Principle of Wave-Function Collapse—But This Principle Shouldn’t Be &lt;i&gt;Misunderstood&lt;/i&gt;

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The Quantum Mechanics <i>Needs</i> the Principle of Wave-Function Collapse—But This Principle Shouldn’t Be <i>Misunderstood</i>