Abstract
In contrast to the theories of relativity, quantum mechanics is not yet based on a generally accepted conceptual foundation. It is proposed here that the missing principle may be identified through the observation that all knowledge in physics has to be expressed in propositions and that therefore the most elementary system represents the truth value of one proposition, i.e., it carries just one bit of information. Therefore an elementary system can only give a definite result in one specific measurement. The irreducible randomness in other measurements is then a necessary consequence. For composite systems entanglement results if all possible information is exhausted in specifying joint properties of the constituents.
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Notes
- 1.
Here “quantum theory,” “quantum mechanics,” and “quantum physics” are used interchangeably, all in a very broad sense.
- 2.
A first, somewhat implicit, use of the principle was made in an analysis of two-photon entanglement and of quantum teleportation (see Ref. (Zeilinger 1997).
- 3.
The weakness of the theory lies … in the fact, that it leaves time and direction of the elementary process to ``chance.” (translation by A.Z.).
- 4.
Clearly, the state of an elementary particle is also characterized by other quantum numbers, it is in general an elementary system in more than one property. The cases of Hilbert spaces of higher dimension deserve separate analysis. E.g., a three-state system represents 1 trit of information. Here we restrict our analysis to two-state systems.
- 5.
Just to stress our point again: By ``are the same along z,” we mean something like ``Should they be measured along z, they would be found to be identical,” and analogously for propositions about individual systems. This does not imply that the system necessarily ``has” the measured property before the measurement.
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Acknowledgments
I wish to thank D. M. Greenberger, M. A. Horne, and A. Shimony for discussions over many years on the foundations of quantum mechanics.
My initial hesitant confidence in the ideas presented here was strengthened by progress in the analysis of some of their implications done in collaboration with Caslav Brukner. This work was supported by Austrian Science Foundation (FWF), Grant S6503, and by U.S. National Science Foundation Grant PHY 97-22614.
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This paper is dedicated to Daniel M. Greenberger on the occasion of his 65th birthday.
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Zeilinger, A. (2019). A Foundational Principle for Quantum Mechanics. In: Cordero, A. (eds) Philosophers Look at Quantum Mechanics. Synthese Library, vol 406. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15659-6_15
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