Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2023 APS March Meeting
Volume 68, Number 3
Las Vegas, Nevada (March 5-10)
Virtual (March 20-22); Time Zone: Pacific Time
Session B47: Quantum Algorithms and Complexity
11:30 AM–2:30 PM,
Monday, March 6, 2023
Room: Room 313
Sponsoring
Unit:
DQI
Chair: Nic Ezzell, University of Southern California
Abstract: B47.00013 : Taking Quantum States as Objective Possibilities Seriously
1:54 PM–2:06 PM
Presenter:
Armin Nikkhah Shirazi
(University of Michigan)
Author:
Armin Nikkhah Shirazi
(University of Michigan)
I begin by showing that already axiomatic probability fails to formally distinguish between possibilities and facts, even though it is conceptually a unit measure over possibilities. I propose an axiomatic enrichment which introduces the distinction into Kolmogorov's axiomatization, and explore an analogous mathematical modification of the standard quantum formalism in which Hilbert Space elements are no longer states of physical systems but objective possibilities, each linked to a set of facts we can observe if the possibility is actualized. This modification, which I call the Heisenberg Interpretation, is not testable within quantum mechanics itself, but because it erects a mathematically well-defined boundary between quantum and classical physics, and general relativity in particular, it can be tested by checking for the existence of the boundary via proposed experiments like the BMV effect or by measuring the gravity field of an ultra high energy laser. Finally, I argue that objective possibilities are an overlooked conceptual ingredient critical to all of physics.
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