Relational quantum mechanics

Relational Quantum Mechanics

Relational Quantum Mechanics

In this internship report, we present Carlo Rovelli’s relational interpretation of quantum mechanics, focusing on its historical and conceptual roots. A critical analysis of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen argument is then put forward, which suggests that the phenomenon of ‘quantum non-locality’ is an artifact of the orthodox interpretation, and not a physical effect. A speculative discussion of th...

Smallest Relational Mechanics Model of Quantum Cosmology

Relational particle mechanics are models in which there is, overall, no time, position, orientation (nor, sometimes, scale). They are useful for whole-universe modelling the setting for quantum cosmology. This note concerns 3 particles in 1d in shape-scale split variables. The scale part parallels certain Friedmann equations, while in this note the shape part involves functions on the circle. T...

Relational Quantum Mechanics and the Determinacy Problem∗

Quantum mechanics describes certain systems as being in superpositions of their properties, yet every measurement on every system that we are able to perform yields a determinate result. The “orthodox” formulation of the theory builds this in by including a postulate that such superpositions “collapse” at the time of measurement. This strategy fails to really explain why such measurements are d...

Canonical Relational Quantum Mechanics from Information Theory

In this paper we construct a theory of quantum mechanics based on Shannon information theory. We define a few principles regarding information-based frames of reference, including explicitly the concept of information covariance, and show how an ensemble of all possible physical states can be setup on the basis of the accessible information in the local frame of reference. In the next step the ...