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Ontological Models in Quantum Mechanics: What do they tell us?

2014/02/23 by Leslie Ballentine, Ballentine, Leslie
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1402.5689

arxiv created 2014/02/23 · arxiv updated 2014/02/25

Abstract

The consequences of the theorems about ontological models are studied. "Maximally ψ-epistemic" is shown to be equivalent to the conjunction of two other conditions, each of which can be realized in Hilbert spaces of arbitrary dimension, but which cannot occur together for d>2. I argue that current theorems do not invalidate an epistemic interpretation of quantum states. A new condition, called "functionally ψ-epistemic", is introduced, which, were it to be excluded, would signal the exclusion of epistemic interpretations.

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