2020/11/23 by Jochen Szangolies, Szangolies, Jochen · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #Philosophy and History of Science #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2011.12716
openalex publication_date 2020/11/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The Frauchiger-Renner argument aims to show that `quantum theory cannot consistently describe the use of itself': in many-party settings where agents are themselves subject to quantum experiments, agents may make predictions that contradict observations. Here, we introduce a simplified setting using only three agents, that is independent of the initial quantum state, thus eliminating in particular any need for entanglement, and furthermore does not need to invoke any final measurement and resulting collapse. Nevertheless, the predictions and observations made by the agents cannot be integrated into a single, consistent account. We propose that the existence of this sort of Rashomon effect, i.e. the impossibility of uniting different perspectives, is due to failing to account for the limits put on the information available about any given system as encapsulated in the notion of an epistemic horizon.