2004/05/31 by Louis Marchildon, Louis Marchildon · 34 citations
Computer Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Classical mechanics #Epistemology #Mathematics #Open quantum system #Philosophy #Philosophy of science #Physics #Quantum #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum mechanics #State vector #Theoretical physics #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1023/b:foop.0000044100.95918.b2
published in Foundations of Physics 34(10), 1453-1466 (Springer Science+Business Media) · Clarifications in Sec. 2. To appear in Found. Phys
arxiv created 2004/07/30 · openalex publication_date 2004/10/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The development of quantum information theory has renewed interest in the idea that the state vector does not represent the state of a quantum system, but rather the knowledge or information that we may have on the system. I argue that this epistemic view of states appears to solve foundational problems of quantum mechanics only at the price of being essentially incomplete.