On the common structure of Bohmian mechanics and the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber theory

Valia Allori; Sheldon Goldstein; Roderich Tumulka; Nino Zangh

doi:10.1093/bjps/axn012

On the common structure of Bohmian mechanics and the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber theory

Valia Allori
, Sheldon Goldstein
, Roderich Tumulka
, Nino Zangh

School of Arts and Sciences, Mathematics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

199 Scopus citations

Abstract

Bohmian mechanics and the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber theory provide opposite resolutions of the quantum measurement problem: the former postulates additional variables (the particle positions) besides the wave function, whereas the latter implements spontaneous collapses of the wave function by a nonlinear and stochastic modification of Schrödinger's equation. Still, both theories, when understood appropriately, share the following structure: They are ultimately not about wave functions but about 'matter' moving in space, represented by either particle trajectories, fields on space-time, or a discrete set of space-time points. The role of the wave function then is to govern the motion of the matter.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	353-389
Number of pages	37
Journal	British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
Volume	59
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axn012
State	Published - Sep 2008

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

History
Philosophy
History and Philosophy of Science

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10.1093/bjps/axn012

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title = "On the common structure of Bohmian mechanics and the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber theory",

abstract = "Bohmian mechanics and the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber theory provide opposite resolutions of the quantum measurement problem: the former postulates additional variables (the particle positions) besides the wave function, whereas the latter implements spontaneous collapses of the wave function by a nonlinear and stochastic modification of Schr{\"o}dinger's equation. Still, both theories, when understood appropriately, share the following structure: They are ultimately not about wave functions but about 'matter' moving in space, represented by either particle trajectories, fields on space-time, or a discrete set of space-time points. The role of the wave function then is to govern the motion of the matter.",

author = "Valia Allori and Sheldon Goldstein and Roderich Tumulka and Nino Zangh",

note = "Funding Information: We thank Detlef D{\"u}rr, Federico Laudisa and Mauro Dorato for helpful comments. S. Goldstein was supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0504504. N. Zangh{\`i}was supported in part by INFN.",

year = "2008",

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doi = "10.1093/bjps/axn012",

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AU - Allori, Valia

AU - Goldstein, Sheldon

AU - Tumulka, Roderich

AU - Zangh, Nino

N1 - Funding Information: We thank Detlef Dürr, Federico Laudisa and Mauro Dorato for helpful comments. S. Goldstein was supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0504504. N. Zanghìwas supported in part by INFN.

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N2 - Bohmian mechanics and the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber theory provide opposite resolutions of the quantum measurement problem: the former postulates additional variables (the particle positions) besides the wave function, whereas the latter implements spontaneous collapses of the wave function by a nonlinear and stochastic modification of Schrödinger's equation. Still, both theories, when understood appropriately, share the following structure: They are ultimately not about wave functions but about 'matter' moving in space, represented by either particle trajectories, fields on space-time, or a discrete set of space-time points. The role of the wave function then is to govern the motion of the matter.

AB - Bohmian mechanics and the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber theory provide opposite resolutions of the quantum measurement problem: the former postulates additional variables (the particle positions) besides the wave function, whereas the latter implements spontaneous collapses of the wave function by a nonlinear and stochastic modification of Schrödinger's equation. Still, both theories, when understood appropriately, share the following structure: They are ultimately not about wave functions but about 'matter' moving in space, represented by either particle trajectories, fields on space-time, or a discrete set of space-time points. The role of the wave function then is to govern the motion of the matter.

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On the common structure of Bohmian mechanics and the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber theory

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