Quantum Mechanics on Spacetime I: Spacetime State Realism

By David Wallace, Christopher G. Timpson. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 2009

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What ontology does realism about the quantum state suggest? The main extant view in contemporary philosophy of physics is wave-function realism. We elaborate the sense in which wave-function realism does provide an ontological picture, and defend it from certain objections that have been raised against it. However, there are good reasons to be dissatisfied with wave-function realism, as we go on to elaborate. This motivates the development of an opposing picture: what we call spacetime state realism, a view which takes the states associated to spacetime regions as fundamental. This approach enjoys a number of beneficial features, although, unlike wave-function realism, it involves non-separability at the level of fundamental ontology. We investigate the pros and cons of this non-separability, arguing that it is a quite acceptable feature, even one which proves fruitful in the context of relativistic covariance. A companion paper discusses the prospects for combining a spacetime-based ontology with separability, along lines suggested by Deutsch and Hayden. 1 Introduction 2 Prolegomena 3 Wave-function Realism 4 Problems with Wave-function Realism 5 Spacetime State Realism 6 Locality 7 Non-unitary Dynamics on the Spacetime Ontology 8 Relativity and Poincaré Covariance 9 Finding the Appearances 10 Conclusion 1 Introduction 2 Prolegomena 3 Wave-function Realism 4 Problems with Wave-function Realism 5 Spacetime State Realism 6 Locality 7 Non-unitary Dynamics on the Spacetime Ontology 8 Relativity and Poincaré Covariance 9 Finding the Appearances 10 Conclusion

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Physiology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8623e17fb9044c188c752a574459b510825da8cc