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Full-Text Articles in Physics
What Does ‘(Non)-Absoluteness Of Observed Events’ Mean?, Emily Adlam
What Does ‘(Non)-Absoluteness Of Observed Events’ Mean?, Emily Adlam
Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research
Recently there have emerged an assortment of theorems relating to the ‘absoluteness of emerged events,’ and these results have sometimes been used to argue that quantum mechanics may involve some kind of metaphysically radical non-absoluteness, such as relationalism or perspectivalism. However, in our view a close examination of these theorems fails to convincingly support such possibilities. In this paper we argue that the Wigner’s friend paradox, the theorem of Bong et al and the theorem of Lawrence et al are all best understood as demonstrating that if quantum mechanics is universal, and if certain auxiliary assumptions hold, then the world …
Two Roads To Retrocausality, Emily Adlam
Two Roads To Retrocausality, Emily Adlam
Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research
In recent years the quantum foundations community has seen increasing interest in the possibility of using retrocausality as a route to rejecting the conclusions of Bell’s theorem and restoring locality to quantum physics. On the other hand, it has also been argued that accepting nonlocality leads to a form of retrocausality. In this article we seek to elucidate the relationship between retrocausality and locality. We begin by providing a brief schema of the various ways in which violations of Bell’s inequalities might lead us to consider some form of retrocausality. We then consider some possible motivations for using retrocausality to …
Laws Of Nature As Constraints, Emily Adlam
Laws Of Nature As Constraints, Emily Adlam
Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research
The laws of nature have come a long way since the time of Newton: quantum mechanics and relativity have given us good reasons to take seriously the possibility of laws which may be non-local, atemporal, ‘all-at-once,’ retrocausal, or in some other way not well-suited to the standard dynamical time evolution paradigm. Laws of this kind can be accommodated within a Humean approach to lawhood, but many extant non-Humean approaches face significant challenges when we try to apply them to laws outside the time evolution picture. Thus for proponents of non-Humean approaches to lawhood there is a clear need for a …
Spooky Action At A (Temporal) Distance, Emily Adlam
Spooky Action At A (Temporal) Distance, Emily Adlam
Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research
Since the discovery of Bell’s theorem, the physics community has come to take seriously the possibility that the universe might contain physical processes which are spatially nonlocal, but there has been no such revolution with regard to the possibility of temporally nonlocal processes. In this article, we argue that the assumption of temporal locality is actively limiting progress in the field of quantum foundations. We investigate the origins of the assumption, arguing that it has arisen for historical and pragmatic reasons rather than good scientific ones, then explain why temporal locality is in tension with relativity and review some recent …