Kastner, Ruth (2021) Unitary Interactions Do Not Yield Outcomes: Attempting to Model ``Wigner's Friend''. [Preprint]

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Abstract

An experiment by Proietti et al purporting to instantiate the `Wigner's Friend' thought experiment is discussed. It is pointed out that the stated implications of the experiment regarding the alleged irreconcilability of facts attributed to different observers warrant critical review. In particular, violation of a Clauser-Horne-Shimony inequality by the experimental data actually shows that the attribution of measurement outcomes to the ``Friends'' (modeled by internal photons undergoing unitary interactions) violates quantum theory. An elementary but often overlooked result regarding improper mixtures is adduced in support of this assessment. It is further noted that under an assumption of unbroken unitarity, no measurement correlation can ever yield an outcome, since all systems remain in improper mixtures, and attributing a definite but unknown outcome contradicts their composite pure state. It is pointed out that there already exists a solution to this conundrum in the form of an alternative formulation of quantum theory, which accounts for the data showing that no outcomes occurred at the interior entangled photon level and also predicts that outcomes can and do occur at the exterior ``super-observer'' level in this type of experiment.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Kastner, Ruth rkastner@umd.edu
Keywords:	Quantum theory, quantum measurement, Clauser-Horne-Shimony Inequality, EPR correlations, measurement problem, Wigner's Friend
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Depositing User:	Ruth E. Kastner
Date Deposited:	17 May 2021 14:06
Last Modified:	17 May 2021 14:06
Item ID:	19043
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Date:	15 May 2021
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/19043

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• Unitary Interactions Do Not Yield Outcomes: Attempting to Model ``Wigner's Friend''. (deposited 17 May 2021 14:06) [Currently Displayed]
  • Unitary Interactions Do Not Yield Outcomes: Attempting to Model ``Wigner's Friend''. (deposited 26 Jul 2021 03:54)

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