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A New Ontological Interpretation of the Wave Function

Gao, Shan (2014) A New Ontological Interpretation of the Wave Function. [Preprint]

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Abstract

In this paper, we propose an ontological interpretation of the wave function in terms of random discontinuous motion of particles. According to this interpretation, the wave function of an N-body quantum system describes the state of random discontinuous motion of N particles, and in particular, the modulus squared of the wave function gives the probability density that the particles appear in every possible group of positions in space. We present three arguments supporting this new interpretation of the wave function. These arguments are mainly based on an analysis of the mass and charge properties of a quantum system. It is realized that the Schroedinger equation, which governs the evolution of a quantum system, contains more information about the system than the wave function of the system, such as the mass and charge properties of the system, which might help understand the ontological meaning of the wave function. Finally, we briefly analyze possible implications of the suggested ontological interpretation of the wave function for the solutions to the measurement problem.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Gao, Shansgao7319@uni.sydney.edu.au
Keywords: wave function; ontology; random discontinuous motion of particles; objective probability; mass and charge properties; Schroedinger equation; measurement problem
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Depositing User: Dr. Shan Gao
Date Deposited: 06 May 2014 12:58
Last Modified: 06 May 2014 12:58
Item ID: 10659
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Date: 6 May 2014
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10659

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