Barrett, Jeffrey A. (2011) Wigner's Friend and Bell's Field Beables. [Preprint]

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Abstract

A field-theoretic version of Wigner's friend (1961) illustrates how the quantum measurement problem arises for field theory. Similarly, considering space like separate measurements of entangled fields by observers akin to Wigner's friend shows the sense in which relativistic constraints make the measurement problem particularly difficult to resolve in the context of a relativistic field theory. We will consider proposals by Wigner (1961), Bloch (1967), Helwig and Kraus (1970), and Bell (1984) for resolving the measurement problem for quantum field theory. We will conclude by considering the possibility of giving up rich dynamical explanation in the context of a many-maps formulation of relativistic quantum field theory.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Barrett, Jeffrey A. jabarret@uci.edu
Additional Information:	I wrote this paper when I was thinking about the measurement problem and field theories. Part of this paper is related to a talk I gave at Stanford in 2008.
Keywords:	Wigner, quantum measurement problem, field theory, relativity
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Computation/Information > Quantum Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User:	Jeffrey Barrett
Date Deposited:	22 Dec 2011 13:03
Last Modified:	22 Dec 2011 13:03
Item ID:	8969
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Computation/Information > Quantum Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date:	22 December 2011
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8969

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