Jacobs, Caspar (2021) The Coalescence Approach to Inequivalent Representation: Pre-QM∞ Parallels. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Ruetsche [2011] argues that the occurrence of unitarily inequivalent representations in quantum theories withinfinitely many degrees of freedom poses a novel interpretational problem. According to Ruetsche, such theories compel us to reject the so-called ‘ideal of pristine interpretation’; she puts forward the ‘Coalescence Approach’ as an alternative. In this paper I offer a novel defence of the Coalescence Approach. The defence rests on the claim that the ideal of pristine interpretation already fails before one considers the peculiarities of QM∞: there are pre-QM∞ parallels to coalescence. Despite this departure from pristinism, the ‘modest’ view that emerges poses no threat to scientific realism.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Jacobs, Caspar caspar.jacobs@philosophy.ox.ac.uk
Keywords:	unitarily inequivalent representations; QFT; broken symmetries; coalescence approach
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory
Depositing User:	Caspar Jacobs
Date Deposited:	11 May 2021 03:54
Last Modified:	11 May 2021 03:54
Item ID:	18998
Official URL:	https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/7151...
DOI or Unique Handle:	https://doi.org/10.1086/715108
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory
Date:	2021
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/18998

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