Wallace, David (2024) Quantum Systems Other Than the Universe. [Preprint]
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Abstract
How should we interpret physical theories, and especially quantum theory, if we drop the assumption that we should treat it as an exact description of the whole Universe? I expound and develop the claim that physics is about the study of autonomous, but not necessarily isolated, dynamical systems, and that when applied to quantum mechanics this entails that in general we should take quantum systems as having mixed states and non-unitary dynamics. I argue that nonetheless unitary dynamics continues to have a special place in physics, via the empirically-well-supported reductionist principles that non-unitarity is to be explained by restriction to a subsystem of a larger unitary system and that microscopic physics is governed by unitary and largely known dynamics. I contrast this position with the `Open Systems View' advocated recently by Michael Cuffaro and Stephan Hartmann.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Additional Information: | Minor revisions only. | ||||||
| Keywords: | quantum theory open systems reduction emergence | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Reductionism/Holism Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics |
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| Depositing User: | Professor David Wallace | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 13 Oct 2024 12:22 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 13 Oct 2024 12:22 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 24057 | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Reductionism/Holism Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics |
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| Date: | October 2024 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24057 |
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Quantum Systems Other Than the Universe. (deposited 21 Jun 2024 05:01)
- Quantum Systems Other Than the Universe. (deposited 13 Oct 2024 12:22) [Currently Displayed]
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