Hao, Sabrina (2024) Recovering Particle Properties in Revisionary Ontologies. [Preprint]

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Abstract

In this paper, I explore the relation between actual scientific practice and conceptual interpretation of scientific theories by investigating the particle concept in non-relativistic quantum mechanics (NRQM). On the one hand, philosophers have raised various objections against the particle concept within the context of NRQM and proposed alternative ontologies such as wave function realism, Bohmian particles, mass density field, and flashes based on different realist solutions to the measurement problem. On the other hand, scientists continue to communicate, reason, and explain experimental phenomena using particle terms in the relevant regimes.
It has been explicitly argued and, for most of the time, implicitly assumed in the philosophical literature that we do not need to take scientists’ particle talk seriously, and recovering position measurement of particles in our ontological accounts is sufficient to make contact with scientific practice. In this paper, I argue that although scientific discourse does not postulate a uniform and coherent ontology, it nevertheless postulates real properties. Our ontological accounts thus need to recover the various properties associated with the NRQM particle concept in scientific discourse. I show that recovering these particle properties is not trivially achievable by pointing out some particular challenges these revisionary ontologies face in the process.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Hao, Sabrina sabrina.bhao@gmail.com 0009-0003-5868-6666
Keywords:	quantum particles; quantum ontology; scientific practice; wave function realism; non-relativistic quantum mechanics
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User:	Sabrina Hao
Date Deposited:	13 Nov 2024 13:32
Last Modified:	13 Nov 2024 13:32
Item ID:	24209
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date:	12 November 2024
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24209

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