Healey, Richard (2026) Quantum Measurement without Ontology. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Measurement is an important scientific activity. In most of science, including classical physics, it may be understood as a way of finding out about the physical world and representing the results numerically. No-go theorems show that measurement of quantum observables is not like that: the recorded outcome is typically created rather than revealed in a quantum measurement, in which case there is no objective fact about the observable's prior value. Other no-go theorems show that unitary quantum theory can generally neither explain nor even represent a unique recorded outcome, thereby threatening that outcome's objectivity. Epistemic norms inherent in quantum physical practice nevertheless institute the objectivity, not only of unique recorded outcomes of quantum measurements, but also of non-quantum properties of the world that physicists and other scientists take their models to represent.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Additional Information: | To appear in 'Coherentist Approaches to Quantum Metrology', Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Mathematics and Physics. | ||||||
| Keywords: | quantum measurement, metrology, absolute outcomes, coherentism, objectivity, quantum metrology, LIGO, epistemic norms | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Data General Issues > Evidence Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Theory/Observation |
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| Depositing User: | Richard Andrew Healey | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 15 May 2026 19:30 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 15 May 2026 19:30 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 29640 | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Data General Issues > Evidence Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Theory/Observation |
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| Date: | 2026 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29640 |
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