Protective Measurement and the Meaning of the Wave Function
| Abstract | This article analyzes the implications of protective measurement for the meaning of the wave function. According to protective measurement, a charged quantum system has mass and charge density proportional to the modulus square of its wave function. It is shown that the mass and charge density is not real but effective, formed by the ergodic motion of a localized particle with the total mass and charge of the system. Moreover, it is argued that the ergodic motion is not continuous but discontinuous and random. This result suggests a new interpretation of the wave function, according to which the wave function is a description of random discontinuous motion of particles, and the modulus square of the wave function gives the probability density of the particles being in certain locations. It is shown that the suggested interpretation of the wave function disfavors the de Broglie-Bohm theory and the many-worlds interpretation but favors the dynamical collapse theories, and the random discontinuous motion of particles may provide an appropriate random source to collapse the wave function. | |||||||||
| Keywords | protective measurement wave function mass and charge density ergodic motion random discontinuous motion propensity wavefunction collapse | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
  |
| External links |
 Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Only published papers are available at libraries |
Similar books and articlesShan Gao (2006). A Model of Wavefunction Collapse in Discrete Space-Time. International Journal of Theoretical Physics 45 (10):1965-1979.
Bradley Monton (2004). The Problem of Ontology for Spontaneous Collapse Theories. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B 35 (3):407-421.
Valia Allori, Sheldon Goldstein, Roderich Tumulka & Nino Zanghi (2008). On the Common Structure of Bohmian Mechanics and the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber Theory. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 59 (3):353 - 389.
Valia Allori, Sheldon Goldstein, Roderich Tumulka & and Nino Zanghì (2008). On the Common Structure of Bohmian Mechanics and the Ghirardi–Rimini–Weber Theory: Dedicated to Giancarlo Ghirardi on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 59 (3):353-389.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2011-08-03Total downloads40 ( #28,897 of 549,124 )Recent downloads (6 months)28 ( #1,697 of 549,124 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
