No place for particles in relativistic quantum theories?

Philosophy of Science 69 (1):1-28 (2002)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

David Malament (1996) has recently argued that there can be no relativistic quantum theory of (localizable) particles. We consider and rebut several objections that have been made against the soundness of Malament’s argument. We then consider some further objections that might be made against the generality of Malament’s conclusion, and we supply three no‐go theorems to counter these objections. Finally, we dispel potential worries about the counterintuitive nature of these results by showing that relativistic quantum field theory itself explains the appearance of “particle detections.”.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,219

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Chasing Chimeras.Wayne C. Myrvold - 2009 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 60 (3):635-646.
Relativistic quantum becoming.Wayne C. Myrvold - 2003 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 54 (3):475-500.
The fate of 'particles' in quantum field theories with interactions.Doreen Fraser - 2008 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 39 (4):841-859.
Locality, Complex Numbers, and Relativistic Quantum Theory.Simon W. Saunders - 1992 - PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1992:365 - 380.
From Micro to Macro: A Solution to the Measurement Problem of Quantum Mechanics.Jeffrey Bub - 1988 - PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1988:134 - 144.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
294 (#65,664)

6 months
40 (#91,383)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Hans Halvorson
Princeton University

References found in this work

Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity: Aristotelian Society Series.Tim Maudlin & Lawrence Sklar - 1994 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 45 (3):933-934.
Strange positions.Gordon Fleming & Jeremy Butterfield - 1999 - In Jeremy Butterfield & Constantine Pagonis (eds.), From Physics to Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. pp. 108--165.

View all 8 references / Add more references