Article
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Measurement and the Illusion of Quantum Collapse
Version 1
: Received: 16 February 2024 / Approved: 19 February 2024 / Online: 19 February 2024 (03:33:44 CET)
How to cite: Ring, D. Measurement and the Illusion of Quantum Collapse. Preprints 2024, 2024020959. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.0959.v1 Ring, D. Measurement and the Illusion of Quantum Collapse. Preprints 2024, 2024020959. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202402.0959.v1
Abstract
Models of quantum measurements are presented, including observers subject to the laws of quantum mechanics. Observers perform multiple measurements in an attempt to disprove the collapse hypothesis. It is shown that under reasonable assumptions the effort cannot succeed. Under a unitary evolution the end state is a correlation between the result of the first measurement and the result(s) of the others, consistent with the observer's collapse hypothesis. The observer may conclude that the laws of nature include a non-unitary collapse mechanism, even if one does not actually exist. Discard of information is the crucial factor which distinguishes entanglement from measurement.
Keywords
quantum mechanics; quantum measurement; quantum foundations
Subject
Physical Sciences, Quantum Science and Technology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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