Summary
In this book I present a new interpretation of the theory of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. In this interpretation, measurement in quantum mechanics corresponds to a physical interaction internal to a compound quantum system, which correlates the dynamical states of measured system and (quantum mechanical) apparatus system; whereas the quantum state provides (via the Born rules) a summary of numerical information concerning probabilistic dispositions realized in such interactions. The distinction between dynamical and quantum states is maintained to be the key to the dissolution of the measurement problem. The further idea that the dynamical state of a compound quantum system is not always determined by those of its components then permits a novel understanding of EPR-type correlations as manifested in experiments such as those of Aspect, Grangier, and Roger (1982a) and Aspect, Dalibard, and Roger (1982b).
This book is a monograph: Our present understanding of quantum mechanics does not suffice for the composition of a treatise. It arose when the continual frustration of my attempts to understand quantum mechanics in accordance with any existing interpretation forced me to try something new. I have no illusions that this monograph finally renders quantum mechanics transparent and manifestly free of all conceptual problems. But I do believe that new ideas are urgently needed if we are to approach this happy state; and that there is a good chance that the particular combination of ideas contained in the present interpretation represents significant progress toward this goal.
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- The Philosophy of Quantum MechanicsAn Interactive Interpretation, pp. xi - xivPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989