Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gvh9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T04:27:11.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Open questions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Get access

Summary

The interactive interpretation I have presented here leaves many interesting questions unresolved. In conclusion, I shall raise several such questions, and discuss their significance for the interpretation. These may be divided roughly into two kinds: Some are merely requests for a more complete development of the view expressed here, whereas others represent unresolved challenges to its adequacy as an interpretation of quantum mechanics. What these questions all have in common is that at the present time I cannot myself adequately answer them. I raise the questions here to commend them to others, as suggesting interesting topics for further research of a kind that holds out hope for an improved understanding of the quantum world, as well as of our current best theories of it.

The first such question concerns the dynamics of quantum systems during interactions. The present interactive interpretation rests on certain rather weak assumptions about how the dynamical state of a quantum system changes during an interaction: It would clearly be of great interest to explore further details of this process. Such an exploration requires both theoretical and experimental research. If the present interpretation of quantum mechanics is along the right lines, then not only does a quantum system have a well-defined dynamical state at each moment, but also there is an interesting stochastic element to the evolution of that dynamical state during an interaction. Although the present interpretation constrains this stochastic behavior, it neither specifies nor determines it.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics
An Interactive Interpretation
, pp. 235 - 252
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Open questions
  • Richard A. Healey
  • Book: The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511624902.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Open questions
  • Richard A. Healey
  • Book: The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511624902.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Open questions
  • Richard A. Healey
  • Book: The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511624902.009
Available formats
×