Published June 10, 2013 | Version v1
Journal article

The coevent formulation of quantum theory

  • 1. Technological Educational Institute of Chalkida, General Science Department, Psahna-34400 (Greece)
  • 2. University of Athens, Physics Department, Nuclear and Particle Physics Section, Panepistimiopolis 157-71, Ilissia Athens (Greece)

Description

Understanding quantum theory has been a subject of debate from its birth. Many different formulations and interpretations have been proposed. Here we examine a recent novel formulation, namely the coevents formulation. It is a histories formulation and has as starting point the Feynman path integral and the decoherence functional. The new ontology turns out to be that of a coarse-grained history. We start with a quantum measure defined on the space of histories, and the existence of zero covers rules out single-history as potential reality (the Kochen Specker theorem casted in histories form is a special case of a zero cover). We see that allowing coarse-grained histories as potential realities avoids the previous paradoxes, maintains deductive non-contextual logic (alas non-Boolean) and gives rise to a unique classical domain. Moreover, we can recover the probabilistic predictions of quantum theory with the use of the Cournot's principle. This formulation, being both a realist formulation and based on histories, is well suited conceptually for the purposes of quantum gravity and cosmology.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/442/1/012044

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Physics. Conference Series (Online)
Journal Volume
442
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
[19 p.]
ISSN
1742-6596

Conference

Title
From the Planck Scale to emergent phenomena
Acronym
DICE2012 6. international workshop on spacetime - matter - quantum mechanics
Dates
17-21 Sep 2012
Place
Castiglioncello, Tuscany (Italy)

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
44120195
Subject category
S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS;
Resource subtype / Literary indicator
Conference
Descriptors DEI
COSMOLOGY; FEYNMAN PATH INTEGRAL; FORECASTING; PARTURITION; PROBABILISTIC ESTIMATION; QUANTUM GRAVITY; QUANTUM MECHANICS
Descriptors DEC
CALCULATION METHODS; FIELD THEORIES; INTEGRALS; MECHANICS; PATH INTEGRALS; QUANTUM FIELD THEORY