4 research outputs found
Quantum Structures: An Attempt to Explain the Origin of their Appearance in Nature
We explain the quantum structure as due to the presence of two effects, (a) a
real change of state of the entity under influence of the measurement and, (b)
a lack of knowledge about a deeper deterministic reality of the measurement
process. We present a quantum machine, where we can illustrate in a simple way
how the quantum structure arises as a consequence of the two mentioned effects.
We introduce a parameter epsilon that measures the size of the lack of
knowledge on the measurement process, and by varying this parameter, we
describe a continuous evolution from a quantum structure (maximal lack of
knowledge) to a classical structure (zero lack of knowledge). We show that for
intermediate values of epsilon we find a new type of structure, that is neither
quantum nor classical. We apply the model that we have introduced to situations
of lack of knowledge about the measurement process appearing in other regions
of reality. More specifically we investigate the quantum-like structures that
appear in the situation of psychological decision processes, where the subject
is influenced during the testing, and forms some of his opinions during the
testing process. Our conclusion is that in the light of this explanation, the
quantum probabilities are epistemic and not ontological, which means that
quantum mechanics is compatible with a determinism of the whole.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figure
The delta-quantum machine, the k-model, and the non-ordinary spatiality of quantum entities
The purpose of this article is threefold. Firstly, it aims to present, in an
educational and non-technical fashion, the main ideas at the basis of Aerts'
creation-discovery view and hidden measurement approach: a fundamental
explanatory framework whose importance, in this author's view, has been
seriously underappreciated by the physics community, despite its success in
clarifying many conceptual challenges of quantum physics. Secondly, it aims to
introduce a new quantum-machine - that we call the delta-quantum-machine -
which is able to reproduce the transmission and reflection probabilities of a
one-dimensional quantum scattering process by a Dirac delta-function potential.
The machine is used not only to demonstrate the pertinence of the above
mentioned explanatory framework, in the general description of physical
systems, but also to illustrate (in the spirit of Aerts' epsilon-model) the
origin of classical and quantum structures, by revealing the existence of
processes which are neither classical nor quantum, but irreducibly
intermediate. We do this by explicitly introducing what we call the k-model and
by proving that its processes cannot be modelized by a classical or quantum
scattering system. The third purpose of this work is to exploit the powerful
metaphor provided by our quantum-machine, to investigate the intimate relation
between the concept of potentiality and the notion of non-spatiality, that we
characterize in precise terms, introducing for this the new concept of
process-actuality.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures. To appear in: Foundations of Scienc