Explaining the unobserved: why quantum mechanics is not only about information

A remarkable theorem by Clifton, Bub and Halvorson (2003)(CBH) characterizes quantum theory in terms of information--theoretic principles. According to Bub (2004, 2005) the philosophical significance of the theorem is that quantum theory should be regarded as a ``principle'' theory about (quantum) information rather than a ``constructive'' theory about the dynamics of quantum systems. Here we criticize Bub's principle approach arguing that if the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics remains intact then there is no escape route from solving the measurement problem by constructive theories. We further propose a (Wigner--type) thought experiment that we argue demonstrates that quantum mechanics on the information--theoretic approach is incomplete.Comment: 34 Page

Binomials in Russian speech: semantic types and objective and subjective frequency

The article was submitted on 26.04.2017.This article studies the functioning of a particular type of collocations in Russian speech, whose elements are typically connected by means of coordination. The purpose of the article is to reveal the correlation between the objective and subjective frequency of binomials and the discursive variation of this parameter, as well as the types and nature of the idiomatisation of their meaning. The analysis is conducted with reference to texts from the Russian National Corpus, main corpus, and newspaper, oral, and poetic subcorpora, along with data from dictionaries of idioms and psycholinguistic questionnaires. The analysis is based on the methods of corpus linguistics (at the stages of material selection and objective frequency count); psycholinguistics (at the stage of subjective frequency count); and distributive analysis. The authors also employ statistical methods to analyse the obtained data. The analysis helps the authors determine and describe the composition of binomials: the units are ranked according to the average and discursively determined frequency of their usage in Russian speech. The authors also determine the scope of variation of the discursively determined frequency of binomials in the oral, newspaper, and poetic subcorpora. They single out the most frequent binomials, whose functional characteristics are discursively independent, as well as binomials, whose frequency depends on the type of discourse. The results of the objective frequency data analysis are compared with data on subjective awareness of their frequency by native speakers of the Russian language. The authors use the scaling method to establish the subjective frequency of binomials during a psycholinguistic survey. When drawing a functional and semantic typology, the authors contrast groups of binominals according to the presence or absence of secondary idiomatic meanings and their types (formed on the basis of relations of generalisation and metonymy) on the one hand, and metaphor on the other. A list of polysemantic binomials is compiled. The study helps reveal the prevalence of binomials that do not develop polysemy, whose functioning in the text is not associated with the idiomatisation of their meaning based on metaphorical or metonymic transfers or generalisation. Semantic types of binomials are characterised in terms of their frequency. The received data are used to test the hypothesis about the correlation between the degree of semantic cohesion of the components of binomials and the development of polysemy and their frequency. As a result, a positive correlation is found between frequency and the development of polysemy.Дается анализ аспектов функционирования корпуса биномиалов – коллокаций, элементы которых соединены сочинительной связью – в русской речи. Цель – выявление корреляции объективной и субъективной частотности биномиалов, дискурсивного варьирования данного параметра, типов и характера фразеологизации их значения. В качестве источников исследования взяты материалы основного корпуса, а также газетного, поэтического и разговорного подкорпусов Национального корпуса русского языка, фразеологические словари, материалы анкетирования с применением психолингвистической методики. В процессе исследования использованы следующие методы: корпусной лингвистики (при отборе материала и выявлении объективной частотности); психолингвистические (выявления субъективной частотности коллокаций); дистрибутивного анализа (определения степени идиоматичности и направлений развития многозначности выделенных биномиалов); статистические (обработки результатов). В результате выявлен и описан состав коллокаций-биномиалов русской речи, единицы ранжированы по усредненной и дискурсивно обусловленной частности их использования, определен размах варьирования дискурсивно обусловленной частотности основного состава биномиалов в устном, газетном и поэтическом подкорпусах, выявлен состав наиболее частотных биномиалов, функциональная характеристика которых проявляется как дискурсивно независимая; состав биномилов, частотность которых дискурсивно обусловлена. Результаты анализа данных об объективной частотности использования биномиалов в речи соотнесены с данными о субъективном осознании их частотности носителями русского языка, которые получены при проведении психолингвистических опросов с применением метода шкалирования. В процессе функционально-семантической типологизации противопоставлены группы биномиалов по признаку наличия или отсутствия вторичных фразеологизированных значений, по их типам, формируемым на основе отношений генерализации и метонимии, с одной стороны, и метафорических – с другой, определен состав многозначных биномиалов. Выявлено преобладание биномиалов, не развивающих полисемию, функционирование которых в тексте не связано с процессами фразеологизации значения на основе метафорических и метонимических переносов, отношений обобщения. Семантические типы биномиалов охарактеризованы в аспекте их частотности, проверена гипотеза о наличии коррелятивных отношений между степенью семантической спаянности компонентов биномиалов и развитием полисемии и частотности, выявлена положительная корреляция между частотностью и развитием полисемии.Публикуемые результаты были получены в рамках выполнения государственного задания Минобрнауки России, проект № 34.8609.2017/9.10)

An obstruction based approach to the Kochen-Specker theorem

In [1] it was shown that the Kochen Specker theorem can be written in terms of the non-existence of global elements of a certain varying set over the partially ordered set of boolean subalgebras of projection operators on some Hilbert space. In this paper, we show how obstructions to the construction of such global elements arise, and how this provides a new way of looking at proofs of the theorem.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Quantum mechanics is about quantum information

I argue that quantum mechanics is fundamentally a theory about the representation and manipulation of information, not a theory about the mechanics of nonclassical waves or particles. The notion of quantum information is to be understood as a new physical primitive -- just as, following Einstein's special theory of relativity, a field is no longer regarded as the physical manifestation of vibrations in a mechanical medium, but recognized as a new physical primitive in its own right.Comment: 17 pages, forthcoming in Foundations of Physics Festschrift issue for James Cushing. Revised version: some paragraphs have been added to the final section clarifying the argument, and various minor clarifying remarks have been added throughout the tex

Bestimmung der ernährungsphysiologischen Qualität von Öko-Produkten anhand des antioxidativen Potentials der Lebensmittel

Problemstellung: Die Diskussionen über sichere Lebensmittel (u.a. Rückstände von Pestiziden) im letzten Jahrzehnt hat das Verbraucherverhalten verändert. Viele Verbraucher bevorzugen ökologisch erzeugte Lebensmittel. Allerdings gibt es bis heute noch nicht ausreichende wissenschaftliche Daten dazu, ob ökologisch erzeugte Lebensmittel tatsächlich ernährungsphysiologisch hochwertiger sind als konventionell produzierte. Sekundären Pflanzenstoffen aus Obst und Gemüse (Carotinoiden, Polyphenole) kommt im Allgemeinen eine hohe gesundheitliche Bedeutung zu. Die in der Literatur beschriebenen protektiven Effekte auf entzündliche, atherosklerotische und tumorigene Prozesse werden u.a. auf ihr antioxidatives Potenzial zurückgeführt. Ziel der Studie war es daher zu untersuchen, ob sich der Gehalt an Carotinoiden und Polyphenolen und die antioxidative Kapazität in Lebensmitteln aus konventionellem und ökologischem Anbau unterscheidet. Darüber hinaus wurden drei humane Interventionsstudien durchgeführt, die klären sollten, ob die unterschiedlichen Anbauvarianten (ökologisch/konventionell) Einfluss auf die Bioverfügbarkeit der sekundären Pflanzenstoffe und den antioxidativen Status in vivo haben. Methodik: Im Rahmen des Projektes wurden Äpfel, Karotten und Weizenvollkorn der Erntejahre 2004, 2005 und 2006 aus kontrollierten Anbauversuchen untersucht. Die Gehalte an sekundären Pflanzenstoffen in vitro und in vivo wurden mittels HPLC/DAD/MS quantifiziert. Die antioxidativen Kapazitäten in vivo und in vitro wurden mit drei unterschiedlichen Testsystemen analysiert. Ergebnisse: Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Anbauweise (ökologisch/konventionell) die Bildung von sekundären Pflanzenstoffen und das antioxidatives Potenzial in den untersuchten Lebensmitteln beeinflussen kann. Für die Öko-Produkte kann ein leicht höherer Gehalt und antioxidatives Potenzial bestimmt werden. In den durchgeführten Humanstudien, konnten keine Unterschiede in der Bioverfügbarkeit von Carotinoiden und Polyphenolen zwischen ökologisch und konventionell angebauten Äpfeln bzw. Karotten gezeigt werden. Schlussfolgerung: Die beobachteten Unterschiede im Gehalt an sekundären Pflanzenstoffen sowie im antioxidativen Potenzial zwischen den Anbauweisen sind klein und besitzen geringe ernährungsphysiologische Relevanz

Kochen-Specker theorem for a single qubit using positive operator-valued measures

A proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem for a single two-level system is presented. It employs five eight-element positive operator-valued measures and a simple algebraic reasoning based on the geometry of the dodecahedron.Comment: REVTeX4, 4 pages, 2 figure

A model balancing cooperation and competition explains our right-handed world and the dominance of left-handed athletes

An overwhelming majority of humans are right-handed. Numerous explanations for individual handedness have been proposed, but this population-level handedness remains puzzling. Here we use a minimal mathematical model to explain this population-level hand preference as an evolved balance between cooperative and competitive pressures in human evolutionary history. We use selection of elite athletes as a test-bed for our evolutionary model and account for the surprising distribution of handedness in many professional sports. Our model predicts strong lateralization in social species with limited combative interaction, and elucidates the rarity of compelling evidence for "pawedness" in the animal world.Comment: 5 pages of text and 3 figures in manuscript, 8 pages of text and two figures in supplementary materia

Sind Bio-Äpfel gesünder?

Viele Verbraucher, die sich beim Kauf von Lebensmitteln für Bioprodukte entscheiden, erhoffen sich davon gesundheitsfördernde Effekte. Allerdings liegen bis heute noch nicht genügend wissenschaftliche Daten vor, um ökologisch und konventionell erzeugte Lebensmittel vergleichend ernährungsphysiologisch bewerten zu können. Am Institut für Ernährungsphysiologie der Bundesforschungsanstalt für Ernährung und Lebensmittel (BfEL) wird zurzeit untersucht, ob sich verschiedene pflanzliche Lebensmittel aus ökologischer und konventioneller Anbauweise hinsichtlich ihres Gehaltes an sekundären Pflanzenstoffen und deren ernährungsphysiologischer Wirkung am Menschen unterscheiden

Quantum Mechanics as a Framework for Dealing with Uncertainty

Quantum uncertainty is described here in two guises: indeterminacy with its concomitant indeterminism of measurement outcomes, and fuzziness, or unsharpness. Both features were long seen as obstructions of experimental possibilities that were available in the realm of classical physics. The birth of quantum information science was due to the realization that such obstructions can be turned into powerful resources. Here we review how the utilization of quantum fuzziness makes room for a notion of approximate joint measurement of noncommuting observables. We also show how from a classical perspective quantum uncertainty is due to a limitation of measurability reflected in a fuzzy event structure -- all quantum events are fundamentally unsharp.Comment: Plenary Lecture, Central European Workshop on Quantum Optics, Turku 2009