On the reality of the quantum state

Matthew F. Pusey; Jonathan Barrett; Terry Rudolph

doi:10.1038/nphys2309

On the reality of the quantum state

Matthew F. Pusey, Jonathan Barrett, Terry Rudolph

Mathematics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Quantum states are the key mathematical objects in quantum theory. It is therefore surprising that physicists have been unable to agree on what a quantum state truly represents. One possibility is that a pure quantum state corresponds directly to reality. However, there is a long history of suggestions that a quantum state (even a pure state) represents only knowledge or information about some aspect of reality. Here we show that any model in which a quantum state represents mere information about an underlying physical state of the system, and in which systems that are prepared independently have independent physical states, must make predictions that contradict those of quantum theory.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	475-478
Number of pages	4
Journal	Nature Physics
Volume	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2309
Publication status	Published - 6 May 2012

Access to Document

10.1038/nphys2309

https://arxiv.org/abs/1111.3328

Cite this

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AB - Quantum states are the key mathematical objects in quantum theory. It is therefore surprising that physicists have been unable to agree on what a quantum state truly represents. One possibility is that a pure quantum state corresponds directly to reality. However, there is a long history of suggestions that a quantum state (even a pure state) represents only knowledge or information about some aspect of reality. Here we show that any model in which a quantum state represents mere information about an underlying physical state of the system, and in which systems that are prepared independently have independent physical states, must make predictions that contradict those of quantum theory.

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