Hugh Everett III proposed his relative-state formulation of pure wave mechanics as a solution to the quantum measurement problem. He sought to address the theory’s determinate record and probability problems by showing that, while counterintuitive, pure wave mechanics was nevertheless empirically faithful and hence empirical acceptable. We will consider what Everett meant by empirical faithfuln...

The subjective Everettian approach to quantum mechanics presented by Deutsch and Wallace fails to constitute an empirically viable theory of quantum phenomena. The decision theoretic implementation of the Born rule realized in this approach provides no basis for rejecting Everettian quantum mechanics in the face of empirical data that contradicts the Born rule. The approach of Greaves and Myrvo...

using the usual definitions of information and entropy in quantum gravity and statistical mechanics and the existing views about the relation between information and complexity, we examine the evolution of complexity in an ever expanding universe.

Compared with introductory physics, relatively little is known about the development of expertise in advanced physics courses, especially in the case of quantum mechanics. Here, we describe a framework for understanding the patterns of student reasoning difficulties and how students develop expertise in quantum mechanics. The framework posits that the challenges many students face in developing...

The aim of this paper is to give a brief account of the development of the mathematical equivalence of quantum mechanics. In order to deal with atomic systems, Heisenberg developed matrix mechanics in 1925. Some time later, in the winter of 1926, Schrödinger established his wave mechanics. In the spring of 1926, quantum physicists had two theoretical models that allowed them to predict the same...

Quantum mechanics is a fundamentally probabilistic theory (at least so far as the empirical predictions are concerned). It follows that, if one wants to properly understand quantum mechanics, it is essential to clearly understand the meaning of probability statements. The interpretation of probability has excited nearly as much philosophical controversy as the interpretation of quantum mechanic...

Hess and Philipp have constructed what, they claim, is a local hidden variables model reproducing the empirical predictions of quantum mechanics. In this paper explicit expressions for the conditional probabilities for the outcomes of the measurements at the two detectors are calculated. These expressions provide a conclusive demonstration of the falsity of the authors’ claim. The authors give ...