In this thesis I present a wide-ranging study of localising relational degrees of freedom, contributing to the wider debate on relationism in quantum mechanics. A set of analytical and numerical methods are developed and applied to a diverse range of physical systems. Chapter 2 looks at the interference of two optical modes with no prior phase correlation. Cases of initial mixed states — specif...

D. G. Levkov,* A. G. Panin, and S. M. Sibiryakov Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 60th October Anniversary Prospect 7a, Moscow 117312, Russia Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Institutskii per. 9, Dolgoprudny 141700, Moscow Region, Russia Theory Group, Physics Department, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland Received 10 April 2007; published 21 Septem...

Stapp claims that, when spatial degrees of freedom are taken into account, Everett quantum mechanics is ambiguous due to a “core basis problem.” To examine an aspect of this claim I generalize the ideal measurement model to include translational degrees of freedom for both the measured system and the measuring apparatus. Analysis of this generalized model using the Everett interpretation in the...