The Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: A Relativistic Treatment

Description

Providing a comprehensive exposition of the transactional interpretation (TI) of quantum mechanics, this book sheds new light on long-standing problems in quantum theory such as the physical meaning of the 'Born Rule' for the probabilities of measurement results, and demonstrates the ability of TI to solve the measurement problem of quantum mechanics. It provides robust refutations of various objections and challenges to TI, such as Maudlin's inconsistency challenge, and explicitly extends TI into the relativistic domain, providing new insight into the basic compatibility of TI with relativity and the meaning of 'virtual particles.' It breaks new ground in approaches to interpreting quantum theory and presents a compelling new ontological picture of quantum reality. This substantially revised and updated second edition is ideal for researchers and graduate students interested in the philosophy of physics and the interpretation of quantum mechanics. Contents Preface 1 Introduction Quantum Peculiarities 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Quantum Peculiarities 1.3 Prevailing Interpretations of QM 1.4 Quantum Theory Presents a Genuinely New Interpretational Challenge 2 The Map versus the Territory 2.1 The Irony of Quantum Theory 2.2 “Constructive” versus “Principle” Theories 2.3 Bohr’s Kantian Orthodoxy 2.4 The Proper Way to Interpret a “Principle” Theory 2.5 Heisenberg’s Hint: A New Metaphysical Category 2.6 Ernst Mach: Visionary/Reactionary 2.7 Quantum Theory and the Noumenal Realm 2.8 Science as the Endeavor to Understand Reality 3 The Original TI Fundamentals 3.1 Background 3.2 Basic Concepts of TI 3.3 “Measurement” Is Well Defined in TI 3.4 TI Sheds Light on Feynman’s Account of Quantum Probabilities 4 The New TI Possibilist Transactional Interpretation 4.1 Why PTI? 4.2 Basic Concepts of PTI 4.3 Addressing Some Concerns 4.4 “Transaction” Is Not Equivalent to “Trajectory” 4.5 Revisiting the Two-Slit Experiment 4.6 Null Measurements 5 The Relativistic Transactional Interpretation 5.1 TI Has Basic Compatibility with Relativity 5.2 The Quantum Direct-Action Theory 5.3 The Micro/Macro Distinction 5.4 Classical Limit of the Quantum Electromagnetic Field 5.5 Nonlocality in Quantum Mechanics: RTI versus rGRWf 6 Challenges, Replies, and Applications 6.1 Challenges to TI 6.2 Interaction-Free Measurements 6.3 Delayed Choice Experiment 6.4 Quantum Eraser Experiments 6.5 Transactions and Decoherence 6.6 RTI Solves the Frauchiger–Renner Paradox 6.7 The Afshar Experiment 7 The Metaphysics of Possibility in RTI 7.1 Traditional Formulations of the Notion of Possibility 7.2 The PTI Formulation: Possibility as Physically Real Potentiality 7.3 Offer Waves, as Potentiae, Are Not Individuals 7.4 The Macroscopic World in PTI 7.5 An Example: Phenomenon versus Noumenon 7.6 Causality 7.7 Concerns about Structural Realism 8 RTI and Spacetime 8.1 Recalling Plato’s Distinction 8.2 Transactions and Spacetime Emergence 8.3 Transactions Break Time Symmetry and Lead to an Arrow of Time 8.4 Spacetime Relationalism 8.5 RTI versus Radical Relationalism 8.6 Ontological versus Epistemological Approaches,and Implications for Free Will 9 Epilogue References Index