Observables and Unobservables in Quantum Mechanics: How the No-Hidden-Variables Theorems Support the Bohmian Particle Ontology

The paper argues that far from challenging—or even refuting—Bohm’s quantum theory, the no-hidden-variables theorems in fact support the Bohmian ontology for quantum mechanics. The reason is that (i) all measurements come down to position measurements; and (ii) Bohm’s theory provides a clear and coherent explanation of the measurement outcome statistics based on an ontology of particle positions, a law for their evolution and a probability measure linked with that law. What the no-hidden-variables theorems teach us is that (i) one cannot infer the properties that the physical systems possess from observables; and that (ii) measurements, being an interaction like other interactions, change the state of the measured system. View Full-Text / Download Paper



By Dustin Lazarovici, Andrea Oldofredi and Michael Esfeld



This abstract belongs to an article of the Special Issue "Emergent Quantum Mechanics – David Bohm Centennial Perspectives"



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