torek@umich.UUCP (Paul V. Torek ) (01/28/86)
Quoted without permission from Nicholas Maxwell, "Are Probabilism and Special Relativity Incompatible?" *Philosophy of Science* 52 (1985) 23-43, esp. pp. 36-40 [Answer to title question: yes, and Maxwell favors probabilism]: "... This [Maxwell's] approach requires that precise, microrealistic, quantum conditions be specified for propensities to be `actualised' -- for probabilistic events to occur in quantum systems even in the absence of measurement. My proposed solution to this key problem is that probabilistic `actualizations' occur whenever, as a result of potential particle creation or annihilation, a composite quantum system evolves into a superposition of two states with rest masses that differ by [delta]m. [Sorry folks, I don't have a delta on my keyboard--pt] Reinterpreting the time/energy uncertainty relations, I suggest that such a superposition persists only for a time [delta]t = h / [delta]m c**2, and then jumps to one or the other rest mass state. All quantum measurements can, I argue, be interpreted as special cases of this kind of probabilistic occurrence (see Maxwell 1976a, 1982). :
torek@umich.UUCP (Paul V. Torek ) (01/28/86)
"... This `propensiton' version of QT can in principle reproduce all the empirical success of orthodox QT. ... [but/and] propensiton QT differs empirically from orthodox QT, in principle and perhaps in practice. This is because of the fact that propensiton QT asserts that probabilistic events occur even in the absence of measurement, whereas orthodox QT denies this. In particular, the two versions of QT ought to be empirically distinguishable by means of experiments performed on decaying systems, such as radioactive nuclei, of the kind discussed by Fonda et. al. (1978). ... The two version of QT predict the same rate of decay, in the absence of measurement, if and only if the decay rate is exponential. For short and long times, QT predicts departure from exponential rates of decay (in the absence of measurement). Thus there is here a basis -- certainly in principle, and perhaps in practice -- for crucial experiments designed to decide between orthodox and propensiton versions of QT. (For further details concerning the points of this paragraph, see Maxwell 1976a, 1982, 1984, chap. 10; and Fonda et. al. 1978.)" Fonda, L.; Ghirardi, G. C.; and Rimini, A. (1978) "Decay theory of unstable quantum systems", *Reports on Progress in Physics* 41: 587-631. Maxwell, N. (1976a), "Towards a Micro Realistic Version of Quantum Mechanics", *Foundations of Physics* 6: 275-92, 661-76. ----------. (1982), "Instead of Particles and Fields: A Micro Realistic Quantum `Smearon' Theory", *Foundations of Physics* 12: 607-31. ----------. (1984), *From Knowledge to Wisdom*. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. [This message brought to you by Paul V. Torek torek@umich]