Single-world interpretations of quantum theory cannot be self-consistent

Authors: Daniela Frauchiger, Renato Renner

Nature Communications 9, 3711 (2018)
arXiv: 1604.07422v1 - DOI (quant-ph)
25 pages, 4 figures; comments are very welcome

Abstract: According to quantum theory, a measurement may have multiple possible outcomes. Single-world interpretations assert that, nevertheless, only one of them "really" occurs. Here we propose a gedankenexperiment where quantum theory is applied to model an experimenter who herself uses quantum theory. We find that, in such a scenario, no single-world interpretation can be logically consistent. This conclusion extends to deterministic hidden-variable theories, such as Bohmian mechanics, for they impose a single-world interpretation.

Submitted to arXiv on 25 Apr. 2016

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