Papers and Presentations on Foundations of Physics

2022

• Bohr, objectivity, and “our experience”: À propos Mermin’s note on the quantum measurement problem, arXiv:2210.13980 [arXiv PDF].

2021

• A QBist Ontology, in Foundations of Science [downloadable PDF, author-shared online version, official link].

2019

• Niels Bohr, objectivity, and the irreversibility of measurements, in Quantum Studies: Mathematics and Foundations [Spinger link, arXiv PDF].
• Bohr, QBism, and Beyond, prepared for two talks: one at the “Copenhagen Interpretation and Beyond” conference at Chapman University (Los Angeles, CA), honoring Henry P. Stapp, and one at the California Institute of Integral Studies (San Francisco, CA); arXiv:1907.11405 [arXiv PDF].
• “B” is for Bohr, to appear in the combined Proceedings of the Workshops on Meaning and Structure of Quantum Mechanics at Buenos Aires (2016 and 2019); arXiv:1905.07118 [arXiv PDF].

2018

• QBism, Bohr, and the quantum omelette tossed by de Ronde, in Probing the Meaning of Quantum Mechanics: Information, Contextuality, Relationalism and Entanglement (Proceedings of the II International Workshop on Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Information: Physical, Philosophical and Logical Approaches), edited by D. Aerts, M.L. Dalla Chiara, C. de Ronde and D. Krause (World Scientific, Singapore, 2019), pp. 247–261; arXiv:1608.05780v1 [ArXiv PDF].
• QBism: A Critical Appraisal, arXiv:1409.3312 [abstract, arXiv PDF].

2016

• Quantum Mechanics and Experience, arXiv:1410.5916v2 [abstract, ArXiv PDF].
• The Quantum Mechanics of Being and Its Manifestation. Cosmology Vol. 24, April 2, 2016. An extended version, containing an Appendix which the published paper lacks, is available here. While the published paper touches on various ways in which quantum mechanics does not have to do with consciousness, this Appendix concerns what quantum mechanics has to do with consciousness.
• Quantum mechanics in a new light. Foundations of Science DOI 10.1007/s10699-016-9487-6 [abstract, arXiv PDF, Springer link].

2015

• My two fateful encounters with Berge (so far), in Quantum Paths: Festschrift in Honor of Berge Englert on His 60th Birthday, edited by Hui Khoon Ng and Rui Han, pp. 228–231 (Singapore: World Scientific) [PDF].

2014

• Why the wave function, of all things? arXiv:1411.1145 [abstract, arXiv PDF]
• Quantum mechanics and the manifestation of the world. Talk at Berge Fest, a conference celebrating the 60th birthday of Berge Englert (Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, 22–25 April 2014), Quantum Studies: Mathematics and Foundations 1 (3–4), 195-202, DOI 10.1007/s40509-014-0017-3 [Springer link (free download)].
• Manifesting the Quantum World, Foundations of Physics 44 (6), 641–677, DOI 10.1007/s10701-014-9803-3 [ArXiv PDF, Springer link].

2012

• Interpreting Bananaworld: A response to Bub’s Quantum Mechanics for Primates, arXiv:1212.3606 [abstract, arXiv PDF].
• Radical Nonlocality, Journal of Nonlocality 1 (1) [abstract, PDF].
• A consciousness-based model of physics, Journal of Nonlocality 1 (1) [abstract, PDF].

2011

• A fuzzy world, in Vision of Oneness, edited by Ignazio Licata & Ammar J. Sakaji, Aracne editrice, pp 41–61 [PDF].

2009

• Quantum mechanics explained. International Journal of Quantum Information 7 (1), 435–458, quant-ph/0607005 [abstract, ArXiv PDF].
• Objective probability and quantum fuzziness, Foundations of Physics 39 (2), 137–155, quant-ph/0703035 [abstract, arXiv PDF].

2008

• The Controversy over the Nature of Time-Symmetric Quantum Counterfactuals: A Response to Kastner. arXiv:0801.2215 [abstract, arXiv PDF].

2006

• Is the end in sight for theoretical pseudophysics?, in New Topics in Quantum Physics Research, edited by V. Krasnoholovets and F. Columbus (Nova Science), pp. 37–58, quant-ph/0305095 [abstract, arXiv PDF].

2005

• The Pondicherry interpretation of quantum mechanics: An overview, PRAMANA—Journal of Physics 64 (2), 171–185, quant-ph/0412182 [abstract, PDF].
• Comment on “Quantum physics from A to Z”, quant-ph/0508212 [abstract, arXiv PDF].

2004

• Do quantum states evolve? Apropos of Marchildon’s remarks, Foundations of Physics 34 (1), 75–97,quant-ph/0307113 [arXiv PDF].
• This elusive objective existence, International Journal of Quantum Information 2 (2), 201–220, quant-ph/0401179 [arXiv PDF].
• Probabilities from envariance?, International Journal of Quantum Information 2 (2), 221–230, quant-ph/0401180 [arXiv PDF].

2002

• The world according to quantum mechanics, or the 18 errors of Henry P. Stapp, Foundations of Physics 32 (2), 217–254, quant-ph/0105097 [arXiv PDF].
• Reflections on the spatiotemporal aspects of the quantum world, Modern Physics Letters A 17 (1517), 1107–1122, quant-ph/0205058 [arXiv PDF] (talk at the First Meeting on the Interface of Gravitational and Quantum Realms held at IUCAA, Pune, India, December 17–21, 2001).
• Making sense of a world of clicks, Foundations of Physics 32 (8), 1295–1311 (2002), quant-ph/0202148 [arXiv PDF].
• Why the laws of physics are just so, Foundations of Physics 32 (8), 1313–1324 (2002), quant-ph/0202149 [arXiv PDF].

2001

• Objective probabilities, quantum counterfactuals, and the ABL rule: A response to R. E. Kastner, American Journal of Physics 69 (8), 864–873, quant-ph/0006116 [arXiv PDF].
• Unveiled reality: comment on d’Espagnat’s note on measurement, quant-ph/0102103 [arXiv PDF].
• A space for the quantum world, quant-ph/0107005 [arXiv PDF].
• Two theories of decoherence, quant-ph/0108002 [arXiv PDF].
• Against “knowledge”, quant-ph/0109150 [arXiv PDF].

2000

• What quantum mechanics is trying to tell us, American Journal of Physics 68 (8), 728–745, quant-ph/9903051 [arXiv PDF].
• The One, the Many, and the Quantum, quant-ph/0005110 [arXiv PDF].
• Quantum mechanics and the cookie cutter paradigm, quant-ph/0009001 [arXiv PDF].

1999 and before

• Objectivity, retrocausation, and the experiment of Englert, Scully and Walther, American Journal of Physics 67 (4), 330–335 (1999) [PDF].
• The physics of interactionism, Journal of Consciousness Studies 6 (8–9), 165–184 (1999); reprinted in The Volitional Brain, edited by B. Libet, A. Freeman, and K. Sutherland (Imprint Academic, 1999), 165–184 [PDF].
• Quantum mechanics and elements of reality, quant-ph/9904081 [arXiv PDF].
• Interactionism, energy conservation, and the violation of physical laws, Physics Essays 10 (4), 651–665 (1997).
• Restoration of interference and the fallacy of delayed choice: concerning an experiment proposed by Englert, Scully and Walther, American Journal of Physics 64 (12), 1468–1475 (1996).