The Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: The Reality of Possibility

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THE TRANSACTIONAL INTERPRETATION OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
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Copyright
Contents
Preface
1 Introduction: quantum peculiarities
1.1 Introduction
1.1.1 Quantum theory is about possibility
1.2 Quantum peculiarities
1.2.1 Indeterminacy
1.2.2 Non-locality
1.2.3 The measurement problem
1.3 Prevailing interpretations of QM
1.3.1 Decoherence approaches
1.3.2 Many worlds interpretations
1.3.3 Bohm’s interpretation
1.3.4 von Neumann’s projection postulate
1.3.5 Bohr’s complementarity
1.3.6 Ad hoc non-linear “collapse” approaches
1.3.7 Relational block world approaches
1.3.8 Statistical/epistemic approaches
1.4 Quantum theory presents a genuinely new interpretational challenge
2 The map vs. the territory
2.1 Interpreting a “functioning theory”
2.2 The irony of quantum theory
2.2.1 Heisenberg’s breakthrough
2.2.2 Bohr’s antirealism
2.2.3 Einstein’s realism and a further irony
2.2.4 Theory construction vs. theory interpretation
2.3 “Constructive” vs. “principle” theories
2.4 Bohr’s Kantian orthodoxy
2.5 The proper way to interpret a “principle” theory
2.6 Heisenberg’s hint: a new metaphysical category
2.7 Ernst Mach: visionary/reactionary
2.8 Quantum theory and the noumenal realm
2.9 Science as the endeavor to understand reality
3 The original TI: fundamentals
3.1 Background
3.1.1 The wave equation
3.1.2 Coupling and absorption in TI
3.1.3 Solutions of the wave equation
3.1.4 The Wheeler–Feynman theory
3.2 Basic concepts of TI
3.2.1 Emitters and absorbers
3.2.2 Offer waves and confirmation waves
3.2.3 The Born Rule is revealed in TI
3.3 “Measurement” is well-defined in TI
3.3.1 TI’s advantages over traditional “collapse” interpretations
3.3.2 Feynman’s account of quantum probabilities
The standard account
3.3.3 TI as the ontological basis for Feynman’s account
3.4 Circumstances of CW generation
4 The new TI: possibilist transactional interpretation
4.1 Why PTI?
4.2 Basic concepts of PTI
4.2.1 Offer and confirmation waves are physically real, but sub-empirical, possibilities
4.2.2 Emission and absorption of quanta occur in an extra-empirical, pre-spatiotemporal realm
4.2.3 Incipient transactions are established through OW–CW encounters in PST
4.2.4 Spacetime is the set of actualized transactions
4.3 Addressing some concerns
4.3.1 How a transaction forms
4.3.2 Curie’s principle and Curie’s extended principle
4.3.3 Symmetry breaking creates structure
4.4 “Transaction” is not equivalent to “trajectory”
4.4.1 Review: Feynman “sum over paths”
4.4.2 “Trajectories in a bubble chamber”
4.5 Revisiting the two-slit experiment
5 Challenges, replies, and applications
5.1 Challenges to TI
5.1.1 The Maudlin challenge
5.1.2 Contingent absorber experiments and the delayed choice experiment
5.1.3 Delayed choice as a challenge for orthodox quantum mechanics
5.2 Interaction-free measurements
5.2.1 The Elitzur–Vaidman bomb detection IFM
5.2.2 A quantum “bomb”
5.3 The Hardy experiment II
5.3.1 Details of the Hardy experiment II
5.3.2 The TI account
5.4 Quantum eraser experiments
5.4.1 Details of a quantum eraser experiment
5.4.2 The TI account
6 PTI and relativity
6.1 TI and PTI have basic compatibility with relativity
6.1.1 Emission and absorption are fundamentally relativistic processes
6.1.2 TI/PTI retains isotropy of emission (and absorption)
6.2 The Davies theory
6.2.1 Preliminary remarks
6.2.2 Specifics of the Davies theory
6.3 PTI applied to QED calculations
6.3.1 Scattering: a standard example
6.3.2 “Free” particles vs. “virtual” particles
6.3.3 The PTI account of scattering
6.3.4 Internal couplings and confirmation in relativistic PTI
6.3.5 Dual role of “current”
6.4 Implications of offer waves as unconfirmed possibilities
6.4.1 “Real” vs. “virtual” quanta
6.4.2 Offers, transactions, and Minkowski space
6.5 Classical limit of the quantum electromagnetic field
6.6 Non-locality in quantum mechanics: PTI vs. rGRWf
6.6.1 Gisin’s result
6.6.2 Is there really a GRW advantage?
6.6.3 A dilemma re-examined
6.7 The apparent conflict between “collapse” and relativity
6.7.1 Instantaneous collapse violates relativity
6.7.2 Momentum eigenstates are non-local
6.7.3 Collapse is not a spacetime process
6.8 Methodological considerations
7 The metaphysics of possibility in PTI
7.1 Traditional formulations of the notion of possibility
7.2 The PTI formulation: possibility as physically real potentiality
7.3 Offer waves, as potentia, are not individuals
7.3.1 Wave function symmetry related to non-existence of particles
7.3.2 The puzzle of “Rindler quanta”
7.4 The macroscopic world in PTI
7.4.1 Macroscopic objects are based on networks of transactions
7.4.2 Macroscopic observation as primarily intersubjective
7.4.3 Implications for the realism/antirealism debate
7.5 An example: phenomenon vs. noumenon
7.6 Causality
7.6.1 Hume’s elimination of causality
7.6.2 Russell, Salmon, et al.
7.6.3 Transactions to the rescue
7.7 Concerns about structural realism
8 PTI and “spacetime”
8.1 Recalling Plato’s distinction
8.1.1 What is the empirical realm?
8.1.2 The past vs. the future
8.1.3 The fabric of created events
8.1.4 Becoming vs. relativity theory
8.1.5 The “dead past”
8.2 Spacetime relationalism
8.2.1 Relationalism vs. “substantivalism” about spacetime
8.2.2 Distinct facets of relationalism
8.3 The origin of the phenomenon of time: de Broglie waves
8.3.1 The de Broglie phase clock
8.3.2 The group wave and the temporal axis
8.3.3 Why acceleration is absolute
8.4 PTI vs. radical relationalism
8.5 Ontological vs. epistemological approaches, and implications for free will
9 Epilogue: more than meets the eye
9.1 The hidden origins of temporal asymmetry
9.1.1 Time-isotropy vs. time-reversibility
9.1.2 Methodological and historical considerations
9.1.3 Boundary conditions and the arrow of time
9.2 Concluding remarks
Appendix A: Details of transactions in polarizer-type experiments
Appendix B: Feynman path amplitude
Appendix C: Berkovitz contingent absorber experiment
References
Index