Title: Quantum state may be a real thing | Ars Technica
Headings: Quantum state may be a real thing
Science —
Quantum state may be a real thing
Physicists summon up their courage and go after the nature of reality.
Quantum superposition
Waiving a function
Are you for real?
Further Reading
Further Reading
Get Our Best Tech Stories
Channel
Ars Technica

Content: This difference can be resolved by making multiple measurements. I'd see that my measured probability distribution differs from that predicted by the wave function. That is, given enough measurements, the two wave functions are distinguishable. In this case, figuring out what's going on is trivial. But the question applies to other, more complicated cases. Can these two perspectives on the wave function always be distinguished from each other, even when the wave functions involved generate the same probability distribution function? Are you for real? Now, a group of researchers has extended previous work to show that, yes, under a wide range of conditions, these two points of view do differ. They show that the wave function must in some sense represent the observed system rather than what the observer knows about the system. Advertisement
Their work essentially boils down to creating a measure of how much two probability distribution functions overlap.