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

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Referee this paper: arXiv:1604.07422 by Daniela Frauchiger, Renato Renner

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requested May 19, 2016

paper authored Apr 25, 2016 to quant-ph

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.

The authors provide a simple summary:

Main result (informal version) - There cannot exist a physical theory T that has all of the following properties:

• (QT) Compliance with quantum theory: T forbids all measurement results that are forbidden by standard quantum theory (and this condition holds even if the measured system is large enough to contain itself an experimenter).
• (SW) Single-world: T rules out the occurrence of more than one single outcome if an experimenter measures a system once.
• (SC) Self-consistency: T's statements about measurement outcomes are logically consistent (even if they are obtained by considering the perspectives of different experimenters).

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