The modal-Hamiltonian interpretation of quantum mechanics: physical relevance and philosophical implications

OLIMPIA LOMBARDI; SEBASTIAN FORTIN; JUAN SEBASTIÁN ARDENGHI; MARIO CASTAGNINO

Quantum Mechanics

Nova Science Publishers Inc

Lugar: New York; Año: 2010;

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:ES; mso-fareast-language:ES;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> The problem of the interpretation of quantum mechanics is certainly one of the most discussed topics in the foundations of physics. More than a hundred years after the birth of the theory, there is still no consensus about how its main concepts have to be understood.  Nevertheless, during the last decades, the traditional instrumentalist interpretations have begun to loose their original strength, and several realist readings have been proposed.  Among them, and inspired in the works of van Fraassen (1972, 1973, 1974), modal interpretations are realist, non-collapse interpretations, according to which the quantum state of a system describes the possible properties of the system rather than the properties that it actually possesses.