A discussion on individuality and identity in modal interpretations of quantum mechanics

DOMENECH, G., HOLIK, F. Y DE RONDE, C.

Bruselas, Bélgica

Congreso; Structure and Identity; 2007

The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts y Center Leo Apostel

The concept of individuality in quantum mechanics showsradical differences from the one used in classical physics. Inparticular, it is not possible to consider the fundamental particlesdescribed by quantum theory as individual distinguishable objects.In this paper we present arguments in favor of quantumnon-individuality, which ---in addition to those based on quantumstatistics--- relate to the Kochen-Specker theorem and the principleof superposition. Then, we analyze the possibility of referring to`possible individuals´ instead of `actual individuals´, and showthat the Modal-Kochen-Specker theorem precludes thisinterpretational move.