BRCP Café

Oct 13, 2020 from 17:00 to 18:30
Online meeting

Discussion about how to understand the mysterious nature of quantum reality, in particular how to possibly develop new ontological frameworks for quantum theory.
The discussion starts with a presentation by Lorenzo Catani about the following:

Towards a new ontological framework for quantum theory

No-go theorems (Bell, Kochen-Specker, Spekkens, …) formally show the departure of quantum theory from classical theory. These are formulated adopting the ontological model’s framework, also known as hidden variable model’s framework, and characterize quantum theory with problematic (“fine-tuned”) properties. I will argue that the lesson to take from no-go theorems is to abandon the ontological model’s framework as the way to model reality. I will analyze what I believe to be the unnatural assumptions of such framework and I will propose a way to change it. The basic principle of the new notion of reality I propose is that for something to exist is for something to be recorded. I will motivate the principle and explore its consequences. In order to (try to) implement such proposal into a precise theory-independent mathematical framework I will make use of point-free topological spaces (locales). I will discuss why this new proposal should be promising for understanding quantum theory and I will present several open questions.

Recording of the event: https://chapman.zoom.us/rec/share/jfuoRo6MO8TgHvLlHeA1-NxpLHUUNtvNXwGE5NVOMNqDDzv3OwqTkVvoj36AnZo.1OBci_TkECg_y0dv