arXiv subjects

E. Okon

Publications and source records attributed to E. Okon.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Demystifying Relativistic Quantum Collapse

Non-relativistic objective collapse theories have been remarkably successful in addressing the conceptual problems of standard quantum mechanics. Despite substantial efforts, the project of extending them to the relativistic domain remains burdened by significant conceptual objections and technical challenges, often taken to cast doubt on the viability of the program as a whole. On the conceptual side, relativistic collapse theories have been claimed to face challenges involving tension between instantaneous collapse and relativity, frame-dependence of property values and probabilities, the possibility of superluminal signaling and the failure of narratability. On the technical side, persistent infinities, difficulties in constructing fully covariant frameworks and the apparent need for non-standard fields have hindered the development of workable models. In this paper, we offer a systematic rebuttal of the conceptual objections and provide a structured account of the remaining technical challenges. We conclude that relativistic collapse theories do provide a promising route toward a fully relativistic quantum framework that overcomes the conceptual limitations of standard quantum theory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

A disputable assumption behind the empirical equivalence between pilot-wave theory and standard quantum mechanics

The de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave theory asserts that a complete characterization of an $N$-particle system is given by its wave function together with the (at-all-times-defined) positions of the particles, with the wave function always satisfying the Schr\"odinger equation and the positions evolving according to the deterministic "guiding equation". A complete agreement with the predictive apparatus of standard quantum mechanics, including the uncertainty principle and the probabilistic Born rule, is then said to emerge from these equations, without having to confer any special status to measurements or observers. Two key elements behind the proof of this complete agreement are absolute uncertainty and the POVM theorem. The former involves an alleged "naturally emerging, irreducible limitation on the possibility of obtaining knowledge within pilot-wave theory" and the latter establishes that the outcome distributions of all measurements are described by POVMs. Here, we argue that the derivations of absolute uncertainty and the POVM theorem depend upon the questionable assumption that "information is always configurationally grounded". We explain in detail why the offered rationale behind such an assumption is deficient and explore the consequences of having to let go of it.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Fully Self-Consistent Semiclassical Gravity

A theory of quantum gravity consists of a gravitational framework which, unlike general relativity, takes into account the quantum character of matter. In spite of impressive advances, no fully satisfactory, self-consistent and empirically viable theory with those characteristics has ever been constructed. A successful semiclassical gravity model, in which the classical Einstein tensor couples to the expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor of quantum matter fields, would, at the very least, constitute a useful stepping stone towards quantum gravity. However, not only no empirically viable semiclassical theory has ever been proposed, but the self-consistency of semiclassical gravity itself has been called into question repeatedly over the years. Here, we put forward a fully self-consistent, empirically viable semiclassical gravity framework, in which the expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor of a quantum field, evolving via a relativistic objective collapse dynamics, couples to a fully classical Einstein tensor. We present the general framework, a concrete example, and briefly explore possible empirical consequences of our model.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Assessing Relational Quantum Mechanics

Relational Quantum Mechanics (RQM) is an interpretation of quantum theory based on the idea of abolishing the notion of absolute states of systems, in favor of states of systems relative to other systems. Such a move is claimed to solve the conceptual problems of standard quantum mechanics. Moreover, RQM has been argued to account for all quantum correlations without invoking non-local effects and, in spite of embracing a fully relational stance, to successfully explain how different observers exchange information. In this work, we carry out a thorough assessment of RQM and its purported achievements. We find that it fails to address the conceptual problems of standard quantum mechanics--related to the lack of clarity in its ontology and the rules that govern its behavior--and that it leads to serious conceptual problems of its own. We also uncover as unwarranted the claims that RQM can correctly explain information exchange among observers, and that it accommodates all quantum correlations without invoking non-local influences. We conclude that RQM is unsuccessful in its attempt to provide a satisfactory understanding of the quantum world.

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arXiv2022

Reassessing the strength of a class of Wigner's friend no-go theorems

Two recent, prominent theorems--the "no-go theorem for observer-independent facts" and the "Local Friendliness no-go theorem"--employ so-called extended Wigner's friend scenarios to try to impose novel, non-trivial constraints on the possible nature of physical reality. While the former is argued to entail that there can be no theory in which the results of Wigner and his friend can both be considered objective, the latter is said to place on reality stronger constraints than the Bell and Kochen-Specker theorems. Here, I conduct a thorough analysis of these theorems and show that they suffer from a list of shortcomings that question their validity and limit their strength. I conclude that the "no-go theorem for observer-independent facts" and the "Local Friendliness no-go theorem" fail to impose significant constraints on the nature of physical reality.

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arXiv2022

From locality to factorizability: a novel escape from Bell's theorem

While initial versions of Bell's theorem captured the notion of locality with the assumption of factorizability, in later presentations, Bell argued that factorizability could be derived from the more fundamental principle of local causality. Here we show that, contrary to what is commonly assumed, in order to derive factorizability from the principle of local causality, a non-trivial assumption, similar but strictly independent of settings independence, is required. Loosely speaking, such an extra assumption demands independence between the states of the measurement apparatuses. We conclude that it is possible to construct a model, satisfying both the principle of local causality and settings independence, but that, in virtue of violating this additional assumption--and thus factorizability--is able to break Bell's inequality.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Quantum spatial superpositions and the possibility of superluminal signaling

A recently proposed gedankenexperiment involving the (gravitational or electromagnetic) interaction between two objects--one placed in a state of quantum superposition of two locations--seems to allow for faster-than-light communication. However, it has been argued that, if the mediating fields are endowed with quantum properties, then the possibility for superluminal signaling is fully avoided. Moreover, in the gravitational case, this conclusion has been used to argue for the view that the gravitational field must be quantized. In this work, we clarify and complement some aspects of the discussion. In particular, by focusing on the way in which entanglement spreads across the components of the system, we offer some insights into the fundamental quantum features behind the impossibility of superluminal signaling and we provide a more general proof of such an impossibility in this and related protocols.

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arXiv2021

A reply to Rovelli's response to our "Assessing Relational Quantum Mechanics''

In a recent paper, Rovelli responds to our critical assessment of Relational Quantum Mechanics (RQM). His main argument is that our assessment lacks merit, because we fail to understand, or cope with, the premises of his theory; instead, he argues, we judge his proposal, blinded by the preconceptions inherent to ``our camp''. Here, we explicitly show that our assessment judges RQM on its own terms, together with the basic requirements of precision, clarity, logical soundness and empirical suitability. Under those circumstances, we prove false Rovelli's claim that RQM provides a satisfactory, realistic, non-solipsistic description of the world. Moreover, his reply serves us to further exhibit the serious problems of the RQM proposal, as well as the failures of its author to understanding the basic conceptual difficulties of quantum theory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

On Superdeterministic Rejections of Settings Independence

Relying on some auxiliary assumptions, usually considered mild, Bell's theorem proves that no local theory can reproduce all the predictions of quantum mechanics. In this work, we introduce a fully local, superdeterministic model that, by explicitly violating settings independence--one of these auxiliary assumptions, requiring statistical independence between measurement settings and systems to be measured--is able to reproduce all the predictions of quantum mechanics. Moreover, we show that, contrary to widespread expectations, our model can break settings independence without an initial state that is too complex to handle, without visibly losing all explanatory power and without outright nullifying all of experimental science. Still, we argue that our model is unnecessarily complicated and does not offer true advantages over its non-local competitors. We conclude that, while our model does not appear to be a viable contender to their non-local counterparts, it provides the ideal framework to advance the debate over violations of statistical independence via the superdeterministic route.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Wigner's convoluted friends

Considering a complicated extension of a Wigner's friend scenario, Frauchiger and Renner (FR) allegedly showed that "quantum theory cannot consistently describe the use of itself". However, such a result has been under severe criticism, as it has been convincingly argued to crucially depend on an implicit, non-trivial assumption regarding details of the collapse mechanism. In consequence, the result is not as robust or general as intended. On top of all this, in this work we show that a much simpler arrangement--basically an EPR setting--is sufficient to derive a result fully analogous to that of FR. Moreover, we claim that all lessons learned from FR's result are essentially contained within the original EPR paper. We conclude that FR's result does not offer any novel insights into the conceptual problems of quantum theory.

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arXiv2015

Less Decoherence and More Coherence in Quantum Gravity, Inflationary Cosmology and Elsewhere

In Crull (2015) it is argued that, in order to confront outstanding problems in cosmology and quantum gravity, interpretational aspects of quantum theory can by bypassed because decoherence is able to resolve them. As a result, Crull (2015) concludes that our focus on conceptual and interpretational issues, while dealing with such matters in Okon and Sudarsky (2014), is avoidable and even pernicious. Here we will defend our position by showing in detail why decoherence does not help in the resolution of foundational questions in quantum mechanics, such as the measurement problem or the emergence of classicality.

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arXiv2015

The Consistent Histories Formalism and the Measurement Problem

In response to a recent rebuttal of [1] presented in [2], we defend the claim that the Consistent Histories formulation of quantum mechanics does not solve the measurement problem. In order to do so, we argue that satisfactory solutions to the problem must not only not contain anthropomorphic terms (such as measurement or observer) at the fundamental level, but also that applications of the formalism to concrete situations (e.g., measurements) should not require any input not contained in the description of the situation at hand at the fundamental level. Our assertion is that the Consistent Histories formalism does not meet the second criterion. We also argue that the so-called second measurement problem, i.e., the inability to explain how an experimental result is related to a property possessed by the measured system before the measurement took place, is only a pseudo-problem. As a result, we reject the claim, defended in [2], that the capacity of the Consistent Histories formalism to solve it should count as an advantage over other interpretations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

The Black Hole Information Paradox and the Collapse of the Wave Function

The black hole information paradox arises from an apparent conflict between the Hawking black hole radiation and the fact that time evolution in quantum mechanics is unitary. The trouble is that while the former suggests that information of a system falling into a black hole disappears, the latter implies that information must be conserved. In this work we discuss the current divergence in views regarding the paradox, we evaluate the role that objective collapse theories could play in its resolution and we propose a link between spontaneous collapse events and microscopic virtual black holes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Quantum equivalence principle without mass superselection

The standard argument for the validity of Einstein's equivalence principle in a non-relativistic quantum context involves the application of a mass superselection rule. It is surprising that the consistency between such an important principle and quantum mechanics depends crucially on the imposition of a non-fundamental restriction. The objective of this work is show that, contrary to what the standard account holds, the compatibility between the principle of equivalence and quantum mechanics does not depend on the introduction of such a superselection rule. For this purpose, we consider the extended Galileo group, in which mass is treated as an operator, and show that within this scheme superpositions of different masses behave as they should in order to obey the equivalence principle.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Center of mass in special and general relativity and its role in an effective description of spacetime

In this contribution, we suggest the approach that geometric concepts ought to be defined in terms of physical operations involving quantum matter. In this way it is expected that some (presumably nocive) idealizations lying deep within the roots of the notion of spacetime might be excluded. In particular, we consider that spacetime can be probed only with physical (and therefore extended) particles, which can be effectively described by coordinates that fail to commute by a term proportional to the spin of the particles.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2008

Wires with Quantum Memory

We show that quantum particles constrained to move along curves undergoing cyclic deformations acquire, in general, geometric phases. We treat explicitly an example, involving particular deformations of a circle, and ponder on potential applications.

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arXiv2004

Generalized Quantum Relativistic Kinematics: a Stability Point of View

We apply Lie algebra deformation theory to the problem of identifying the stable form of the quantum relativistic kinematical algebra. As a warm up, given Galileo's conception of spacetime as input, some modest computer code we wrote zeroes in on the Poincare-plus-Heisenberg algebra in about a minute. Further ahead, along the same path, lies a three dimensional deformation space, with an instability double cone through its origin. We give physical as well as geometrical arguments supporting our view that moment, rather than position operators, should enter as generators in the Lie algebra. With this identification, the deformation parameters give rise to invariant length and mass scales. Moreover, standard quantum relativistic kinematics of massive, spinless particles corresponds to non-commuting moment operators, a purely quantum effect that bears no relation to spacetime non-commutativity, in sharp contrast to earlier interpretations.

hep-th↗

arXiv2004

Linear Form of 3-scale Relativity Algebra and the Relevance of Stability

We show that the algebra of the recently proposed Triply Special Relativity can be brought to a linear (ie, Lie) form by a correct identification of its generators. The resulting Lie algebra is the stable form proposed by Vilela Mendes a decade ago, itself a reapparition of Yang's algebra, dating from 1947. As a corollary we assure that, within the Lie algebra framework, there is no Quadruply Special Relativity.

hep-th↗