Abstract
Establishing (or falsifying) the special state theory of quantum measurement is a program with both theoretical and experimental directions. The special state theory has only pure unitary time evolution, like the many worlds interpretation, but only has one world. How this can be accomplished requires both “special states” and significant modification of the usual assumptions about the arrow of time. All this is reviewed below. Experimentally, proposals for tests already exist and the problems are first the practical one of doing the experiment and second the suggesting of other experiments. On the theoretical level, many problems remain and among them are the impact of particle statistics on the availability of special states, finding a way to estimate their abundance and the possibility of using a computer for this purpose. Regarding the arrow of time, there is an early proposal of J. A. Wheeler that may be implementable with implications for cosmology.
Highlights
The interpretation of the quantum measurement process has been a puzzle for about a century now.For most applications, the puzzle can be ignored
I remark that, since the early days of quantum mechanics, experimental technique has blurred the line between macro and micro, and there has never been any indication of any dynamics but unitary time evolution
The theory outlined above presents a coherent view of quantum measurement
Summary
The interpretation of the quantum measurement process has been a puzzle for about a century now. Perhaps a personal remark will not be out of place: proposing a solution to such a long-standing puzzle requires, as Bohr said [1], “a sufficiently crazy theory.”. Once the theory is reviewed, I discuss the numerous open problems. There is the matter of an experimental test. There is the matter of the abundance of special states. My feeling has been that the experimental test is the primary issue—given a positive result, theory will follow. I remark on the fact that there is an experimental test. This means that the theory to be advanced is not an interpretation, not a hidden variable theory. It has well-defined predictions and outcomes that differ from those predicted by either the Copenhagen interpretation or the Many Worlds interpretation (MWI) and their many variants
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