Meaning of counterfactual statements in quantum physics
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
David Mermin suggests that my recent proof pertaining to quantum nonlocality is undermined by an essential ambiguity pertaining to the meaning of counterfactual statements in quantum physics. The ambiguity he cites arises from his imposition of a certain criterion for the meaningfulness of such counterfactual statements. That criterion conflates the meaning of a counterfactual statement with the details of a proof of its validity in such a way as to make the meaning of such a statement dependent upon the context in which it occurs. That dependence violates the normal demand in logic that the meaning of a statement be defined by the words in the statement itself, not by the context in which the statement occurs. My proof conforms to that normal requirement. I describe the context-independent meaning within my proof of the counterfactual statements in question. {copyright} {ital 1998 American Association of Physics Teachers.}
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 657798
- Journal Information:
- American Journal of Physics, Vol. 66, Issue 10; Other Information: PBD: Oct 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Interpretations of quantum mechanics, joint measurement of incompatible observables, and counterfactual definiteness