- #1
bohm2
- 828
- 55
This was a recent experiment done to determine the epistemic versus ontic status of ψ:
Can different quantum state vectors correspond to the same physical state? An experimental test
http://lanl.arxiv.org/pdf/1211.0942.pdf
If a physicist claims to have produced a system with a particular wave function, does this represent directly a physical wave of some kind, or is the wave function merely a summary of knowledge, or information, about the system? A recent no-go theorem shows that models in which the wave function is not physical, but corresponds only to an experimenter's information about a hypothetical real state of the system, must make different predictions from quantum theory when a certain test is carried out. Here we report on an experimental implementation using trapped ions. Within experimental error, the results confirm quantum theory. We analyse which kinds of theories are ruled out...The fundamental question of the interpretation of the wave function of a quantum system was partially resolved. If systems have real states, regardless of an experimenter or measurements performed, then a natural question is whether the quantum state is epistemic, i.e. corresponding merely to knowledge of these underlying real states. In the presented manuscript we tested for this specific possibility and ruled out the most natural class of such models to a high degree of confidence.
Can different quantum state vectors correspond to the same physical state? An experimental test
http://lanl.arxiv.org/pdf/1211.0942.pdf