Local Quantum Mechanics

Everett, Many Worlds, and Reality
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-0-19-779273-5
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 424 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 210 mm

Local Quantum Mechanics explores the idea that, if one adopts the many worlds interpretation, then one can avoid what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance,” the non-locality that is supposed to be a consequence of quantum entanglement according to other approaches. The essays in this volume aim first to articulate a clear and defensible formulation of the argument from locality for preferring the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics over its rivals, and then evaluate it.

In this volume, editor Alyssa Ney brings together contributors from both philosophy and physics to question in what sense those in quantum foundations should care about locality. In particular, Local Quantum Mechanics explores whether and how an interpretation of quantum mechanics should avoid action at a distance to maintain consistency with special relativity. Finally, these essays assess whether the many worlds interpretation needs a particular metaphysical or mathematical interpretation to achieve the aim of providing a local interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ney, Alyssa

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Preface

- List of Contributors

- Introduction

- Part I: The Search for a Local Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

- Chapter 1: Christopher G. Timpson and David Wallace, Locality in Everett: Dynamics vs. Ontology”

- Chapter 2: Lev Vaidman, The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is the Only Way to Avoid Action at a Distance

- Chapter 3: Siddharth Muthukrishnan, Many Worlds as Anti-Conspiracy Theory

- Chapter 4: Emily Adlam, Should Everettians Aspire to Locality?

- Part II: The Metaphysics of the Many Worlds Interpretation: Branching, Divergence, and Locality

- Chapter 5: Nadia Blackshaw, Nick Huggett, and James Ladyman, Decoherence, Branching and Locality

- Chapter 6: Alyssa Ney, Branching (Almost) Everywhere and All at Once

- Chapter 7: Alistair Wilson, Explanations of and in Worlds

- Chapter 8: Guido Bacciagaluppi, The Relativity of Branching

- Chapter 9: Kelvin McQueen and Mordecai Waegell, Nonlocal Action in Everettian Quantum Mechanics

- Part III: Locality and the Mathematics of Everettian Quantum Mechanics

- Chapter 10: Sam Kuypers, Restoring Locality

- Chapter 11: Charles Bédard, Realism and the Inequivalence of the Two Quantum Pictures

- Chapter 12: Eugene Chua and Charles Sebens, Relativistic Locality from Electromagnetism to Quantum Field Theory

- Chapter 13: Simon Saunders, Physical Interpretation in the Everett Interpretation, and Bell Inequalities

Über Autor(innen)

Alyssa Ney is Professor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, and Religious Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich. She is the author of The Fundamentality of Physics, The World in the Wave Function, and Metaphysics: An Introduction, as well as numerous articles in metaphysics and philosophy of physics. She holds degrees in both physics and philosophy and is past-president of the Society for the Metaphysics of Science.