And thus the pain persists! Quantum theory is a very successful theory, if nor the most successful theory of all time… But we struggle to bring together a unified theory, and we also struggle with our interpretations. Some scientists don’t worry about the interpretation of physics… Other’s find the interpretation pivotal to our understanding of Quantum Physics.
The problem with quantum theory isn't just that it is incomplete, but that there are also countless problems - and here we shall quickly summarize a few of them through their vague interpretations...
The Copenhagen Interpretation:
Developed in 1920's by the 'father and mother' of physics called Niels Bohr. He named his work after his own town, in Denmark. This interpretation on fundamental behaviour became 'textbook' knowledge, and became the most accepted quantum interpretation ever devised. Though, despite this fact, as you may know, many have long abandoned this interpretation. With all of reality due to a collapse postulate, the observer and the observed play intrinsic roles. However, this world is shadowed by ignorism, and that the interpretation states that not everything can ever be known... that is, if it something isn't measurable or experimental, why bother contemplating such a fact?
Another problem was the infinitesimal world of fundamental coherency. Somehow - just somehow... particles merge together and create entire systems, despite being made up of quantum wave functions. The question is, without any particular collapse on the fundamental level, how do these statistics create whole entire systems? How does reality make sense, of what should be totally senseless? This paradox is most associated with the Schrödinger cat experiment. The Copenhagen interpretation is [vague] about this ''leap'' from the fundamental to the everyday objects we envision and perceive. For instance, it states that ''everyday objects are far too big to show any weird behaviour.''
Howsoever, this isn't enough for certain scientists, and it isn't really difficult to understand why. More was needed in physics... new science was just around the quantum corner...
The De Broglie-Bohm Interpretation:
First proposed by the 'quantum pioneer', Louis de Broglie, who believed that all quantum interaction and weirdness was all put down to ''pilot waves''. His idea was put down into theoretical development by the American physicist, David Bohm, who inexorably seeked for the clarity in the obvious vagueness of the standard interpretation by using 'hard law physics'. A quantum system is run by definite properties, even when not being observed, by virtue of a 'pilot wave' accompanying every particle.
However, all of this comes with the so-called, ''quantum potential;'' this is an all-spacetime filling field that is supposed to inform particles about their environment. It is this supposed field that ''tells'' particles how to behave when a certain apparatus is used to observe them... More importantly, the quantum potential is able to do all this at superluminal speeds. It was this that really brought the theory to a halt in the 1950's... however, it became revived in the 80's when the ''Aspect Experiment,'' which proved entanglement, had shown such instantaneous effects to be intrinsic within any good quantum theory.
The Existential Interpretation:
In the 1980's, a growing number of smartly-minded scientists and theoretical astrophysicists began to study the interactional coherency between quantum systems and their surrounding in a more investigated research.
The Existential Interpretation worked with, what is called, 'quantum decoherence,' which showed that fundamental laws are inconsistent when compared with everyday macroscopic quantum systems. In the 1990's, Wojciech Zurek of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, believes wholeheartedly that quantum decoherence does not cause the ''collapse'' of all but one of the possible conditions of a quantum system, but just affects some quantum states more than others. It is inexorably the value of things we observe everyday.
Dr. Zureks interpretation involves the Copenhagen interpretation - but eradicates the theory of the so-called 'collapse', and instead opts for the multiverse interpretation. However, as you might know, the Existential Model states the existence of 'decoherence,' which is a bona-fide fact of physics, as it is known to exist. So far, this interpretation cannot be disproved.
The Alternate Universe Interpretation
Also known as 'Multiverse Theory,' 'Many worlds Theory,' or 'Parallel Universe Theory'. Created by Hugh Everett the III, it was a way of explaining the estranged wavelike and particlelike properties by a constant merging and splitting off of universes. These universes come into existence due to the wave function, and no collapse occurs in this interpretation. Instead, the wave function represents our universe, splitting off into as many possibilities the wave function ascribes. The problem with this theory is that we have never observed another universe. Also, the theory itself is problematic, as it has a high improbability as being the correct interpretation that fits nature. This is because the idea of the constant splitting and merging brings out that little voice in the back of your head saying, 'something just isn't right.'
The idea of the universe, 'playing it safe,' like this, could explain why uncertainty appears in our reality - because every possible outcome is shared among every universe, paradoxically sharing the same space. However, in the writing of this book, i read a recent survey saying that Multiple Universe theory was a theory being increasingly considered by more and more scientists - but this is not going to deter me. If I’m wrong fine - we learn through our mistakes - but i am in opposition to the interpretation, though 'Ekpyrotic Cosmological Theory' amuses me.
So, which do you like, or do you think a better interpretation is round the corner?