Postulating the Unicity of the Macroscopic Physical World

• Published in: Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 25; no. 12; p. 1600
• Main Authors: Van Den Bossche, Mathias, Grangier, Philippe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 29.11.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: contextuality; operator algebra; Physics; Quantum field theory; Quantum mechanics; Quantum physics; Quantum theory; operator algebra; contextuality; quantum physics
• ISSN: 1099-4300; 1099-4300
• DOI: 10.3390/e25121600

We argue that a clear view of quantum mechanics is obtained by considering that the unicity of the macroscopic world is a fundamental postulate of physics, rather than an issue that must be mathematically justified or demonstrated. This postulate allows for a framework in which quantum mechanics can be constructed in a complete mathematically consistent way. This is made possible by using general operator algebras to extend the mathematical description of the physical world toward macroscopic systems. Such an approach goes beyond the usual type-I operator algebras used in standard textbook quantum mechanics. This avoids a major pitfall, which is the temptation to make the usual type-I formalism 'universal'. This may also provide a meta-framework for both classical and quantum physics, shedding new light on ancient conceptual antagonisms and clarifying the status of quantum objects. Beyond exploring remote corners of quantum physics, we expect these ideas to be helpful to better understand and develop quantum technologies.