Graph explorer

Randomness? What randomness?

This is a review of the issue of randomness in quantum mechanics, with special emphasis on its ambiguity; for example, randomness has different antipodal relationships to determinism, computability, and compressibility. Following a (Wittgensteinian) philosophical discussion of randomness in general, I argue that deterministic interpretations of quantum mechanics (like Bohmian mechanics or 't Hooft's Cellular Automaton interpretation) are strictly speaking incompatible with the Born rule. I also stress the role of outliers, i.e. measurement outcomes that are not 1-random. Although these occur with low (or even zero) probability, their very existence implies that the no-signaling principle used in proofs of randomness of outcomes of quantum-mechanical measurements (and of the safety of quantum cryptography) should be reinterpreted statistically, like the second law of thermodynamics. In appendices I discuss the Born rule and its status in both single and repeated experiments, and review the notion of 1-randomness introduced by Kolmogorov, Chaitin, Martin-Lo"f, Schnorr, and others.

6 nodes5 linksoverview previewRandomness? What randomness?
6 nodes5 links
Randomness? What randomness?6 visible / 6 total nodes / 5 links
AuthorshipTopic signalTopic signalTopic signalTopic signalWRandomness? What randomness?preprint / 2019AKlaas LandsmanResearcherTquant-ph17817 worksTmath-ph7974 worksTmath.MP7972 worksTphysics.hist-ph641 works
PaperSignal 105 links

Randomness? What randomness?

preprint / 2019

Open