[PhilPhys] TOMORROW - Lunch Time Talk Shan Gao 3/19 -What Does Quantum Mechanics Tell Us about Reality?

[Center for Phil Sci]

The Center for Philosophy of Science invites you to join us for our upcoming lecture.  Attend in person at the University of Pittsburgh or visit our live stream on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.


Lunch Time Talk – Shan Gao

Introduction video - https://youtu.be/YhXv9Z8DqQQ

Tuesday, March 19 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
1117 Cathedral of Learning (11th Floor)

If you can't join us in person then follow along via Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/96924419429


Title: What Does Quantum Mechanics Tell Us about Reality?


Abstract:  Quantum mechanics is admittedly the most difficult subject to understand. Physicists and philosophers, let alone students and laymen, are still puzzled by it today. As Richard Feynman once famously claimed, nobody understood quantum mechanics. The crux of the matter lies in the meaning of the mysterious wave function in the theory. An electron is represented by a wave function. But it remains unclear what physical state the mathematical wave function represents. Exactly what is an electron? Is it a localized particle or a field spreading throughout space? If the electron is still a particle, then how does it move? e.g. how does a single electron pass through two slits?



In this talk, I will propose a new answer to these questions. First, I will introduce my interpretation of the wave function in terms of random discontinuous motion of particles (RDMP). According to this interpretation, a quantum system is composed of particles which undergo random discontinuous motion in three-dimensional space, and the wave function represents the propensities of these particles which determine their random discontinuous motion. Next, I will argue that the RDMP interpretation of the wave function may help solve the notorious measurement problem. The resulting picture of reality is time division multiverse, in which worlds exist in a time-division multiplexing way.
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