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SUMMARY:Quantum States: Are they the real thing? - Terry Rudolph (Imperial
  College London)
DTSTART:20120531T113000Z
DTEND:20120531T123000Z
UID:TALK37868@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Paul Skrzypczyk
DESCRIPTION:What is the quantum state? There is no widely agreed answer to
  this question\, despite the ubiquitous and crucial role this mathematical
  object plays in our lives. Two broad schools of thought can be identified
 . The "ontic view" is that the quantum state describes (partially or compl
 etely) the real physical state of affairs. The "epistemic view" is that it
  instead represents some agent's knowledge or information about the physic
 al system in question.\n\nAlthough there are many compelling reasons to fa
 vour the epistemic view\, I will show that only the ontic view is compatib
 le with three notions seemingly indispensible to science: (i) the existenc
 e of systems with physical properties (ii) the idea that measurements resp
 ond to\, and reveal aspects of\, those properties and (iii) the ability to
  perform independent experiments.\n\nThis result will hopefully leave you 
 as uncomfortable about the status of the quantum state as I am\, and perha
 ps\, like me\, after the talk you will find yourself requiring some fortif
 ication before having the courage to step out into reality...
LOCATION:MR2\, Centre for Mathematical Sciences
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