Journal Article 1 Mention
"Relative State" Formulation of Quantum Mechanics
Hugh Everett1957
Top 5% · 95th percentile
3,222 citations · Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Summary

1 Sample Definition And Size

This is a theoretical physics paper; no empirical sample or sample size is involved.

2 Study Type

The paper presents a theoretical reformulation of quantum mechanics (a conceptual/theoretical study), not an empirical or experimental study.

3 Conflicts Of Interest

No conflicts of interest are declared in the paper; standard for theoretical physics publications of the era.

4 Results Summary

The key result is the formulation of quantum mechanics without the collapse postulate (“pure wave mechanics”), introducing the concept of relative states. Everett shows that observers, treated as physical systems, will have determinate relative measurement records, and that in the limit of many measurements, almost all relative sequences exhibit the standard quantum statistics via a typicality measure. Thus, the conventional probabilistic predictions are recovered as subjective appearances within a deterministic, no-collapse framework. ([plato.stanford.edu](https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/qm-everett/?utm_source=openai))

Abstract

The task of quantizing general relativity raises serious questions about the meaning of the present formulation and interpretation of quantum mechanics when applied to so fundamental a structure as the space-time geometry itself. This paper seeks to clarify the foundations of quantum mechanics. It presents a reformulation of quantum theory in a form believed suitable for application to general relativity. The aim is not to deny or contradict the conventional formulation of quantum theory, which has demonstrated its usefulness in an overwhelming variety of problems, but rather to supply a new, more general and complete formulation, from which the conventional interpretation can be deduced. The relationship of this new formulation to the older formulation is therefore that of a metatheory to a theory, that is, it is an underlying theory in which the nature and consistency, as well as the realm of applicability, of the older theory can be investigated and clarified.

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