Deterministic quantum evolution through modification of the hypotheses of statistical mechanics

Abstract

It is claimed that for all apparatus capable of performing macroscopic measurements of microscopic systems there exist special internal states for which deterministic quantum evolution alone yields a particular macroscopic outcome rather than a superposition of macroscopically distinct outcomes. We maintain that these special states are distributed uniformly (in a certain sense) among the set of all states. It is hypothesized that for all actually performed experiments the initial conditions lie among the special states. We postulate that in the absence of precise information on apparatus initial conditions one should give equal weight to those microstates that are consistent with the macroscopic stateand are special in the sense used above. Evidence is presented for this postulate's recovering the usual quantum probabilities. This theory is fully deterministic, has no collapsing wave functions, and offers a resolution of the quantum measurement problem through a revision of the usual statistical mechanical handling of initial conditions. It requires a single wave function for the entire universe and an all encompassing conspiracy to arrange the right sort of special wave function for each experiment. In other words, an apparatus is in an appropriate microstate for the experiment that will actually happen even if an ostensibly random process is used to determine that experiment from among apparent alternatives. Although we do not provide physical or philosophical justification for our central hypothesis, some perspective is given by examining the notions implicit in the usual principles of thermodynamics.