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On the Physical Reality of Quantum Waves

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The main interpretations of the quantum-mechanical wave function are presented emphasizing how they can be divided into two ensembles: The ones that deny and the other ones that attribute a form of reality to quantum waves. It is also shown why these waves cannot be classical and must be submitted to the restriction of the complementarity principle. Applying the concept of smooth complementarity, it is shown that there can be no reason to attribute reality only to the events and not to the wave or to the initial state of a given system. Thereafter, an experiment proposed by the authors is presented, where it is shown that the wave-like behaviour allows predictions that are not allowed on the grounds of a particle-like behaviour. In conclusion, we upheld that quantum waves must be real even if they do not belong to the same ontological level of events, which connected with particle detections.

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  1. Institute of Philosophy, University of Urbino, Urbino, 610 29, Italy

    Gennaro Auletta & Gino Tarozzi

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  1. Gennaro Auletta
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  2. Gino Tarozzi
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Correspondence to Gennaro Auletta.

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Institute of Philosophy, University of Urbino, Urbino 610 29, Italy; tarizzi@uniurb.it

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Auletta, G., Tarozzi, G. On the Physical Reality of Quantum Waves. Found Phys 34, 1675–1694 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-004-1309-y

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