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arxiv: 1804.00749 · v1 · pith:PHBF2TATnew · submitted 2018-04-02 · 🪐 quant-ph

A no-go theorem for observer-independent facts

classification 🪐 quant-ph
keywords wignerfactsfriendobserver-independenttheoremarxivdifferentno-go
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In his famous thought experiment, Wigner assigns an entangled state to the composite quantum system made up of Wigner's friend and her observed system. While the two of them have different accounts of the process, each Wigner and his friend can in principle verify his/her respective state assignments by performing an appropriate measurement. As manifested through a click in a detector or a specific position of the pointer, the outcomes of these measurements can be regarded as reflecting directly observable "facts". Reviewing arXiv:1507.05255, I will derive a no-go theorem for observer-independent facts, which would be common both for Wigner and the friend. I will then analyze this result in the context of a newly derived theorem in arXiv:1604.07422, where Frauchiger and Renner prove that "single-world interpretations of quantum theory cannot be self-consistent". It is argued that "self-consistency" has the same implications as the assumption that observational statements of different observers can be compared in a single (and hence an observer-independent) theoretical framework. The latter, however, may not be possible, if the statements are to be understood as relational in the sense that their determinacy is relative to an observer.

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Cited by 2 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. Quantum Reference Fields Transformations in Linearized Quantum Gravity

    gr-qc 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    Extends quantum reference frames to quantum reference fields in linearized quantum gravity and derives unitary maps implementing relational gauge-invariant observables between quantum perspectives.

  2. Wavefunctions localization, and the Wigner's Friend Paradox in a Framework of Discrete-Space Hypothesis

    quant-ph 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Wavefunction localization emerges dynamically from the Schrödinger equation on R x Q_p, allowing independent definite readings for Wigner and his friend as classical apparatuses and consistency with extended no-go the...