A New Approach to Understanding Quantum Mechanics: Illustrated Using a Pedagogical Model over ℤ2

• Published in: AppliedMath 2024-06, Vol.4 (2), p.468-494
• Main Author: Ellerman, David
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: equivalence relations; indistinguishability; mathematics of quantum mechanics; objective indefiniteness; partitions; vector spaces over ℤ2
• ISSN: 2673-9909; 2673-9909
• DOI: 10.3390/appliedmath4020025

The new approach to quantum mechanics (QM) is that the mathematics of QM is the linearization of the mathematics of partitions (or equivalence relations) on a set. This paper develops those ideas using vector spaces over the field Z2={0.1} as a pedagogical or toy model of (finite-dimensional, non-relativistic) QM. The 0,1-vectors are interpreted as sets, so the model is “quantum mechanics over sets” or QM/Sets. The key notions of partitions on a set are the logical-level notions to model distinctions versus indistinctions, definiteness versus indefiniteness, or distinguishability versus indistinguishability. Those pairs of concepts are the key to understanding the non-classical ‘weirdness’ of QM. The key non-classical notion in QM is the notion of superposition, i.e., the notion of a state that is indefinite between two or more definite- or eigen-states. As Richard Feynman emphasized, all the weirdness of QM is illustrated in the double-slit experiment, so the QM/Sets version of that experiment is used to make the key points.