Einstein's 1935 Letters to Schrödinger and Popper and the Boundaries of the PBR $ψ$-Epistemic Framework
Fuente:
arXiv
Gespeichert in:
| 1. Verfasser: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2025
|
| Schlagworte: | |
| Online-Zugang: | |
| Tags: |
Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
|
| _version_ | 1866915643230519296 |
|---|---|
| author | Weinstein, Galina |
| author_facet | Weinstein, Galina |
| contents | Einstein's 1935 critique of quantum mechanics is often associated with the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) argument, yet his private correspondence from that year reveals a more exact conceptual structure guiding his claim that the $ψ$-function is incomplete. This paper reconstructs Einstein's reasoning in his letters to Schrödinger and Popper and examines how it engages, and fails to engage with contemporary $ψ$-ontic/$ψ$-epistemic distinctions. Recent scholarship, most notably by Ben-Menahem, has interpreted Einstein as an early representative of the modern $ψ$-epistemic tradition within the Harrigan-Spekkens ontological models framework and the Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph (PBR) theorem. I argue, however, that this retrospective classification is undermined by Ben-Menahem's own distinction between realist and radical epistemic interpretations: Einstein's 1935 view lacks the structural assumptions - defined ontic state space, preparation distributions, and overlap structure - required for membership in the HS/PBR class of $ψ$-epistemic models. Any such identification, therefore, requires importing formal machinery foreign to Einstein's original argument. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_23125 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Einstein's 1935 Letters to Schrödinger and Popper and the Boundaries of the PBR $ψ$-Epistemic Framework Weinstein, Galina History and Philosophy of Physics Einstein's 1935 critique of quantum mechanics is often associated with the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) argument, yet his private correspondence from that year reveals a more exact conceptual structure guiding his claim that the $ψ$-function is incomplete. This paper reconstructs Einstein's reasoning in his letters to Schrödinger and Popper and examines how it engages, and fails to engage with contemporary $ψ$-ontic/$ψ$-epistemic distinctions. Recent scholarship, most notably by Ben-Menahem, has interpreted Einstein as an early representative of the modern $ψ$-epistemic tradition within the Harrigan-Spekkens ontological models framework and the Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph (PBR) theorem. I argue, however, that this retrospective classification is undermined by Ben-Menahem's own distinction between realist and radical epistemic interpretations: Einstein's 1935 view lacks the structural assumptions - defined ontic state space, preparation distributions, and overlap structure - required for membership in the HS/PBR class of $ψ$-epistemic models. Any such identification, therefore, requires importing formal machinery foreign to Einstein's original argument. |
| title | Einstein's 1935 Letters to Schrödinger and Popper and the Boundaries of the PBR $ψ$-Epistemic Framework |
| topic | History and Philosophy of Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.23125 |