Copenhagen and Many Worlds do not employ the same math. Many Worlds posits a single dynamical evolution law, given by Schrodinger’s equation. Copenhagen supplements this with an intermittent stochastic collapse process (Von Neumann’s Process 2). So Copenhagen vs. MWI is a question open to empirical test.
There are certain interpretations that are empirically indistinguishable from MWI. Bohmian mechanics is an example, although even here the math is different but this difference is postulated to be epistemically inaccessible.
EDIT: I think calling Copenhagen, MWI, Bohm, GRW, etc. different interpretations of a single theory is pretty misleading, suggesting that they are different models of the same axiomatic system. They should really be regarded as different theories, with a large amount of overlap in their mathematical structure.
There is no “intermittent stochastic collapse process” anywhere in the math of QM. The measurement is a black box with the Born rule to decide the outcome. Bohm is a different story, and not a happy one.
The measurement process in the orthodox interpretation isn’t just a means for determining outcomes. It also has an effect on the subsequent evolution of the wave function. There is a discontinuity in the dynamics before and after a measurement. I don’t see how that wouldn’t count as part of the math of the theory.
True, but there is nothing stochastic about this. Measurement is an external event controlled by an observer. The Born rule and the jump into an eigenstate is the math of it, nothing more, nothing less. The “Von Neumann’s Process 2” is an unnecessary interpretational mumbo-jumbo.
Copenhagen and Many Worlds do not employ the same math. Many Worlds posits a single dynamical evolution law, given by Schrodinger’s equation. Copenhagen supplements this with an intermittent stochastic collapse process (Von Neumann’s Process 2). So Copenhagen vs. MWI is a question open to empirical test.
There are certain interpretations that are empirically indistinguishable from MWI. Bohmian mechanics is an example, although even here the math is different but this difference is postulated to be epistemically inaccessible.
EDIT: I think calling Copenhagen, MWI, Bohm, GRW, etc. different interpretations of a single theory is pretty misleading, suggesting that they are different models of the same axiomatic system. They should really be regarded as different theories, with a large amount of overlap in their mathematical structure.
There is no “intermittent stochastic collapse process” anywhere in the math of QM. The measurement is a black box with the Born rule to decide the outcome. Bohm is a different story, and not a happy one.
The measurement process in the orthodox interpretation isn’t just a means for determining outcomes. It also has an effect on the subsequent evolution of the wave function. There is a discontinuity in the dynamics before and after a measurement. I don’t see how that wouldn’t count as part of the math of the theory.
True, but there is nothing stochastic about this. Measurement is an external event controlled by an observer. The Born rule and the jump into an eigenstate is the math of it, nothing more, nothing less. The “Von Neumann’s Process 2” is an unnecessary interpretational mumbo-jumbo.