On the reality of the quantum state

Abstract

This paper explores the philosophical as well as the physical arguments made by Matthew Pusey, Jonathan Barrett and Terry Rudolph in their recently published article on the reality of the quantum state in order to attain a full understanding of the statements they make in their article. This is essential because not even all respondents to the article agree on how to interpret the article. In their article Pusey, Barrett and Rudolph present a no-go theorem; they show that a particular situation is, according to quantum theory, not physically possible if one were to be psi-epistemic about it. They argue that for this particular situation, or thought-experiment, the psi-epistemic interpretation makes predictions that are inconsistent with those predictions made by quantum theory itself.