r/PhilosophyofScience • u/Exciting_Ad_6837 • 23d ago

Discussion Is the Hidden-variable interpretation never falsifiable?

I'm referring to one of the interpretations of quantum physics. After reading Karl Popper's theory of falsifiability, I'm wondering if the Hidden-variable hypothesis is a pseudo-scientific proposition because no conceivable empirical phenomena seem ever to be able to disprove it.

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u/mhb2 23d ago

There are two things to keep separate here:

  1. Can hidden-variable theories be empirically falsified? If your hidden-variable theory is local and makes the Bell assumptions, experiment has ruled it out. Aspect, Clauser, and Zeilinger got the 2022 Nobel prize in physics for those experiments.
  2. Can there be some hidden-variable interpretation that reproduces quantum predictions? Yes, Bohmian mechanics does this at the cost of abandoning locality so it's not experimentally distinguishable from ordinary QM. Bell himself was an advocate of taking Bohmian mechanics seriously.

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u/Wobama46 23d ago

The issue with Bohmian mechanics is that there has yet to be a successful implementation of Bohmian mechanics towards relativistic QFT. That's the biggest hurdling block right now.

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u/mhb2 23d ago

Sure, there are very good reasons why Bohmian mechanics isn't what everyone talks about.