The Possibilist Transactional Interpretation and Relativity

TL;DR

This paper extends the Possibilist Transactional Interpretation of quantum mechanics to the relativistic domain, clarifying the role of absorption and coupling amplitudes in measurement processes involving quantum fields.

Contribution

It introduces a relativistic version of PTI, providing new insights into the role of absorption and coupling amplitudes in quantum measurement.

Findings

Coupling amplitudes interpreted as confirmation wave generation probabilities.

Relativistic domain necessary for understanding quantum measurement.

Nonrelativistic quantum mechanics insufficient for measurement explanation.

Abstract

A recent ontological variant of Cramer's Transactional Interpretation, called "Possibilist Transactional Interpretation" or PTI, is extended to the relativistic domain. The present interpretation clarifies the concept of 'absorption,' which plays a crucial role in TI (and in PTI). In particular, in the relativistic domain, coupling amplitudes between fields are interpreted as amplitudes for the generation of confirmation waves (CW) by a potential absorber in response to offer waves (OW), whereas in the nonrelativistic context CW are taken as generated with certainty. It is pointed out that solving the measurement problem requires venturing into the relativistic domain in which emissions and absorptions take place; nonrelativistic quantum mechanics only applies to quanta considered as 'already in existence' (i.e., 'free quanta'), and therefore cannot fully account for the phenomenon of measurement, in which quanta are tied to sources and sinks.