Can the clicks of the detectors provide a complete description of Nature?

TL;DR

This paper argues that quantum detector clicks alone are insufficient to fully describe the universe's physical laws due to symmetry restrictions in quantum mechanics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the unitary symmetry of quantum mechanics limits what can be inferred solely from measurement outcomes.

Findings

Quantum outcomes do not uniquely determine physical laws.

Symmetry constraints restrict knowledge gained from detector clicks.

Complete universe description requires more than just measurement results.

Abstract

No matter how counterintuitive they are, quantum phenomena are all simple consequences of the laws of Quantum Mechanics. It is not needed to extend the theory with hidden mechanisms or additional principles to explain what Quantum Mechanics already predicts. This indubitable fact is often taken as supporting the view that all we can know about the universe comes from the outcomes of the quantum observations. According to this view, we can even learn the physical laws, in particular the properties of the space, particles, fields, and interactions, solely from the outcomes of the quantum observations. In this article it is shown that the unitary symmetry of the laws of Quantum Mechanics imposes severe restrictions in learning the physical laws of the universe, if we know only the observables and their outcomes.