Voices of Silence, Novelties of Noise: Oblivion and Hesitation as Origins of Quantum Mysteries

TL;DR

This paper introduces Quantum Oblivion and Quantum Hesitation as fundamental concepts explaining quantum counterfactuals, proposing novel mechanisms involving weak values and advanced actions that challenge traditional notions of time and causality.

Contribution

It offers a new explanation for quantum counterfactuals through Quantum Oblivion and hypothesizes Quantum Hesitation involving weak values and advanced actions, advancing understanding of quantum effects and time.

Findings

Quantum Oblivion underpins quantum counterfactuals and effects.

Weak values influence the causal structure of quantum events.

Implications for the nature of time and causality in quantum mechanics.

Abstract

Among the (in)famous differences between classical and quantum mechanics, quantum counterfactuals seem to be the most intriguing. At the same time, they seem to underlie many quantum oddities. In this article, we propose a simple explanation for counterfactuals, on two levels. Quantum Oblivion (QO) is a fundamental type of quantum interaction that we prove to be the origin of quantum counterfactuals. It also turns out to underlie several well-known quantum effects. This phenomenon is discussed in the first part of the article, yielding some novel predictions. In the second part, a hypothesis is offered regarding the unique spacetime evolution underlying QO, termed Quantum Hesitation (QH). The hypothesis invokes advanced actions and interfering weak values, as derived first by the Two-State-Vector Formalism (TSVF). Here too, weak values are argued to underlie the familiar "strong" quantum values. With these, an event that appears to have never occurred can exert causal effects and then succumb to QO by another time-evolution involving negative weak values that eliminate them. We conclude with briefly discussing the implications of these ideas on the nature of time.