Postulating the Unicity of the Macroscopic Physical World

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the unicity of the macroscopic world is fundamental, using advanced operator algebra frameworks to better understand quantum mechanics and its relation to classical physics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach based on general operator algebras, moving beyond standard type I algebras, to construct a consistent framework for quantum and classical physics.

Findings

Provides a new perspective on quantum unicity as a fundamental postulate

Extends mathematical description of macroscopic systems using general operator algebras

Clarifies conceptual issues between classical and quantum physics

Abstract

We argue that a clear view on quantum mechanics is obtained by considering that the unicity of the macroscopic world is a fundamental postulate of physics, rather than an issue that must be mathematically justified or demonstrated. This postulate allows a framework in which quantum mechanics can be constructed, in a complete mathematically consistent way. This is made possible by using general operator algebras to extend the mathematical description of the physical world towards macroscopic systems. Such an approach goes beyond the usual type I operator algebras used in standard textbook quantum mechanics. This avoids a major pitfall, which is the temptation to make the usual type I formalism 'universal'. This may also provide a meta-framework for both classical and quantum physics, shedding a new light on ancient conceptual antagonisms, and clarifying the status of quantum objects. Beyond exploring remote corners of quantum physics, we expect these ideas to be helpful to better understand and develop quantum technologies.