Copenhagen Interpretation
The Copenhagen interpretation is the standard textbook interpretation of quantum mechanics. The term covers a range of divergent views, loosely related to Bohr's complementarity interpretation. The consensus of the physics community is that Einstein lost the debate to Bohr about the "completeness" of quantum mechanics at the Solvay conference of October 1927, and that Bohr's analysis of the experimental situation in quantum mechanics in terms of the notion of complementarity allows one to make sense of a universe that is indeterministic 'all the way down,' so that quantum states (that in general assign probabilities between 0 and 1 to the outcomes of experiments) are as complete as they can be.
It is difficult to pin down the Copenhagen interpretation. Heisenberg—who seems to have coined the term "Copenhagen interpretation" (see Howard's "Who Invented the Copenhagen Interpretation" for a discussion)—concedes differences between his own position and Bohr's, but concludes that "we really meant the same." The term is generally taken to cover such radical views as Wigner's, that "the quantum description of objects is influenced by impressions entering my consciousness" and John Wheeler's notion of a "participatory universe":
The dependence of what is observed upon the choice of experimental arrangement made Einstein unhappy.
This is a free page. This page contains 201 words. This
article contains 2,174 words (approx. 7 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Article with our Copenhagen Interpretation Access Pass.
