Non-Accessible Mass and the Ontology of GRW

Abstract

The Mass Density approach to GRW (GRWm for short) has been widely discussed in the quantum foundations literature. A crucial feature of GRWm is the introduction of a relation of accessibility for mass, which allows to explain the determinacy of experimental outcomes thus also addressing the tails problem of GRW. However, the relation of accessibility leaves the ontological meaning of the non-accessible portion of mass utterly unexplained. In this paper I discuss two viable approaches to non-accessible mass, which I call anti-realist and realist, and will defend the latter. First, I show that the anti-realist approach suffers from various objections. Second, I develop an account of non-accessible mass density states as objectively indeterminate states of affairs.

arXiv commentTo appear in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (2022, 91: 270-279). arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1501.05778 by other authors