PHIL 146: Philosophy of PhysicsMidterm Exam #2

  1. What is the ontology and the dynamics of GRWf (with the flash ontology)
    and GRWm (with the mass density ontology)? What is the ontology and the
    dynamics of Bohmian mechanics? Please aim for precision and completeness
    in your answers.
  2. How does the GRW theory solve the measurement problem (you may ignore
    the tails problem here)? How does Bohmian mechanics solve the measurement
    problem? Please feel free to use Schrödinger’s cat to illustrate.
  3. What is non-locality (as proved in Bell’s theorem)? In what way is the GRW
    theory non-local? In what way is Bohmian mechanics non-local?
    4.How is the conditional wave function defined in Bohmian mechanics? Please
    be very clear. Can the same conditional wave function be defined in the GRW
    theory? Why or why not?
  4. How does Bohmian mechanics explain the interference patterns in the Double
    Slit experiment? How does it explain the absence of interference patterns in
    the Double Slit with Monitoring experiment? Hint: you may use Figure 24,
    Figure 25, and Figure 26 from MAU in your answer, but please make sure to
    explain what the curves mean physically.