physics

Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics

Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics rather than just read about it. In short: There is a diversity of views that propose interpretations of quantum mechanics. They vary in how many physicists accept or reject them.

Key takeaways

Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

There is a diversity of views that propose interpretations of quantum mechanics. They vary in how many physicists accept or reject them. An interpretation of quantum mechanics is a conceptual scheme that proposes to relate the mathematical formalism to the physical phenomena of interest. The present article is about those interpretations which, independently of their intrinsic value, remain today less known, or are simply less debated by the scientific community, for different reasons.

History The historical dichotomy between the "orthodox" Copenhagen interpretation and "unorthodox" minority views developed in the 1950s debate surrounding Bohmian mechanics. During most of the 20th century, collapse theories were clearly the mainstream view, and the question of interpretation of quantum mechanics mostly revolved around how to interpret "collapse". Proponents of either "pilot-wave" (de Broglie-Bohm-like) or "many-worlds" (Everettian) interpretations tend to emphasize how their respective camps were intellectually marginalized throughout 1950s to 1980s. In this (historical) sense, all non-collapse theories are (historically) "minority" interpretations. The term 'Copenhagen interpretation' suggests some definite set of rules for interpreting the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics. However, no such text exists, apart from some informal popular lectures by Bohr and Heisenberg, which contradict each other on several important issues. It appears that the term "Copenhagen interpretation", with its more definite sense, was coined by Heisenberg in the 1950s, while criticizing "unorthodox" interpretations such as that of David Bohm. Before the book was released for sale, Heisenberg privately expressed regret for having used the term, due to its suggestion of the existence of other interpretations, that he considered to be "nonsense". Since the 1990s, there has been a resurgence of interest in non-collapse theories. Interpretations of quantum mechanics now mostly fall into the categories of collapse theories (including the Copenhagen interpretation), hidden variables ("Bohm-like"), many-worlds ("Everettian") and quantum information approaches. While collapse theories continue to be seen as the default or mainstream position, there is no longer any clear dichotomy between "orthodox" and "unorthodox" views. The Stanford Encyclopedia as of 2015 groups interpretations of quantum mechanics into five classes (all of which contain further divisions): "Bohmian mechanics" (pilot-wave theories), "collapse theories", "many-worlds interpretations", "modal interpretations" and "relational interpretations". Some of the historically relevant approaches to quantum mechanics have now themselves become "minority interpretations", or widely seen as obsolete. In this sense, there is a variety of reasons for why a specific approach may be considered marginal: because it is a very specialized sub-variant of a more widely known class of interpretations, because it is seen as obsolete (in spite of possible historical significance), because it is a very recent suggestion that has not received wide attention, or because it is rejected as flawed. As a rough guide to a picture of what are the relevant "minority" views, consider the "snapshot" of opinions collected in a poll by Schlosshauer et al. at the 2011 "Quantum Physics and the Nature of Reality" conference of July 2011. The authors reference a similarly informal poll carried out by Max Tegmark at the "Fundamental Problems in Quantum Theory" conference in August 1997. In both polls, the Copenhagen interpretation received the largest number of votes. In Tegmark's poll, many-worlds interpretations came in second place, while in the 2011 poll, many-worlds was at third place (18%), behind quantum information approaches in second place (24%). Other options given as "interpretation of quantum mechanics" in the 2011 poll were: objective collapse theories (9% support), quantum bayesianism (6% support) and relational quantum mechanics (6% support), besides consistent histories, de Broglie–Bohm theory, modal interpretation, ensemble interpretation and transactional interpretation which received no votes. In 2026, a poll to about 1600 recipients of the American Physical Society indicated that 36% adhered to Copenhagen interpretation. The rest adhered to many-worlds interpretation (11%), Qbism (9%), pilot-wave (de Broglie–Bohm) (6%), collapse theories (7%), consistent histories (5%) and others (13%). The remaining 13% answered "no opinion".

List of interpretations

Many-worlds

"Everettian" (many-worlds) interpretations as a whole were long a "minority" field in general, but they have grown in popularity. Multiple variants and offshoots of Everett's original proposal exist, which have sometimes developed the basic ideas in contradictory ways. Interpretations of an Everettian type include the following.

Many-minds interpretation "Cosmological interpretations", such as that proposed by Anthony Aguirre and Max Tegmark, in which the wavefunction for a quantum system describes not an imaginary ensemble of possibilities for what the system might be doing, but rather the actual spatial collection of identical copies of the system that exist in the infinite space that is, hypothetically, generated by eternal inflation. "Self-locating uncertainty" interpretation Relative state interpretation

Quantum information

QBism and other variants of Quantum Bayesianism Relational quantum mechanics treats the state of a quantum system as being observer-dependent, that is, the state is the relation between the observer and the system. While a relational conception of quantum states dates back at least to Grete Hermann in 1935, in modern usage "relational quantum mechanics" refers to an interpretation delineated by Carlo Rovelli in 1996. It uses some ideas from John Archibald Wheeler about quantum information.

Hidden variables

"Bohm-like" (hidden variable) theories as a whole are a "minority view" as compared to Copenhagen-type or many-worlds (Everettian) interpretations.

Popper's propensity-based interpretation Stochastic interpretation, the most well-known variant of which was due to Edward Nelson, further elaborated upon by a conjecture of Francesco Calogero Time-symmetric interpretations Transactional interpretation Zitterbewegung interpretation Sutherland Interpretation Indivisible stochastic process interpretation

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics

In research: Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Interpretations of quantum mechanics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics in simple terms?

There is a diversity of views that propose interpretations of quantum mechanics. They vary in how many physicists accept or reject them.

Why does Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Minority interpretations of quantum mechanics.