• DOI:10.3390/sym2010272
• Corpus ID: 16960894

Time-Symmetric Boundary Conditions and Quantum Foundations

@article{Wharton2010TimeSymmetricBC,
  title={Time-Symmetric Boundary Conditions and Quantum Foundations},
  author={Ken B. Wharton},
  journal={Symmetry},
  year={2010},
  volume={2},
  pages={272-283}
}

• K. Wharton
• Published 8 March 2010
• Philosophy
• Symmetry

Despite the widely-held premise that initial boundary conditions (BCs) corresponding to measurements/interactions can fully specify a physical subsystem, a literal reading of Hamilton’s principle would imply that both initial and final BCs are required (or more generally, a BC on a closed hypersurface in spacetime). Such a time-symmetric perspective of BCs, as applied to classical fields, leads to interesting parallels with quantum theory. This paper will map out some of the consequences of this counter-intuitive premise, as applied to covariant classical fields. The most notable result is the contextuality of fields constrained in this manner, naturally bypassing the usual arguments against so-called “realistic” interpretations of quantum phenomena.