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e-Article

A Machian reformulation of Quantum Mechanics
Document Type
Working Paper
Source
Foundations of Physics (2022) 52:36
Subject
Quantum Physics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Language
Abstract
The widely known but also somewhat esoteric Mach principle envisages a fully relational formulation of physical theories without any reference to a concept of `absolute space'. When applied to classical mechanics, under the guise of an extended symmetry group, this procedure is known to lead to an equation of motion with inertial-like forces that are sourced by the mass distribution of the system itself. In this paper we follow a similar procedure and reformulate the Schr\"odinger equation of non-relativistic quantum mechanics in a fully Machian way. Just like its classical counterpart, the resulting quantum theory is fully relational in the positions and momenta of the bodies comprising a given physical system, leaving no room for the notion of absolute space.
Comment: 12 pages, no figures. Final published version