Volume 19: Pages 29-42, 2006

Does the Wave‐Function of the Universe Exist?

Thomas Krüger

Bartels Feld B 7, 33332 Gütersloh, Germany

The overwhelming majority of scientists still take it for granted that classical mechanics (CM) is nothing but a limiting case of quantum mechanics (QM). Although some physicists restrict this belief to a generalized QM as represented, for example, by the algebra of observables, it will be shown in this contribution that the view of CM as a mere subset of QM is nevertheless unfounded. The usual attempts to derive the laws of CM from QM are either insufficient or not universally applicable. The transition from traditional to algebraic QM does not add any further insight. It is demonstrated that typical constituents of the classical macroscopic world (1) cannot be described reasonably in terms of QM and/or (2) do not demonstrate the typical quantum behavior that manifests in the double‐slit interference and in the Einstein—Podolsky—Rosen correlations. Moreover, both attempts to recover CM from QM and approaches based on vacuum fluctuations are critically inspected, and we arrive at the conclusion that QM does not comprise CM; i.e., a wave‐function of the universe does not exist.

Keywords: quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, wave‐particle duality, Einstein—Podolsky—Rosen correlations, solar system

Received: August 31, 2004; Published online: December 15, 2008