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Permutations play an important role in both metaphysics and philosophy of physics: metaphysicians are interested in how (if at all) possible worlds are affected by permutations of the objects that inhabit those worlds; philosophers of physics are interested in how (if at all) permutations affect phy...

This paper examines the axioms of algebraic quantum field theory (AQFT) that aim to characterize the theory as one that implements relativistic causation. I suggest that the spectrum condition (SC), microcausality (MC), and primitive causality axioms (PC), taken individually, fail to fulfill this go...

To understand how problems of self-interaction are to be addressed in quantum electrodynamics, we can start by analyzing a classical theory of the Dirac and electromagnetic fields. In such a classical field theory, the electron has a spread-out distribution of charge that avoids some problems of sel...

A core tenet of Bayesian epistemology is that rational agents update by Bayesian conditionalization. Accuracy arguments in favor of this norm are well-known. Meanwhile, in the setting of quantum probability and quantum state estimation, multiple updating rules have been proposed, all of which look p...

Reconstructions of quantum theory are a novel research program in theoretical physics aiming to uncover the unique physical features of quantum theory via axiomatization. I argue that reconstructions represent a modern usage of the axiomatic method as successors to von Neumann’s axiomatizations in...

Orthodox quantum theory tells us that properties of quantum systems are represented by self-adjoint operators, and that two properties are incompatible just in case their respective operators do not commute. We present a puzzle for this orthodoxy, pinpointing the exact assumptions at play. Our solut...

The popular metaphysical view that concrete objects are grounded in their ultimate parts is often motivated by appeals to realist interpretations of contemporary physics. This paper argues that an examination of mainstream interpretations of quantum mechanics undercuts such atomist claims. First, me...

Why are quantum probabilities encoded in measures corresponding to wave functions, rather than by a more general (or more specific) class of measures? Whereas orthodox quantum mechanics has a compelling answer to this question, Bohmian mechanics might not.