Collapse models and spacetime symmetries

Abstract

A picture of dynamical collapse of the wave function which is relativistic and time symmetric is presented. The part of the model which exhibits these features is the set of collapse outcomes. These play the role of matter distributed in space and time. It is argued that the dynamically collapsing quantum state, which is both foliation dependent and follows a time-asymmetric dynamics, is not fundamental: it represents a state of information about the past matter distribution for the purpose of estimating the future matter distribution. It is also argued from the point of view of collapse models that both special and general relativistic considerations point towards a discrete spacetime structure and that gravity may not need to be quantised to give a theory that is consistent with quantum matter.