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No change in Hilbert space fundamentalism

arXiv Quantum Physics
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⚡ Quantum Brief
Physicist Ovidiu Cristinel Stoica challenges Hilbert space fundamentalism (HSF), a framework claiming all physical reality stems from the Hamiltonian operator and state vector alone, without needing additional structures like position observables. The paper argues HSF fails to explain temporal change—a core feature of observed reality—despite its claim that space, fields, and subsystems emerge from quantum states and operators. Published in February 2026, the analysis critiques HSF’s static nature, asserting it cannot account for dynamic processes like evolution or measurement outcomes over time. Stoica distinguishes the state vector (a unit vector) from wavefunctions, which require extra definitions like configuration space, undermining HSF’s minimalist foundations. This philosophical critique bridges quantum physics and metaphysics, questioning whether HSF’s abstract formalism can ever align with empirical observations of a changing universe.
No change in Hilbert space fundamentalism

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Quantum Physics arXiv:2602.20331 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 23 Feb 2026] Title:No change in Hilbert space fundamentalism Authors:Ovidiu Cristinel Stoica View a PDF of the paper titled No change in Hilbert space fundamentalism, by Ovidiu Cristinel Stoica View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Hilbert space fundamentalism (HSF) states that everything about the physical world is encoded in the Hamiltonian operator and the state vector (as a unit vector, not a wavefunction, which requires additional specification of a configuration space, a position basis, or the position observables). That all structures needed to describe reality, including subsystems, space, fields, emerge from these. I show that HSF can't account for our observations that the physical world changes in time. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2602.20331 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2602.20331v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2602.20331 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Ovidiu Cristinel Stoica [view email] [v1] Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:26:47 UTC (8 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled No change in Hilbert space fundamentalism, by Ovidiu Cristinel StoicaView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-02 Change to browse by: physics physics.hist-ph References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)

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Source: arXiv Quantum Physics