The Quantum State: From Entity Description to Relational Potential

What is the quantum state? In standard interpretations, it is often regarded as a complete description of a system — a mathematical object that encodes everything that can be known, predicted, or measured. But this apparent clarity masks a deep confusion: what kind of thing is the quantum state?

From a relational perspective, the quantum state is not a representation of a system’s intrinsic properties. It is a map of potential coherence — a structure of constraint within which actualisation may occur, shaped by prior selections and ongoing affordances.

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1. Conventional Views of the Quantum State

• Copenhagen: the state encodes probabilistic tendencies, collapsing into definite outcomes upon measurement.

• Many-worlds: the state evolves unitarily and branches into parallel outcomes.

• Bohmian mechanics: the state guides particle trajectories via a pilot wave.

• Information-based: the state reflects an observer’s knowledge, not an objective feature of the world.

Despite their differences, these interpretations often share an underlying assumption: that the state represents something — a particle, a field, a world, or a set of beliefs.

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2. Relational Reframing of the Quantum State

• The quantum state does not belong to an entity; it expresses a configuration of possible relational actualisations,

• It is not a thing, nor a description of a thing, but a structured set of constraints on how coherence can unfold,

• The state evolves, not as a trajectory through an underlying reality, but as a reconfiguration of constraint topology within a system.

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3. Superposition Revisited

• Superposition is not a system “being in many states at once,” but a condition of unresolved potential within relational constraint,

• It describes the shape of what could be actualised, depending on the cut (i.e. the measurement interaction) introduced into the field,

• Thus, the “indeterminacy” of quantum states is not a sign of randomness, but of open coherence — a system poised for selection.

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4. Density Matrices, Mixed States, and Openness

• The formalism of quantum theory already encodes the openness of systems — density matrices, decoherence, and entanglement all point to a deeper truth:

• There is no isolated system. The quantum state is always relative to a larger field of relation,

• In relational terms, this is not a defect or complication — it is the ontological starting point.

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Closing

The quantum state is not a snapshot of an object in flux. It is a field of potential coherence, sculpted by constraint and expressed through patterns of possible actualisation. To treat it as the “real state” of a particle is to mistake a moment of systemic tension for a self-contained entity.

In our next post, we will explore how this perspective dissolves the divide between system and environment, showing that the very notion of a “quantum system” must itself be rethought.