On testimony in scenarios with Wigner and Friend

The paper constructs a semi-formal language suited to the analysis of Wigner’s Friend scenarios: it represents an epistemic notion of rational beliefs and perspectives, to accommodate the insights of perspectival interpretations of quantum mechanics. The language is then used to analyze a paradox put forward by Frauchiger and Renner (Nat Commun, 9(1):3711, 2018). Their argument is presented as a semi-formal derivation with specified rules of reasoning. These rules bear an affinity to some of the cherished tenets of epistemology and we argue that they are valid (one universally, and the other in experimental contexts). Since our proof is a reductio, it leaves a choice which premises are responsible for a contradiction. Our first choice is a step that appears incorrect from the point of view of the universal unitary evolution as well as the view that every measurement induces a collapse of a measured system’s state. Our second choice, brought to view by the paper’s attention to perspectives and epistemology, points to a step reporting the transmission of beliefs (testimony) about measurement results. We argue that testimony is not licensed by quantum mechanical formalism; we discuss some recent attempts to save the cogency of testimony in the context of quantum measurements.