Schrödinger’s unpublished work challenges quantum collapse ideas

Flavio Del Santo of the University of Geneva and Constructor University has unearthed a previously unknown manuscript revealing that Erwin Schrödinger drafted an explicit hidden-variable model in response to a 1944-45 debate in Nature over the foundations of quantum mechanics. This work demonstrates that hidden-variable models were not necessarily ruled out by the physics of the time. The model directly addressed an argument presented by J.W.T. Whittaker regarding Malus’ law, a principle governing the intensity of light after passing through a polarizer, and Schrödinger believed a simplifying assumption in Whittaker’s work led to a flawed conclusion. He detailed his counter-argument in a manuscript now fully transcribed and analyzed, revealing a subtle approach to the question of hidden variables and their compatibility with quantum theory. I reconstruct the historical context of this forgotten manuscript and publish here the first transcription and analysis. Schrödinger’s proposal should be understood as a…