Open research questions in Quantum Mechanics and Applications
321 gap statements mined from Quantum Mechanics and Applications papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 1,838 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.
Choosing where to publish on Quantum Mechanics and Applications? See the ranked Physics journals.
What the literature leaves open
The lack of a minimal quantum description of the Einstein-de Haas response, and the need for a novel exactly solvable model.
Entanglement and reciprocal dynamics of the Barnett and Einstein-de Haas responses in a quantum spin-rotor model · 2026 · DOIIt remains unclear whether detection defects in real EPR experiments are indeed loopholes or legitimate responses of the measured system, requiring further empirical investigation.
Loophole-free Bell inequality violation experiments verifying the realism and locality principles · 2026 · DOIThe lack of a unified perspective on the interpretation of quantum logics. The need for a new understanding of quantum logics as an ontological framework operating at a different epistemological level.
While the three-layer model allows logical resources at L1 to be reconsidered in light of structural pressures from L2, the extent to which classical logic can be substantively revised or replaced—rather than merely reinterpreted—remains underdeveloped.
The lack of a theory that is fully compatible with the continuous framework of quantum mechanics while also accurately describing the dynamics of wave function collapse. The need for a new approach to modeling and controlling continuously monitored quantum systems.
Future research can build on the paper's findings to further explore the role of observation and measurement in quantum physics. The study's results can inform the development of new quantum technologies. Further research can examine the implications of Bohr's concept of complementarity for our understanding of quantum measurement.
The study highlights the need for a better understanding of the role of psychological analogies in Bohr's interpretation of quantum measurement.
Future work will focus on operationalizing the framework through simulations and exploring its connections to other relational approaches in quantum mechanics and cosmology.
Reality as a Discrete Relational Structure: Frames, Form, and the Emergence of Probability and Time · 2026 · DOIThe quantum nature of reference-frame transformations is not fully understood. The concept of Quantum Reference Frames is still in its early stages. There is a need for a more comprehensive analysis of the experimental implications of the results.
The lack of a framework that treats the observer as an integral part of sensory information processing. The need for a quantum probability-based understanding of the observer effect in cognitive processes.
Subspace selection is proposed as a mechanism to prohibit pathways to certain states by setting their probabilities to zero, but the paper lacks explicit criteria or algorithms for determining which subspaces should be extracted during specific information processing tasks in the quantum epistemic framework.
The lack of a clear conceptual interpretation of the black hole information paradox. The need for a deeper understanding of the physical mechanisms underlying information preservation.
The Hidden Structure of Information in Black Holes: An Interpretation Based on Distortion, Scrambling, Encoding, and Informational Collapse (EN/PT) · 2026 · DOIA differential form of TCA with dL/dt as the primitive rate is needed for rigorous engagement with thermodynamics and electromagnetics, and is deferred.
Temporal Closure Algebra: A Formal Definition with Lean 4 Proofs and Physics Implications · 2026 · DOIThe De Giuseppe series does not address the problem of what the universe is, how it is structured in depth, and how the observable relates to foundation. The series does not provide a modal cosmogony, instead describing a physics of an already emerged cosmos.
THE MODAL DISCIPLINE OF LIGHT AND TIME: a critical–propositional analysis of the De Giuseppe Paradox series and Electric Time Theory in confrontation with the Theory of Objectivity · 2026 · DOIExploring the possibility of generalizing the developments to include more general discrete observables. Investigating the application of the treatment to other areas of quantum mechanics.
Bohmian Trajectories Within Hilbert Space Based Quantum Mechanics. Solution of the Measurement Problem · 2026 · DOIThe measurement problem in quantum mechanics is a long-standing issue. The traditional formalism of quantum mechanics invokes an ad hoc reduction/collapse postulate.
Bohmian Trajectories Within Hilbert Space Based Quantum Mechanics. Solution of the Measurement Problem · 2026 · DOIFurther development of the theory to include other types of measurements.
Many important field theories, including gravity, are not renormalizable. The existing method of renormalization does not work for non-renormalizable field theories.
The 'clumsiness loophole' in Leggett-Garg Inequalities tests, - The need for a protocol to witness the non-classicality of a system, - The difficulty of accessing the unknown system…
The experiments were performed using a three qubit Nuclear Magnetic Resonance quantum computer, which may not be representative of all physical systems - The lack of true measurements requires storing and combining partial results using an ancilla qubit - The assumption of non-invasive measurability is avoided, but other limitations may still…
Investigate the relation between source fluctuations and matter-decoherence models in more detail, - Explore the implications of the spectral-gap result for different types of sources, - Study the effects of collective branch-occupation correlations on the source…
Extension to the infinite-dimensional case, - Further work on the implications of the Timeless Histories…
Experimental verification of CDQC using a Talbot-Lau matter-wave setup.
Classical Dimensional Quantum Collapse (CDQC): The First Integrated Framework for Deterministic Reality · 2026 · DOIFurther exploration of the implications of the proposed interpretation. Investigation of the potential connections to quantum gravity and the behavior of matter in extreme environments.
The Hidden Structure of Information in Black Holes: An Interpretation Based on Distortion, Scrambling, Encoding, and Informational Collapse (EN/PT) · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the emergence of a complex Hilbert space from the Principle of Least Enforcement Cost (PLEC). The paper identifies a gap in the exclusion of the real numbers R and quaternions H as possible scalar fields.
APF Paper 5 Technical Supplement — Quantum Structure as Least-Cost Admissible Bookkeeping · 2026 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Quantum Mechanics and Applications
- The structure and properties of the sense of coherence scale · Social Science & Medicine · 1993 · 2,523 citations
- Bell’s theorem without inequalities · American Journal of Physics · 1990 · 2,029 citations
- A short introduction to the Lindblad master equation · AIP Advances · 2020 · 689 citations
- Quantum steering · Reviews of Modern Physics · 2020 · 617 citations
- The Problem of Measurement · American Journal of Physics · 1963 · 596 citations
- The Bowlby-Ainsworth attachment theory · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · 1979 · 504 citations
- The Theory of Quantum Liquids · American Journal of Physics · 1968 · 433 citations
- Quantum mysteries revisited · American Journal of Physics · 1990 · 376 citations
- On Hidden Variables and Quantum Mechanical Probabilities · American Journal of Physics · 1970 · 330 citations
- An introduction to QBism with an application to the locality of quantum mechanics · American Journal of Physics · 2014 · 317 citations
Most recent work
- A Relational Constraint Framework for Physics from Finite Measurement Structure · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- Resource-Theoretical Unification of Mpemba Effects: Classical and Quantum · Physical Review X · 2026
- No Dice: The Double-Slit Is Deterministic - Quantum Probability Is a Discrete Preimage Count · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- Operational Identifiability of Tensor Product Structures: Exact Rigidity Laws, a Two-Operation Threshold, and an Aliasing Limit · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- Forged Frames: Snapshot and Persistence Criteria Underdetermine Tensor Product Structures, and the Undercut Persists to d = 128 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- The Arrow of Time: Why the Future Differs from the Past, Forced by the Non-Invertible Fold · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- Paradox, Probability, and Quantum Reality: Explained with Physics and with Philosophy — and How Perception Works Within Them · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- How a Quantum Reality Gets Built: What Physics and the Older Teachings Each Say About the Observer's Part in Which Reality Becomes Real · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- The non-stabilizerness of fermionic Gaussian states · Quantum · 2026
- Why There Is Uncertainty: Heisenberg's Principle as a Counting Relation, Not a Continuum Bound · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
Find a gap in your own Quantum Mechanics and Applications sub-topic
This page shows what the Quantum Mechanics and Applications literature already flags as unresolved. To narrow it to your specific question, search the Research Gap Finder: the search is free with a free account and lists the papers closest to your topic first. Unlocking that topic (50 credits, charged once) fills the comparison table from our 7.9M-paper local library and writes the gaps from its rows.
Open the Research Gap Finder →