Introducing the Q-based interpretation of quantum mechanics

This article outlines a novel interpretation of quantum theory: the Q-based interpretation.The core idea underlying this interpretation, recently suggested for quantum field theoriesby Drummond and Reid ([2020]), is to interpret the phase space functionQ—a transform ofthe better known Wigner function—as a proper probability distribution, roughly analogousto the probability distributionρin classical statistical mechanics.Here I motivate the Q-based interpretation, investigate whether it is empirically ad-equate, and outline some of its key conceptual features. I argue that the Q-based inter-pretation is attractive in that it promises having no measurement problem, is conceptuallyparsimonious and has the potential to apply elegantly to relativistic and field-theoretic con-texts.