[This passage was excerpted from an
article published in 1979.]
Quantum mechanics is a highly
successful theory: it supplies methods
(5) for accurately calculating the results
of diverse experiments, especially with
minute particles. The predictions of
quantum mechanics, however, give only
the probability of an event, not a
(10) deterministic statement of whether or
not the event will occur. Because of
this probabilism, Einstein remained
strongly dissatisfied with the theory
throughout his life, though he did not
(15) maintain that quantum mechanics is
wrong. Rather, he held that it is
incomplete: in quantum mechanics the
motion of a particle must be described
in terms of probabilities, he argued,
(20) only because some parameters that
determine the motion have not been
specified. If these hypothetical
"hidden parameters" were known, a fully
deterministic trajectory could be
(25) defined. Significantly, this hiddenparameter
quantum theory leads to
experimental predictions different from
those of traditional quantum mechanics.
Einstein's ideas have been tested by
(30) experiments performed since his death,
and as most of these experiments support
traditional quantum mechanics,
Einstein's approach is almost certainly
erroneous.
27. The passage suggests that which of the following would have resulted if the experiments mentioned in lines 18-20 had not supported the predictions of traditional quantum mechanics?
(A) Einstein, had he been alive, would have revised his approach to quantum mechanics.
(B) Hidden-parameter theories would have been considered inaccurate descriptions of real-world phenomena.
(C) A deterministic description of the motion of a particle might still be considered possible.
(D) Quantum mechanics would have ceased to attract the attention of physicists.
(E) Einstein, had he been alive, would have abandoned attempts to specify the hidden parameters that describe motion.