Franklin and Seifert (2021) argue that solving the measurement problem of quantum mechanics (QM) also answers a question central to the philosophy of chemistry: that of how to reconcile QM with the existence of definite molecular structures. This conclusion may appear premature, however, because interactions play a crucial role in shaping molecules, but we generally lack detailed models of how this is accomplished. Given this explanatory gap, simply choosing an interpretation of QM is insufficient, unless the interpretation also has relevant (...) conceptual resources that address how spatially organized molecules are composed. This article seeks to close the gap, using the interpretation provided by relational quantum mechanics (RQM), along with a posited causal ontology. This framework, which entails the co-existence of multiple perspectives on systems within a single world, offers a path toward reconciling the quantum mechanical view of molecules with another conception more congenial to chemistry: that of molecules shaped by patterns of localizing interactions. (shrink)

Within quantum chemistry, the electron clouds that surround nuclei in atoms and molecules are sometimes treated as clouds of probability and sometimes as clouds of charge. These two roles, tracing back to Schrödinger and Born, are in tension with one another but are not incompatible. Schrödinger’s idea that the nucleus of an atom is surrounded by a spread-out electron charge density is supported by a variety of evidence from quantum chemistry, including two methods that are used to determine atomic and (...) molecular structure: the Hartree-Fock method and density functional theory. Taking this evidence as a clue to the foundations of quantum physics, Schrödinger’s electron charge density can be incorporated into many different interpretations of quantum mechanics. (shrink)