Dr. John DeBrota

Personal information

John DeBrota is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Philosophy and Decision Theory at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy at LMU. Prior to this appointment, he was a postdoctoral fellow of the Center for Quantum Information and Control at the University of New Mexico (2022-2025) and a postdoctoral researcher at Tufts University (2020-2022). He received his PhD in Applied Physics from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2020.

Research interests

John is a theoretical physicist specializing in quantum foundations. His primary focus is QBism, an interpretation of quantum mechanics and ontological project that takes an agent's actions and experiences as the central concerns of the theory. His work has furthered the development of the QBist position as well as explored its technical consequences, particularly in the form of probabilistic reformulations and reconstructions of the structure of quantum theory. He is also interested in questions from the philosophy of mathematics and the philosophy of mind, especially as they intersect with the overarching theme of understanding what quantum theory can tell us about the nature of reality.

Selected publications

• DeBrota, J. B. and C. List (2026). “A heptalemma for quantum mechanics.” Foundations of Physics 56, 24.
• DeBrota, J. B., C. A. Fuchs, and R. Schack (2024). “QBism’s account of quantum dynamics and decoherence.” Physical Review A 110 (5), 052205.
• DeBrota, J. B., C. A. Fuchs, J. L. Pienaar, and B. C. Stacey (2021). “Born’s rule as a quantum extension of Bayesian coherence.” Physical Review A 104, 022207.
• DeBrota, J. B., C. A. Fuchs, and R. Schack (2020). “Respecting one’s fellow: QBism’s analysis of Wigner’s friend.” Foundations of Physics 50, 1859–1874.
• DeBrota, J. B., C. A. Fuchs, and B. C. Stacey (2020). “Symmetric informationally complete measurements identify the irreducible difference between classical and quantum systems.” Physical Review Research 2, 013074.