English

Betting on Quantum Objects

History and Philosophy of Physics 2017-07-31 v3 Quantum Physics

Abstract

Dutch book arguments have been applied to beliefs about the outcomes of measurements of quantum systems, but not to beliefs about quantum objects prior to measurement. In this paper, we prove a quantum version of the probabilists' Dutch book theorem that applies to both sorts of beliefs: roughly, if ideal beliefs are given by vector states, all and only Born-rule probabilities avoid Dutch books. This theorem and associated results have implications for operational and realist interpretations of the logic of a Hilbert lattice. In the latter case, we show that the defenders of the eigenstate-value orthodoxy face a trilemma. Those who favor vague properties avoid the trilemma, admitting all and only those beliefs about quantum objects that avoid Dutch books.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1707.06566,
  title  = {Betting on Quantum Objects},
  author = {Jeremy Steeger},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1707.06566},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

26 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; improved operational semantics, results unchanged

R2 v1 2026-06-22T20:53:04.390Z