English

GAP Measures and Wave Function Collapse

Quantum Physics 2026-02-24 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

GAP measures (also known as Scrooge measures) are a natural class of probability distributions on the unit sphere of a Hilbert space that come up in quantum statistical mechanics; for each density matrix ρ\rho there is a unique measure GAPρ_\rho. We describe and prove a property of these measures that was not recognized so far: If a wave function Ψ\Psi is GAPρ_\rho distributed and a collapse occurs, then the collapsed wave function Ψ\Psi' is again GAP distributed (relative to the appropriate ρ\rho'). This fact applies to collapses due to a quantum measurement carried out by an observer, as well as to spontaneous collapse theories such as CSL or GRW. More precisely, it is the conditional distribution of Ψ\Psi', given the measurement outcome (respectively, the noise in CSL or the collapse history in GRW), that is GAPρ_{\rho'}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.19993,
  title  = {GAP Measures and Wave Function Collapse},
  author = {Roderich Tumulka},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.19993},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

9 pages LaTeX, no figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T10:47:40.221Z