Observables, Disassembled
History and Philosophy of Physics
2016-10-26 v1 Mathematical Physics
math.MP
Quantum Physics
Abstract
This paper argues that non-self-adjoint operators can be observables. There are only four ways for this to occur: non-self-adjoint observables can either be normal operators, or be symmetric, or have a real spectrum, or have none of these three properties. I explore each of these four classes of observables, arguing that the class of normal operators provides an equivalent formulation of quantum theory, whereas the other classes considerably extend it.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1610.07637,
title = {Observables, Disassembled},
author = {Bryan W. Roberts},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1610.07637},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
34 Pages, 6 Figures