English

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.

Keywords

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

R2 v1 2026-06-22T16:30:09.387Z