Rethinking Collapse: Coupling Quantum States to Classical Bits with quasi-probabilities
Abstract
We propose a formulation of quantum measurement within a modified framework of frames, in which a quantum system - a single qubit - is directly coupled to a classical measurement bit. The qubit is represented as a positive probability distribution over two classical bits, a and a', denoted by p(aa'). The measurement apparatus is described by a classical bit , initialized in the pure distribution . The measurement interaction is modeled by a quasi-bistochastic process - a bistochastic map that may include negative transition probabilities, while acting on an entirely positive state space. When this process acts on the joint initial state , it produces a collapsed state , yielding the measurement outcome with the correct quantum-mechanical probability . This approach bypasses the von Neumann chain of infinite couplings by treating the measurement register classically, while capturing the nonclassical nature of measurement through the quasi-bistochastic structure of the interaction.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2512.03929,
title = {Rethinking Collapse: Coupling Quantum States to Classical Bits with quasi-probabilities},
author = {Dagomir Kaszlikowski and Pawel Kurzynski},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.03929},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
12 pages