What is a quantum-mechanical 'weak value' the value of?
Quantum Physics
2015-06-12 v3
Abstract
A so called 'weak value' of an observable in quantum mechanics (QM) may be obtained in a weak measurement + post-selection procedure on the QM system under study. Applied to number operators, it has been invoked in revisiting some QM paradoxes (e.g., the so called Three Box paradox and Hardy s paradox). This requires the weak value to be interpreted as a bona fide property of the system considered, a par with entities like operator mean values and eigenvalues. I question such an interpretation; it has no support in the basic axioms of quantum mechanics and it leads to unreasonable results in concrete situations.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1301.4328,
title = {What is a quantum-mechanical 'weak value' the value of?},
author = {Bengt E Y Svensson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.4328},
year = {2015}
}