Related papers: Quantum Mechanics Without State Vectors
Quantum mechanics is usually presented starting from a series of postulates about the mathematical framework. In this work we show that those same postulates can be derived by assuming that measurements are discrete interactions: that is,…
It is possible to completely explain all aspects of quantum mechanics by expressing the relations between physical properties in terms of complex conditional probabilities (Phys. Rev. A 89, 042115(2014)). These fully deterministic…
The quantum density matrix generalises the classical concept of probability distribution to quantum theory. It gives the complete description of a quantum state as well as the observable quantities that can be extracted from it. Its…
The only evidence we have for a discrete reality comes from quantum measurements; without invoking these measurements, quantum theory describes continuous entities. This seeming contradiction can be resolved via analysis that treats…
In physics, every observation is made with respect to a frame of reference. Although reference frames are usually not considered as degrees of freedom, in all practical situations it is a physical system which constitutes a reference frame.…
How can quantum mechanics be (i) the fundamental theoretical framework of contemporary physics and (ii) a probability calculus that presupposes the events to which, and on the basis of which, it assigns probabilities? The question is…
Quantum mechanics is derived from the principle that the universe contain as much variety as possible, in the sense of maximizing the distinctiveness of each subsystem. The quantum state of a microscopic system is defined to correspond to…
Linearity allows several versions of reality to simultaneously exist in the state vector. But it implies that there is no interaction between versions, and that there will never be perception of more than one version. It also implies, in…
In this paper, without any priori assumption about the post-measurement state of system, we will examine how this state is restricted by assuming each of these following assumptions. First, by using this reasonable assumption that two…
Every quantum state can be represented as a probability distribution over the outcomes of an informationally complete measurement. But not all probability distributions correspond to quantum states. Quantum state space may thus be thought…
A theory of quantum measurement was introduced some time ago that was based on the notion of the so-called separation status. This separation status had a spatial, local character, so that the theory worked only in special cases.…
Students in quantum mechanics class are taught that the wave function contains all knowable information about an isolated system. Later in the course, this view seems to be contradicted by the mysterious density matrix, which introduces a…
We show that two chosen ensembles of spin states, which are differently prepared but are described by the same density matrix in quantum mechanics, do not fully share the same measurable characteristics. One characteristic on which they…
A unified conceptual foundation of classical and quantum physics is given, free of undefined terms. Ensembles are defined by extending the `probability via expectation' approach of Whittle to noncommuting quantities. This approach carries…
Recently, it has been argued that quantum mechanics is a complete theory, and that different quantum states do necessarily correspond to different elements of reality, under the assumptions that quantum mechanics is correct and that…
We show that it is possible to represent various descriptions of Quantum Mechanics in geometrical terms. In particular we start with the space of observables and use the momentum map associated with the unitary group to provide an unified…
Starting from a new principle inspired by quantum tomography rather than from Born's rule, this paper gives a self-contained deductive approach to quantum mechanics and quantum measurement. A suggestive notion for what constitutes a quantum…
We generalize classical statistical mechanics to describe the kinematics and the dynamics of systems whose variables are constrained by a single quantum postulate (discreteness of the spectrum of values of at least one variable of the…
The measurement problem and the role of observers have plagued quantum mechanics since its conception. Attempts to resolve these have introduced anthropomorphic or non-realist notions into physics. A shift of perspective based upon process…
The density operator of a quantum state can be represented as a complex joint probability of any two observables whose eigenstates have non-zero mutual overlap. Transformations to a new basis set are then expressed in terms of complex…