Related papers: Limitations imposed by complementarity
The classical mechanics of a finite number of degrees of freedom requires a symplectic structure on phase space C, but it is independent of any complex structure. On the contrary, the quantum theory is intimately linked with the choice of a…
Wheeler's delayed choice experiment, a well known manifestation of the complementarity principle, has proved somewhat difficult to physically interpret. We show that, restated in quantum field theoretic language, the experiment submits to a…
If the block universe view is correct, the future and the past have similar status and one would expect physical theories to involve final as well as initial boundary conditions. A plausible consistency condition between the initial and…
Wave--particle duality is a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, traditionally formulated under definite causal order. We investigate how complementarity is modified when the temporal order of operations is coherently superposed, as in the…
We propose an uncertainty-complementarity balance relation and build quantitative connections among non-locality, complementarity, and uncertainty. Our balance relation, which is formulated in a theory-independent manner, states that for…
A simple classical, deterministic, local situation violating the Bell inequality is described. The detectors used in the experiment are ideal and the observers who decide which pair of measuring devices to choose for a given pair of…
We consider the situation of a physical entity that is the compound entity consisting of two 'separated' quantum entities. In earlier work it has been proven by one of the authors that such a physical entity cannot be described by standard…
We introduce a hierarchical classification of theories that describe systems with fundamentally limited information content. This property is introduced in an operational way and gives rise to the existence of mutually complementary…
Decoherence may not solve all of the measurement problems of quantum mechanics. It is proposed that a solution to these problems may be to allow that superpositions describe physically real systems in the following sense. Each quantum…
Optical experiments designed to explore quantum complementarity are reanalyzed. It is argued that, for each, a classical explanation is not only possible, but more coherent and less contrived. The final conclusion is that these experiments…
Quantum coherence, incompatibility, and quantum correlations are fundamental features of quantum physics. A unified view of those features is crucial for revealing quantitatively their intrinsic connections. We define the relative quantum…
The existence of incompatible measurements, i.e. measurements which cannot be performed simultaneously on a single copy of a quantum state, constitutes an important distinction between quantum mechanics and classical theories. While…
The paper reviews and discusses four ideas scattered in previous papers of the author. First, objective properties of quantum systems are not associated with observables but are defined by preparations. Second, measurable results of…
The Suppes-Zanotti inequalities involving the joint expectations of just three binary quantum observables are (re-)derived by the hull computation of the respective correlation polytope. A min-max calculation reveals its maximal quantum…
It is a fundamental consequence of the superposition principle for quantum states that there must exist non-orthogonal states, that is states that, although different, have a non-zero overlap. This finite overlap means that there is no way…
The limited distinctness of physical systems is roughly expressed by uncertainty relations. Here we show distinctness is a finite resource we can exactly count to define basic physical quantities, limits to the resolution of space and time,…
We reconsider a well known problem of quantum theory, i.e. the so called measurement (or macro-objectification) problem, and we rederive the fact that it gives rise to serious problems of interpretation. The novelty of our approach derives…
Quantization of field-theoretic models with gauge symmetries is often obstructed by quantum anomalies. It is commonly believed that the origin of these anomalies lies in the infinite number of degrees of freedom, which requires completing…
New technological developments allow to explore the quantum properties of very complex systems, bringing the question of whether also macroscopic systems share such features, within experimental reach. The interest in this question is…
The apparent impossibility of extending non-relativistic quantum mechanics to a relativistic quantum theory is shown to be due to the insufficient structural richness of the field of complex numbers over which quantum mechanics is built. A…