Related papers: Physical reality and the Complementarity Principle
Quantitative measures are introduced for the indistinguishability $U$ of two quantum states in a given measurement and the amount of interference $I$ observable in this measurement. It is shown that these measures obey an inequality $U\geq…
We investigate the extent to which ``interaction-free'' measurements perturb the state of quantum systems. We show that the absence of energy exchange during the measurement is not a sufficient criterion to preserve that state, as the…
The existence of incompatible measurements, epitomized by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, is one of the distinctive features of quantum theory. So far, quantum incompatibility has been studied for measurements that test the preparation…
By slight modifying of the delayed-choice experiment, it is argued that the quantum wave function must be interpreted as real physical entity; With this interpretation in mind, multiple least action paths due to uncertainty leads us to new…
Although the present paper looks upon the formal apparatus of quantum mechanics as a calculus of correlations, it goes beyond a purely operationalist interpretation. Having established the consistency of the correlations with the existence…
How much information about an unknown quantum state can be obtained by a measurement? We propose a model independent answer: the information obtained is equal to the minimum entropy of the outputs of the measurement, where the minimum is…
We provide a decision-theoretic framework for dealing with uncertainty in quantum mechanics. This uncertainty is two-fold: on the one hand there may be uncertainty about the state the quantum system is in, and on the other hand, as is…
The characterization of quantum correlations is crucial to the development of new quantum technologies and to understand how dramatically quantum theory departs from classical physics. Here we systematically study single- and multiparticle…
General quantum measurements are represented by instruments. In this paper the mathematical formalization is given of the idea that an instrument is a channel which accepts a quantum state as input and produces a probability and an a…
The measurement problem in quantum mechanics originates in the inability of the Schr\"odinger equation to predict definite outcomes of measurements. This is due to the lack of objectivity of the eigenstates of the measuring apparatus. Such…
In this paper, I attempt a personal account of my understanding of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics, which has been largely in the tradition of the Copenhagen interpretation. I assume that (i) the quantum state is a…
The possibility of a quantum system to exhibit properties that are akin to both the classically held notions of being a particle and a wave, is one of the most intriguing aspects of the quantum description of nature. These aspects have been…
We discuss that there is a crucial contradiction within quantum mechanics. We derive a proposition concerning a quantum expectation value under the assumption of the existence of the directions in a spin-1/2 system. The quantum predictions…
The relation between the restricted path integral approach to quantum measurement theory and the commonly accepted von Neumann wavefunction collapse postulate is presented. It is argued that in the limit of impulsive measurements the two…
Uncertainty relations state that there exist certain incompatible measurements, to which the outcomes cannot be simultaneously predicted. While the exact incompatibility of quantum measurements dictated by such uncertainty relations can be…
It is often said that measuring a system's position must disturb the complementary property, momentum, by some minimum amount due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Using a "weak-measurement", this disturbance can be reduced. One…
The usual conjectures of quantum measurements approaches, inspired from the traditional interpretation of Heisenberg's ("uncertainty") relations, are proved as being incorrect. A group of reconsidered conjectures and a corresponding new…
We assume that particles are point-like objects even when not observed. We report on the consequences of our assumption within the realm of quantum theory. An important consequence is the necessity of vacuum fields to account for particle…
Two of the most intriguing features of quantum physics are the uncertainty principle and the occurrence of nonlocal correlations. The uncertainty principle states that there exist pairs of incompatible measurements on quantum systems such…
I show that probabilities in quantum mechanics are a measure of belief in the presence of human ignorance, just like all other probabilities. The Born interpretation of the square of modulus of the wave function arises from the interaction…