English

Stories in the two-state vector formalism

Quantum Physics 2026-01-01 v2

Abstract

The two-state vector formalism of quantum mechanics is a time-symmetrized approach to standard quantum theory. In our work, we aim to establish rigorous foundations for the future investigation within this formalism. We introduce the concept of a story - a compatible pair consisting of a two-state vector and an ideal measurement. Using this concept, we examine the structure of the space comprising all two-state vectors. We analyze the problem of distinguishability and confirm that some pairs of two-state vectors or their statistical mixtures cannot be physically distinguished. In particular, we discuss an example of a two-state vector that is indistinguishable from a statistical mixture of separable two-state vectors and provide an example of a two-state vector that can be distinguished from every such mixture. This leads us to formulate the definition of a strictly non-separable two-state vector as a genuine manifestation of entanglement between the past and the future.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2409.04396,
  title  = {Stories in the two-state vector formalism},
  author = {Patryk Michalski and Andrzej Dragan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.04396},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

7 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-28T18:36:40.798Z