Observer invariance of the collapse postulate of quantum mechanics
Milton A. da Silva, Roberto M. Serra, Lucas C. Celeri
备注：
Accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys. B, special issue "Classical Vs Quantum correlations in composite systems" edited by L. Amico, S. Bose, V. Korepin and V. Vedral
We analyse the wave function collapse as seem by two distinct observers (with identical detectors) in relative motion. Imposing that the measurement process demands information transfer from the system to the detectors, we note that although different observers will acquire different amount of information from their measurements due to correlations between spin and momentum variables, all of them will agree about the orthogonality of the outcomes, as defined by their own reference frame. So, in this sense, such a quantum mechanical postulate is observer invariant, however the effective efficiency of the measurement process differs for each observer.
Relational quantum mechanics (RQM) is an interpretation of quantum mechanics based on the idea that quantum states describe not an absolute property of a system but rather a relationship between systems. In this article, we observe that there is a tension between RQM's naturalistic emphasis on the physicality of information and the inaccessibility of certain sorts of information in current formulations of RQM. Therefore we propose a new postulate for RQM which requires that all of the information possessed by a certain observer is stored in physical variables of that observer and thus accessib…
Proponents of the Everett interpretation of Quantum Theory have made efforts to show that to an observer in a branch, everything happens as if the projection postulate were true without postulating it. In this paper, we will indicate that it is only possible to deduce this rule if one introduces another postulate that is logically equivalent to introducing the projection postulate as an extra assumption. We do this by examining the consequences of changing the projection postulate into an alternative one, while keeping the unitary part of quantum theory, and indicate that this is a consistent …
In this paper we are going to introduce a new dynamical postulate in Quantum Mechanics. This new principle is defined using path integrals over the set of normalized wave functions. We will show in a qualitative way that this postulate is equivalent to the Schrodinger equation and to the measurement postulates. Then we propose a new set of fundamental postulates for Quantum Mechanics. In this approach to Quantum Mechanics we separate the fundamental postulates and the physical interpretation. The fundamental postulates are abstract mathematical principles. Their physical interpretation depend …
In the mid-19th century, both the laws of mechanics and thermodynamics were known, and both appeared fundamental. This was changed by Boltzmann and Gibbs, who showed that thermodynamics can be *derived*, by applying mechanics to very large systems, and making simple statistical assumptions about their behavior. Similarly, when Quantum Mechanics (QM) was first discovered, it appeared to require two sets of postulates: one about the deterministic evolution of wavefunctions, and another about the probabilistic measurement process. Here again, the latter is derivable from the former: by applying u…
Understanding the core content of quantum mechanics requires us to disentangle the hidden logical relationships between the postulates of this theory. Here we show that the mathematical structure of quantum measurements, the formula for assigning outcome probabilities (Born's rule) and the post-measurement state-update rule, can be deduced from the other quantum postulates, often referred to as "unitary quantum mechanics", and the assumption that ensembles on finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces are characterised by finitely many parameters. This is achieved by taking an operational approach to p…
The measurement process in quantum mechanics is usually described by the von Neumann projection postulate, which forms a basic constituent of the laws of quantum mechanics. Since this postulate requires the outside observer of the system, it is hard to apply quantum mechanics to the whole Universe. Therefore we propose that the quantum measurement process is actually a physical process associated with the ubiquitous mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking. Based on this proposal, we construct a quantum measurement model in which the von Neumann projection is described as the dynamical pro-c…
Entanglement of Dirac fields has been studied and it is known to decrease with increasing acceleration when a quantum state is shared between users in non-inertial frames. A new form of an entangled vacuum state observed by the accelerated observer is postulated in which it is assumed that entanglement is present between the modes of the quantum field with sharp and opposite momenta defined in two causally disconnected regions of space-time. We find that this assumption does not affect the entanglement of the system.
An unknown quantum state of a single system cannot be discovered, as a measured system is reprepare: it jumps into an eigenstate of the measured observable. This impossibility of finding the quantum state and other symptoms usually blamed on wave-packet collapse follow (as was recently demonstrated for pure states of measured systems) from unitarity (which does not, however, allow for a literal collapse) and from the repeatability of measurements: Continuous unitary evolution and repeatability suffice to establish the discreteness that underlies quantum jumps. Here we consider mixed states of …
The Projection Postulate from Standard Quantum Mechanics relies fundamentally on measurements. But measurements implicitly suggest the existence of anthropocentric notions like measuring devices, which should rather emerge from the theory. This article proposes an alternative formulation of the Standard Quantum Mechanics, in which the Projection Postulate is replaced with a version in which measurements and observations are not assumed as fundamental. More precisely, the Wigner functions representing the quantum states on the phase space are required to be tightly constrained to regions of the…
The evolution of a quantum system under observation becomes retarded or even impeded. We review this ``quantum Zeno effect'' in the light of the criticism that has been raised upon a previous attempt to demonstrate it, of later reexaminations of both the projection postulate and the significance of the observations, and of the results of a recent experiment on an individual cold atom. Here, the micro-state of the quantum system gets unveiled with the observation, and the effect of measurement is no longer mixed up with dephasing the object's wave function by the reactive effect of the detectio…
Coherent feedback control of quantum systems has demonstrable advantages over measurement-based control, but so far there has been little work done on coherent estimators and more specifically coherent observers. Coherent observers are input the coherent output of a specified quantum plant, and are designed such that some subset of the observer and plant's expectation values converge in the asymptotic limit. We previously developed a class of mean tracking (MT) observers for open harmonic oscillators that only converged in mean position and momentum; Here we develop a class of covariance matri…
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 theory and utilizing methods from combinatorial games, interpolation theory and complex systems theory results in a novel realist version of quantum mechanics incorporating quasi-local, nondeterministic hidden variables that are compatible with the no-hidden variable theorems and relativistic invariance, and reproduce the standard results of quantum mechanic…
We study sequential state discrimination measurements performed on the same qubit by subsequent observers. Specifically, we focus on the case when the observers perform a kind of a minimum-error type state discriminating measurement where the goal of the observers is to maximize their joint probability of successfully guessing the state that the qubit was initially prepared in. We call this the joint best guess strategy. In this scheme, Alice prepares a qubit in one of two possible states. The qubit is first sent to Bob, who measures it, and then on to Charlie, and so on to altogether N consec…
The so-called "free will axiom" is an essential ingredient in many discussions concerning hidden variables in quantum mechanics. In this paper we argue that "free will" can be defined in different ways. The definition usually employed is clearly invalid in strictly deterministic theories. A different, more precise formulation is proposed here, defining a condition that may well be a more suitable one to impose on theoretical constructions and models. Our axiom, to be referred to as the `unconstrained initial state' condition, has consequences similar to "free will", but does not clash with det…
A suitable unified statistical formulation of quantum and classical mechanics in a *-algebraic setting leads us to conclude that information itself is noncommutative in quantum mechanics. Specifically we refer here to an observer's information regarding a physical system. This is seen as the main difference from classical mechanics, where an observer's information regarding a physical system obeys classical probability theory. Quantum mechanics is then viewed purely as a mathematical framework for the probabilistic description of noncommutative information, with the projection postulate being …
Recent quantum reconstruction projects demand pure unitary time evolution which seems to contradict the collapse postulate. Inspired by Zurek's environment assisted invariance idea, a natural unitary realization of wavefunction collapse is proposed using Grothendieck group construction for the tensor product commutative monoid.
Quantum mechanics is an extremely successful theory of nature and yet it lacks an intuitive axiomatization. In contrast, the special theory of relativity is well understood and is rooted into natural or experimentally justified postulates. Here we introduce an axiomatization approach to quantum mechanics which is very similar to special theory of relativity derivation. The core idea is that a composed system obeys the same laws of nature as its components. This leads to a Jordan-Lie algebraic formulation of quantum mechanics. The starting assumptions are minimal: the laws of nature are invaria…
Quantum and classical mechanics are derived using four natural physical principles: (1) the laws of nature are invariant under time evolution, (2) the laws of nature are invariant under tensor composition, (3) the laws of nature are relational, and (4) positivity (the ability to define a physical state). Quantum mechanics is singled out by a fifth experimentally justified postulate: nature violates Bell's inequalities.
On the (Non)Unitarity with respect to the Clock of a Dynamical Local Observer and the Einstein Equivalence Principle
Center for Gravitational Physics and Quantum Information, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University（京都大学汤川理论物理研究所引力物理与量子信息中心）；Fundamental Quantum Science Program, TRIP Headquarters, RIKEN（理化学研究所TRIP总部基础量子科学计划）
I suggest that the common unease with taking quantum mechanics as a fundamental description of nature (the "measurement problem") could derive from the use of an incorrect notion, as the unease with the Lorentz transformations before Einstein derived from the notion of observer-independent time. I suggest that this incorrect notion is the notion of observer-independent state of a system (or observer-independent values of physical quantities). I reformulate the problem of the "interpretation of quantum mechanics" as the problem of deriving the formalism from a few simple physical postulates. I …
The developments of special relativity and quantum mechanics marked the beginning of the modern physics age. The former has taught us that while space and time are frame dependent notions, there is a quantity -- the space-time interval -- whose value all inertial observers agree upon. This reveals, so to speak, a genuine "fact" of the universe, a relativistic invariant. On the other hand, since the dawn of quantum mechanics, there is no consensus on what the theory is all about. The situation is admittedly subtler: quantum theory is grounded on a complex vector space and the very notions of ob…
Quantum Work Statistics from Entanglement-Assisted Invariance
University of Massachusetts, Boston（马萨诸塞大学波士顿分校）；Los Alamos National Laboratory（洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室）；University of Maryland, Baltimore County（马里兰大学巴尔的摩县分校）；Quantum Science Institute, University of Maryland, Baltimore County（马里兰大学巴尔的摩分校量子科学研究所）
Information measures for relativistic quantum spinors are constructed to satisfy various postulated properties such as normalisation invariance and positivity. Those measures are then used to motivate generalised Lagrangians meant to probe shorter distance physics within the maximum uncertainty framework. The modified evolution equations that follow are necessarily nonlinear and simultaneously violate Lorentz invariance, supporting previous heuristic arguments linking quantum nonlinearity with Lorentz violation. The nonlinear equations also break discrete symmetries. We discuss the implication…
This paper is a comparison of two theories of the probability of a history in quantum mechanics. One is derived from Copenhagen quantum mechanics using the projection postulate and is the basis of the "consistent histories" interpretation; the other is based on a proposal by Bell, originally for the "pilot state" theory but here applied to pure unitary quantum mechanics. The first can be used for a wider class of histories but depends on the projection postulate, or "collapse", which is widely held to be an unsatisfactory feature of the theory; the second can be used in a theory of the univers…
We study noninvasive measurement of stationary currents in mesoscopic systems. It is shown that the measurement process is fully described by the Schrödinger equation without any additional reduction postulate and without the introduction of an observer. Nevertheless the possibility of observing a particular state out of coherent superposition leads to collapse of the wave function, even though the measured system is not distorted by interaction with the detector. Experimental consequences are discussed.
According to our current conception of physics, any valid physical theory is supposed to describe the objective evolution of a unique external world. However, this condition is challenged by quantum theory, which suggests that physical systems should not always be understood as having objective properties which are simply revealed by measurement. Furthermore, as argued below, several other conceptual puzzles in the foundations of physics and related fields point to limitations of our current perspective and motivate the exploration of an alternative: to start with the first-person (the observe…
I review basic principles of the quantum mechanical measurement process in view of their implications for a quantum theory of general relativity. It turns out that a clock as an external classical device associated with the observer plays an essential role. This leads me to postulate a ``principle of the integrity of the observer''. It essentially requires the observer to be part of a classical domain connected throughout the measurement process. Mathematically this naturally leads to a formulation of quantum mechanics as a kind of topological quantum field theory. Significantly, quantities wi…
We attempt to clarify the main conceptual issues in approaches to `objectification' or `measurement' in quantum mechanics which are based on superselection rules. Such approaches venture to derive the emergence of classical `reality' relative to a class of observers; those believing that the classical world exists intrinsically and absolutely are advised against reading this paper. The prototype approach (Hepp) where superselection sectors are assumed in the state space of the apparatus is shown to be untenable. Instead, one should couple system and apparatus to an environment, and postulate s…
We provide a mathematically and conceptually robust notion of quantum superpositions of graphs. We argue that, crucially, quantum superpositions of graphs require node names for their correct alignment, which we demonstrate through a no-signalling argument. Nevertheless, node names are a fiducial construct, serving a similar purpose to the labelling of points through a choice of coordinates in continuous space. Graph renamings, aka isomorphisms, are understood as a change of coordinates on the graph and correspond to a natively discrete analogue of continuous diffeomorphisms. We postulate rena…
In most approaches to fundamental physics, spacetime symmetries are postulated a priori and then explicitly implemented in the theory. This includes Lorentz covariance in quantum field theory and diffeomorphism invariance in quantum gravity, which are seen as fundamental principles to which the final theory has to be adjusted. In this paper, we suggest, within a much simpler setting, that this kind of reasoning can actually be reversed, by taking an operational approach inspired by quantum information theory. We consider observers in distinct laboratories, with local physics described by the l…
The postulate of gauge invariance in nature does not lend itself directly to implementations of lattice gauge theories in modern setups of quantum synthetic matter. Unavoidable gauge-breaking errors in such devices require gauge invariance to be enforced for faithful quantum simulation of gauge-theory physics. This poses major experimental challenges, in large part due to the complexity of the gauge-symmetry generators. Here, we show that gauge invariance can be reliably stabilized by employing simplified \textit{local pseudogenerators} designed such that within the physical sector they act id…
We argue that the many-worlds of quantum mechanics and the many worlds of the multiverse are the same thing, and that the multiverse is necessary to give exact operational meaning to probabilistic predictions from quantum mechanics. Decoherence - the modern version of wave-function collapse - is subjective in that it depends on the choice of a set of unmonitored degrees of freedom, the "environment". In fact decoherence is absent in the complete description of any region larger than the future light-cone of a measurement event. However, if one restricts to the causal diamond - the largest regi…
