Gleason's theorem is a fundamental 60 year old result in the foundations of quantum mechanix, setting up and laying out the surprisingly minimal assumptions required to deduce the existence of quantum density matrices and the Born rule. Now Gleason's theorem and its proof have been continuously analyzed, simplified, and revised over the last 60 years, and we will have very little to say about the theorem and proof themselves. Instead, we find it useful, (and hopefully interesting), to make some clarifying comments concerning the explicit construction of the quantum density matrix that Gleason's theorem proves exists, but that Gleason's theorem otherwise says relatively little about.
We derive Born's rule and the density-operator formalism for quantum systems with Hilbert spaces of dimension two or larger. Our extension of Gleason's theorem only relies upon the consistent assignment of probabilities to the outcomes of projective measurements and their classical mixtures. This assumption is significantly weaker than those required for existing Gleason-type theorems valid in dimension two.
Gleason-type theorems derive the density operator and the Born rule formalism of quantum theory from the measurement postulate, by considering additive functions which assign probabilities to measurement outcomes. Additivity is also the defining property of solutions to Cauchy's functional equation. This observation suggests an alternative proof of the strongest known Gleason-type theorem, based on techniques used to solve functional equations.
The quantum-mechanical rule for probabilities, in its most general form of positive-operator valued measure (POVM), is shown to be a consequence of the environment-assisted invariance (envariance) idea suggested by Zurek [Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 120404 (2003)], being completed by Gleason's theorem. This provides also a method for derivation of the Born rule.
Gleason-type theorems for quantum theory allow one to recover the quantum state space by assuming that (i) states consistently assign probabilities to measurement outcomes and that (ii) there is a unique state for every such assignment. We identify the class of general probabilistic theories which also admit Gleason-type theorems. It contains theories satisfying the no-restriction hypothesis as well as others which can simulate such an unrestricted theory arbitrarily well when allowing for post-selection on measurement outcomes. Our result also implies that the standard no-restriction hypothes…
As it is known, Gleason's theorem is not applicable for a two-dimensional Hilbert space since in this situation Gleason's axioms are not strong enough to imply Born's rule thus leaving room for a dispersion-free probability measure i.e., one that has only values 0 and 1. To strengthen Gleason's axioms one must add at least one more assumption. But, as it is argued in the present paper, alternatively one can give up the lattice condition lying in the foundation of Gleason's theorem. Particularly, the lattice structure based on the closed linear subspaces in the Hilbert space could be weakened b…
We present a derivation of Born's rule and unitary transforms in Quantum Mechanics, from a simple set of axioms built upon a physical phenomenology of quantization. Combined to Gleason's theorem, this approach naturally leads to the usual quantum formalism, within a new conceptual framework that is discussed heuristically in details. The structure of Quantum Mechanics, from its probabilistic nature to its mathematical expression, appears as a result of the interplay between the quantized number of "modalities" accessible to a quantum system, and the continuum of "contexts" that are required to…
Quantum processes cannot be reduced, in a nontrivial way, to classical processes without specifying the context in the description of a measurement procedure. This requirement is implied by the Kochen-Specker theorem in the outcome-deterministic case and, more generally, by the Gleason theorem. The latter establishes that there is only one non-contextual classical model compatible with quantum theory, the one that trivially identifies the quantum state with the classical state. However, this model requires a breaking of the unitary evolution to account for macroscopic realism. Thus, a causal c…
Probabilities enter quantum mechanics via Born's rule, the uniqueness of which was proven by Gleason. Busch subsequently relaxed the assumptions of this proof, expanding its domain of applicability in the process. Extending this work to sequential measurement processes is the aim of this paper. Given only a simple set of postulates, a probability measure is derived utilising the concept of Liouville space and the most general permissible quantum channel arises in the same manner. Super-Liouville space is constructed and a Bayesian interpretation of this object is provided. An important applica…
Busch's theorem deriving the standard quantum probability rule can be regarded as a more general form of Gleason's theorem. Here we show that a further generalisation is possible by reducing the number of quantum postulates used by Busch. We do not assume that the positive measurement outcome operators are effects or that they form a probability operator measure. We derive a more general probability rule from which the standard rule can be obtained from the normal laws of probability when there is no measurement outcome information available, without the need for further quantum postulates. Ou…
It has recently been claimed by De Zela that Gleason's theorem, for probability measures on the lattice of projection operators, can be extended to qubits by adding assumptions related to continuity and the existence of 'eigenstates'. This amounts to a claim of the derivation of Born's rule for Hermitian qubit observables. I point out a simple counterexample, and the flaw in De Zela's derivation (these are equally applicable to the repetition of the derivation given in a recent Reply). I also briefly discuss a valid extension to qubits given by Busch.
Consider a finite dimensional complex Hilbert space $\cH$, with $dim(\cH) \geq 3$, define $\bS(\cH):= \{x\in \cH \:|\: ||x||=1\}$, and let $ν_\cH$ be the unique regular Borel positive measure invariant under the action of the unitary operators in $\cH$, with $ν_\cH(\bS(\cH))=1$. We prove that if a complex frame function $f : \bS(\cH)\to \bC$ satisfies $f \in \cL^2(\bS(\cH), ν_\cH)$, then it verifies Gleason's statement: There is a unique linear operator $A: \cH \to \cH$ such that $f(u) = < u| A u>$ for every $u \in \bS(\cH)$. $A$ is Hermitean when $f$ is real. No boundedness requirement is thu…
Based on a gambling formulation of quantum mechanics, we derive a Gleason-type theorem that holds for any dimension n of a quantum system, and in particular for n = 2. The theorem states that the only logically consistent probability assignments are exactly the ones that are definable as the trace of the product of a projector and a density matrix operator. In addition, we detail the reason why dispersion-free probabilities are actually not valid, or rational, probabilities for quantum mechanics, and hence should be excluded from consideration.
In a previous article [1] we presented an argument to obtain (or rather infer) Born's rule, based on a simple set of axioms named "Contexts, Systems and Modalities" (CSM). In this approach there is no "emergence", but the structure of quantum mechanics can be attributed to an interplay between the quantized number of modalities that are accessible to a quantum system, and the continuum of contexts that are required to define these modalities. The strong link of this derivation with Gleason's theorem was emphasized, with the argument that CSM provides a physical justification for Gleason's hypo…
I review the two theorems referred to in the title, and then suggest that it would be interesting to know how much of Hilbert space one can use without forcing the proof of these theorems. It would also be interesting to know what parts of Hilbert space that are essential for the proofs. I go on to discuss cubes, graphs, and pentagrams.
Gleason's theorem [A. Gleason, J. Math. Mech., \textbf{6}, 885 (1957)] is an important result in the foundations of quantum mechanics, where it justifies the Born rule as a mathematical consequence of the quantum formalism. Formally, it presents a key insight into the projective geometry of Hilbert spaces, showing that finitely additive measures on the projection lattice $\PH$ extend to positive linear functionals on the algebra of bounded operators $\BH$. Over many years, and by the effort of various authors, the theorem has been broadened in its scope from type I to arbitrary von Neumann alg…
From the viewpoint of the theory of orthomodular lattices of elementary propositions, Quantum Theories can be formulated in real, complex or quaternionic Hilbert spaces as established in Solér's theorem. The said lattice eventually coincides with the lattice of all orthogonal projectors on a separable Hilbert space over R, C, or over the algebra of quaternions H. Quantum states are $σ$-additive probability measures on that non-Boolean lattice. Gleason's theorem proves that, if the Hilbert space is separable with dimension >2 and the Hilbert space is either real or complex, then states are one-…
We present two geometric proofs of the Kochen-Specker theorem. A quite similar argument has been used by Cooke, Keane, and Moran, as well as by Kalmbach in her book to derive the Gleason theorem.
The purpose of this note is to complete the interesting review on quantum contextuality [1] that appeared recently. In particular we will introduce and discuss the ideas of extracontextuality and extravalence, that allow one to relate Kochen-Specker's and Gleason's theorems, and also to shift the emphasis from the first to the second one. We will also argue that whereas Kochen-Specker's is essentially a negative result (a no-go theorem), Gleason's is a positive one since it provides a mathematical justification of Born's rule. The link between these issues is provided by a specific quantum fea…
The Kochen--Specker (KS) theorem reveals the nonclassicality of single quantum systems. In contrast, Bell's theorem and entanglement concern the nonclassicality of composite quantum systems. Accordingly, unlike incompatibility, entanglement and Bell non-locality are not necessary to demonstrate KS-contextuality. However, here we find that for multiqubit systems, entanglement and non-locality are both essential to proofs of the Kochen--Specker theorem. Firstly, we show that unentangled measurements (a strict superset of local measurements) can never yield a logical (state-independent) proof of …
Gleason's theorem asserts the equivalence of von Neumann's density operator formalism of quantum mechanics and frame functions, which are functions on the pure states that sum to 1 on any orthonormal basis of Hilbert space of dimension at least 3. The unentangled frame functions are initially only defined on unentangled (that is, product) states in a multi-partite system. The third author's Unentangled Gleason's Theorem shows that unentangled frame functions determine unique density operators if and only if each subsystem is at least 3-dimensional. In this paper, we determine the structure of …
We pose and solve a problem concerning consistent assignment of quantum probabilities to a set of bases associated with maximal projective measurements. We show that our solution is optimal. We also consider some consequences of the main theorem in the paper in conjunction with Gleason's theorem. Some potential applications to state tomography and probabilistic quantum secret-sharing scheme are discussed.
The probabilistic rule that links the formalism of Quantum Mechanics (QM) to the real world was stated by Born in 1926. Since then, there were many attempts to derive the Born postulate as a theorem, Gleason's being the most prominent. The Gleason derivation, however, is generally considered rather intricate and its physical meaning, in particular in relation with the noncontextuality of probability (NP), is not quite evident. More recently, we are witnessing a revival of interest in possible demonstrations of the Born rule, like Zurek's and Deutsch's based on the decoherence and on the theory…
In this thesis we explore the questions of what should be considered a "classical" theory, and which aspects of quantum theory cannot be captured by any theory that respects our intuition of classicality. This exploration is divided in two parts: in the first we review classical results of the literature, such as the Kochen-Specker theorem, von Neumann's theorem, Gleason's theorem, as well as more recent ideas, such as the distinction between $ψ$-ontic and $ψ$-epistemic ontological models, Spekkens' definition of contextuality, Hardy's ontological excess baggage theorem and the PBR theorem. Th…
We present a mathematical framework based on quantum interval-valued probability measures to study the effect of experimental imperfections and finite precision measurements on defining aspects of quantum mechanics such as contextuality and the Born rule. While foundational results such as the Kochen-Specker and Gleason theorems are valid in the context of infinite precision, they fail to hold in general in a world with limited resources. Here we employ an interval-valued framework to establish bounds on the validity of those theorems in realistic experimental environments. In this way, not on…
The celebrated Bell-Kochen-Specker no-go theorem asserts that quantum mechanics does not present the property of realism, the essence of the theorem is the lack of a joint probability distributions for some experiment settings. In this work, we exploit the information theoretic form of the theorem using information measure instead of probabilistic measure and indicate that quantum mechanics does not present such entropic realism neither. The entropic form of Gleason's no-disturbance principle is developed and it turns out to be characterized by the intersection of several entropic cones. Entro…
This paper is concerned with the nature of probability in physics, and in quantum mechanics in particular. It starts with a brief discussion of the evolution of Itamar Pitowsky's thinking about probability in quantum theory from 1994 to 2008, and the role of Gleason's 1957 theorem in his derivation of the Born Rule. Pitowsky's defence of probability therein as a logic of partial belief leads us into a broader discussion of probability in physics, in which the existence of objective "chances" is questioned, and the status of David Lewis' influential Principal Principle is critically examined. T…
This work concerns some issues about the interplay of standard and geometric (Hamiltonian) approaches to finite-dimensional quantum mechanics, formulated in the projective space. Our analysis relies upon the notion and the properties of so-called frame functions, introduced by A.M. Gleason to prove his celebrated theorem. In particular, the problem of associating quantum state with positive Liouville densities is tackled from an axiomatic point of view, proving a theorem classifying all possible correspondences. A similar result is established for classical observables representing quantum one…
