Quantum theory is formulated as the only consistent way to manipulate probability amplitudes. The crucial ingredient is a consistency constraint: if there are two different ways to compute an amplitude the two answers must agree. This constraint is expressed in the form of functional equations the solution of which leads to the usual sum and product rules for amplitudes. A consequence is that the Schrodinger equation must be linear: non-linear variants of quantum mechanics are inconsistent. The physical interpretation of the theory is given in terms of a single natural rule. This rule, which does not itself involve probabilities, is used to obtain a proof of Born's statistical postulate. Thus, consistency leads to indeterminism.
PACS: 03.65.Bz, 03.65.Ca.
In a recent article [Phys. Rev. A 57, 1572 (1998)] Caticha has concluded that ``nonlinear variants of quantum mechanics are inconsistent.'' In this note we identify what it is that nonlinear quantum theories have been shown to be inconsistent with.
A carefully written paper by A. Caticha [Phys. Rev. A57, 1572 (1998)] applies consistency arguments to derive the quantum mechanical rules for compounding probability amplitudes in much the same way as earlier work by the present author [J. Math. Phys. 29, 398 (1988) and Int. J. Theor. Phys. 27, 543 (1998)]. These works are examined together to find the minimal assumptions needed to obtain the most general results.
We review the Consistent Amplitude approach to Quantum Theory and argue that quantum probabilities are explicitly Bayesian. In this approach amplitudes are tools for inference. They codify objective information about how complicated experimental setups are put together from simpler ones. Thus, probabilities may be partially subjective but the amplitudes are not.
Symmetry of entangled states under a swap of outcomes ("envariance") implies their equiprobability, and leads to Born's rule. Here I show that the amplitude of a state given by a superposition of sequences of events that share same total count (e.g., n detections of 0 and m of 1 in a spin 1/2 measurement) is proportional to the square root of the fraction - square root of the relative frequency - of all the equiprobable sequences of 0's and 1's with that n and m.
Quantum theory is formulated as the uniquely consistent way to manipulate probability amplitudes. The crucial ingredient is a consistency constraint: if the amplitude of a quantum process can be computed in two different ways, the two answers must agree. The constraint is expressed in the form of functional equations the solution of which leads to the usual sum and product rules for amplitudes. An immediate consequence is that the Schrodinger equation must be linear: non-linear variants of quantum mechanics violate the requirement of consistency. PACS: 03.65.Bz, 03.65.Ca.
We propose a simple, intuitive alternative method of deriving the rule for connecting asymptotic wave function amplitudes to scattering probabilities. This is illustrated using the standard example of a 1-D particle reflecting or transmitting from a potential step.
The Born rule is at the foundation of quantum mechanics and transforms our classical way of understanding probabilities by predicting that interference occurs between pairs of independent paths of a single object. One consequence of the Born rule is that three way (or three paths) quantum interference does not exist. In order to test the consistency of the Born rule, we examine detection probabilities in three path intereference using an ensemble of spin-1/2 quantum registers in liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance (LSNMR). As a measure of the consistency, we evaluate the ratio of three way…
We investigate the consistency of conditional quantum probabilities. This is whether there is compatibility between the Kolmogorov-Bayes conditional probabilities and the Born rule. We show that they are not compatible in the sense that there are situations where there is no legitimate density matrix that may reproduce the conditional statistics of the other observable via the Born rule. This is to say that the Gleason theorem does not apply to conditional probabilities. Moreover, we show that when this occurs the joint statistics is nonclassical. We show that conditional probabilities are not…
We investigate the use of amplitude amplification on the gate-based model of quantum computing as a means for solving combinatorial optimization problems. This study focuses primarily on QUBO (quadratic unconstrained binary optimization) problems, which are well-suited for qubit superposition states. Specifically, we demonstrate circuit designs which encode QUBOs as `cost oracle' operations $U_{\textrm{C}}$, which when combined with the standard Grover diffusion operator $U_{\textrm{s}}$ lead to high probabilities of measurement for states corresponding to the optimal and near optimal solution…
Absorption-free (also known as ``interaction-free'') measurement aims to detect the presence of an opaque object using a test particle without that particle being absorbed by the object. Here we consider semi-transparent objects which have an amplitude $α$ of transmitting a particle while leaving the state of the object unchanged and an amplitude $β$ of absorbing the particle. The task is to devise a protocol that can decide which of two known transmission amplitudes is present while ensuring that no particle interacts with the object. We show that the probabilities of being able to achieve th…
The Consistent Histories (CH) formalism aims at a quantum mechanical framework which could be applied even to the universe as a whole. CH stresses the importance of histories for quantum mechanics, as opposed to measurements, and maintains that a satisfactory formulation of quantum mechanics allows one to assign probabilities to alternative histories of a quantum system. It further proposes that each realm, that is, each set of histories to which probabilities can be assigned, provides a valid quantum-mechanical account, but that different realms can be mutually incompatible. Finally, some of …
We consider a finite-dimensional quantum system, making a transition between known initial and final states. The outcomes of several accurate measurements, which {\it could be} made in the interim, define virtual paths, each endowed with a probability amplitude. If the measurements are {\it actually made}, the paths, which may now be called "real", acquire also the probabilities, related to the frequencies, with which a path is seen to be travelled in a series of identical trials. Different sets of measurements, made on the same system, can produce different, or incompatible, statistical ensem…
Amplitudes are the major logical object in Quantum Theory. Despite this fact they presents no physical reality and in consequence only observables can be experimetally checked. We discuss the possibility of a theory of Quantum Probabilities capable of give full account to quantum phenomena. Advanteges of this formulation are the evidence of physical processes not described by the orotodox formulation using amplitudes and the possibility of a full algoritimization of Quantum Mechanics.
Conventional quantum mechanics describes a pre- and post-selected system in terms of virtual (Feynman) paths via which the final state can be reached. In the absence of probabilities, a weak measurement (WM) determines the probability amplitudes for the paths involved. The weak values (VW) can be identified with these amplitudes, or their linear combinations. This allows us to explain the "unusual" properties of the VW, and avoid the "paradoxes" often associated with the WM.
The problem of measurement in quantum mechanics is reanalyzed within a general, strictly probabilistic framework (without reduction postulate). Based on a novel comprehensive definition of measurement the natural emergence of objective events is demonstrated and their formal representation within quantum mechanics is obtained. In order to be objective an event is required to be observable or readable in at least two independent, mutually non-interfering ways with necessarily agreeing results. Consistency in spite of unrestricted validity of reversibility of the evolution or the superposition p…
The subjective and the objective aspects of probabilities are incorporated in a simple duality axiom inspired by observer participation in quantum theory. Transcending the classical notion of probabilities, it is proposed and demonstrated that all probabilities may be fundamentally quantum mechanical in the sense that they may all be derived from the corresponding amplitudes. The classical coin-toss and the quantum double slit interference experiments are discussed as illustrative prototype examples. Absence of multi-order quantum interference effects in multiple-slit experiments and the Exper…
By the Gottesman-Knill Theorem, the outcome probabilities of Clifford circuits can be computed efficiently. We present an alternative proof of this result for quopit Clifford circuits (i.e., Clifford circuits on collections of $p$-level systems, where $p$ is an odd prime) using Feynman's sum-over-paths technique, which allows the amplitudes of arbitrary quantum circuits to be expressed in terms of a weighted sum over computational paths. For a general quantum circuit, the sum over paths contains an exponential number of terms, and no efficient classical algorithm is known that can compute the …
A fundamental principle of quantum theory, clearly manifested in the two-slit experiment, is that for any alternatives that cannot be distinguished by measurement physical predictions are obtained by summation of their amplitudes. In particle oscillation experiments, a particle's time of detection is not directly measured, consequently, the detection probability should involve the summation over amplitudes corresponding to different detection times. However, in contrast to the principle above, standard treatments involve summation over probabilities rather than amplitudes; this implicitly assu…
In this paper we continue to study so called ``inverse Born's rule problem'': to construct representation of probabilistic data of any origin by a complex probability amplitude which matches Born's rule. The corresponding algorithm -- quantum-like representation algorithm (QLRA) was recently proposed by A. Khrennikov [1]--[5]. Formally QLRA depends on the order of conditioning. For two observables $a$ and $b,$ $b| a$- and $a | b$ conditional probabilities produce two representations, say in Hilbert spaces $H^{b| a}$ and $H^{a| b}.$ In this paper we prove that under natural assumptions these tw…
We provide a systematic derivation of the scaling behaviour of various quantities and establish in particular the scale invariance of the ionization probability. We discuss the gauge invariance of the scaling properties and the manner in which they can be exploited as consistency check in explicit analytical expressions, in perturbation theory, in the Kramers-Henneberger and Floquet approximation, in upper and lower bound estimates and fully numerical solutions of the time dependent Schroedinger equation. The scaling invariance leads to a differential equation which has to be satisfied by the …
We study the effect of a time-dependent driving field with a large amplitude on a system composed of two coupled qubits (two-level systems). Using the rotating wave approximation (RWA) makes it possible to find simple conditions for resonant excitation of the four-level system. We find that the resonance conditions include the coupling strength between the qubits. Numerical simulations confirm the qualitative conclusions following from the RWA. To reveal the peculiarities of resonant transitions caused by the quasi-level motion and crossing in a periodic driving field, we use Floquet states, w…
The probability `measure' for measurements at two consecutive moments of time is non-additive. These probabilities, on the other hand, may be determined by the limit of relative frequency of measured events, which are by nature additive. We demonstrate that there are only two ways to resolve this problem. The first solution places emphasis on the precise use of the concept of conditional probability for successive measurements. The physically correct conditional probabilities define additive probabilities for two-time measurements. These probabilities depend explicitly on the resolution of the…
Relativistic causality, namely, the impossibility of signaling at superluminal speeds, restricts the kinds of correlations which can occur between different parts of a composite physical system. Here we establish the basic restrictions which relativistic causality imposes on the joint probabilities involved in an experiment of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm type. Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, places further restrictions beyond those required by general considerations like causality and consistency. We illustrate this fact by considering the sum of correlations involved in the CHSH in…
The relativistic quantum field theory is the unique theory that combines the relativity and quantum theory and is invariant under the Poincaré transformation. The ground state, vacuum, is singlet and one particle states are transformed as elements of irreducible representation of the group. The covariant one particles are momentum eigenstates expressed by plane waves and extended in space. Although the S-matrix defined with initial and final states of these states hold the symmetries and are applied to isolated states, out-going states for the amplitude of the event that they are detected at a…
The long-standing puzzle of the nonlocal Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations is resolved. The correct quantum mechanical correlations arise for the case of entangled particles when strict locality is assumed for the probability amplitudes instead of locality for probabilities. Locality of amplitudes implies that measurement on one particle does not collapse the companion particle to a definite state.
We consider an electron magnetically interacting with a spin-1/2 impurity, embedded in an external environment whose noisy term acts only on the impurity's spin, and we find expressions for the electron transmission and reflection probabilities in terms of the phenomenological noise parameters. Moreover, we give a simple example of the necessity of complete positivity for physical consistency, showing that a positive but not completely positive dissipative map can lead to negative transmission probabilities.
We present a method to model a discretized time evolution of probabilistic networks on gate-based quantum computers. We consider networks of nodes, where each node can be in one of two states: good or failed. In each time step, probabilities are assigned for each node to fail (switch from good to failed) or to recover (switch from failed to good). Furthermore, probabilities are assigned for failing nodes to trigger the failure of other, good nodes. Our method can evaluate arbitrary network topologies for any number of time steps. We can therefore model events such as cascaded failure and avala…
In this letter, we prove that the classical capacity of quantum channel for $M$ symmetric states is achieved by an uniform distribution on a priori probabilities. We also investigate non-symmetric cases such as a ternary amplitude shift keyed signal set and a 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulated signal set in coherent states.
Recently quantum-like representation algorithm (QLRA) was introduced by A. Khrennikov [20]--[28] to solve the so-called "inverse Born's rule problem": to construct a representation of probabilistic data by a complex or more general (in particular, hyperbolic) probability amplitude which matches Born's rule or its generalizations. The outcome from QLRA is coupled to the formula of total probability with an additional term corresponding to trigonometric, hyperbolic or hyper-trigonometric interference. The consistency of QLRA for probabilistic data corresponding to trigonometric interference was …
In 1989, Deutsch gave a basic physical explanation of why quantum-mechanical probabilities are squares of amplitudes. Essentially, a general state vector is transformed into a highly symmetric equal-amplitude superposition. The argument was recently elaborated and publicised by DeWitt. It has remained incomplete, however, inasmuch as both authors anticipate the usual normalization (sum of amplitudes squared) of state vectors. In the present paper, a thought experiment is devised in which Deutsch's idea is demonstrated independently of the normalization, exploiting further symmetries instead.
We analyze three important experimental domains (SQUIDs, molecular interferometry, and Bose-Einstein condensation) as well as quantum-biophysical studies of the neuronal apparatus to argue that (i) the universal validity of unitary dynamics and the superposition principle has been confirmed far into the mesoscopic and macroscopic realm in all experiments conducted thus far; (ii) all observed "restrictions" can be correctly and completely accounted for by taking into account environmental decoherence effects; (iii) no positive experimental evidence exists for physical state-vector collapse; (iv…
Compelling evidence-though yet no formal proof-has been adduced that the probability that a generic (standard) two-qubit state ($ρ$) is separable/disentangled is $\frac{8}{33}$ (arXiv:1301.6617, arXiv:1109.2560, arXiv:0704.3723). Proceeding in related analytical frameworks, using a further determinantal $4F3$-hypergeometric moment formula (Appendix A), we reach, {\it via} density-approximation procedures, the conclusion that one-half ($\frac{4}{33}$) of this probability arises when the determinantal inequality $|ρ^{PT}|>|ρ|$, where $PT$ denotes the partial transpose, is satisfied, and, the oth…
Realist, no-collapse interpretations of quantum mechanics, such as Everett's, face the probability problem: how to justify the norm-squared (Born) rule from the wavefunction alone. While any basis-independent measure can only be norm-squared (due to the Gleason-Busch Theorem) this fact conflicts with various popular, non-wavefunction-based phenomenological measures - such as observer, outcome or world counting - that are frequently demanded of Everettians. These alternatives conflict, however, with the wavefunction realism upon which Everett's approach rests, which seems to call for an objecti…
