Ten Theorems about Quantum Mechanical Measurements
نویسنده
چکیده
The aim of quantum mechanics is to explain macroscopic, objectively recorded phenomena. Microscopic objects are measured by enabling them to interact with a macroscopic measuring apparatus prepared in a metastable state. Macroscopic objects, such as cats, are not above the laws of quantum mechanics, but owing to their enormously dense level spectrum other aspects than single eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are prominent. These aspects can be described in classical terms, such as probabilities instead of probability amplitudes. The measuring act is fully described by the Schrodinger equation for object system and apparatus together. The collapse of the wave function is a consequence rather than an additional postulate. A model is constructed to demonstrate these statements. It also appears that the entropies of the object system and the apparatus increase by the same amount, namely the entropy difference between the metastable initial state and the stable final state of the apparatus.
منابع مشابه
On Hidden Variables: Value and Expectation No-go Theorems
No-go theorems assert that hidden-variable theories, subject to appropriate hypotheses, cannot reproduce the predictions of quantum theory. We examine two species of such theorems, value no-go theorems and expectation no-go theorems. The former assert that hidden-variables cannot match the predictions of quantum theory about the possible values resulting from measurements; the latter assert tha...
متن کامل6.896 Quantum Complexity Theory Course Project On Learning Finite-State Quantum Sources
In recent work, Wiesner and Crutchfield [13] introduced Quantum Generators as a formal model of simple quantum mechanical systems. In this model, a simple quantum mechanical system is observed repeatedly, yielding a classical stochastic process consisting of the sequence of discrete measurement outcomes, analogous to how an underlying Markov process yields a sequence of observations in a hidden...
متن کاملCommon Denominator for Value and Expectation No-go Theorems: Extended Abstract
Hidden-variable (HV) theories allege that a quantum state describes an ensemble of systems distinguished by the values of hidden variables. No-go theorems assert that HV theories cannot match the predictions of quantum theory. The present work started with repairing aws in the literature on no-go theorems asserting that HV theories cannot predict the expectation values of measurements. That lit...
متن کاملQuantum vs stochastic processes and the role of complex numbers
We argue that the complex numbers are an irreducible object of quantum probability: this can be seen in the measurements of geometric phases that have no classical probabilistic analogue. Having the complex phases as primitive ingredient implies that we need to accept non-additive probabilities. This has the desirable consequence of removing constraints of standard theorems about the possibilit...
متن کاملEhrenfest Theorems
Ehrenfest’s Theorems provide a bridge between quantum and classical mechanics. They relate time derivatives of expectation values to expectation values of appropriate operators. The expectation values are computed on quantum mechanical operators. The results assume a form “as close as possible” to the corresponding classical equations.
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 1988