Uniqueness of a convex sum of products of projectors

Relative to a given factoring of the Hilbert space, the decomposition of an operator into a convex sum of products over sets of distinct 1-projectors, one set linearly independent, is unique.Comment: 4 pages. v2: Minor clarifications in Section III; as accepted for publication in J Math Phy

The Marginalized Identities of Sense-makers: Reframing Engineering Student Retention

This paper empirically argues for a closer examination of what we wish to retain when we speak of "retention" in engineering [1]. We present and interpret data from clinical interviews and classroom video of "Michael," a student who feels marginalized by an engineering program that undervalues him because of his stance toward knowledge [2],[3]. Michael is a sophomore Electrical Engineering and Mathematics major in a Basic Circuits course. In his own words, he's a "fringe" student because of his robust tendency to try making sense of the concepts being taught rather than memorizing formulae. He also feels alienated because he views learning in terms of argument and intuition, not algorithm and rote acceptance. Furthermore, for Michael the practice of sense-making defines him; it's an integral aspect of his identity [4]. Thus, Michael's self-reported sense of alienation resonates strongly with existing identity-based accounts of students leaving the field [5],[6]. We contend the field of engineering suffers if individuals like Michael don't pursue it. Through this case study of Michael, we urge the retention discussion to consider not just the demographic categories of people we hope to keep, but also the approaches to knowledge, learning, and problem-solving we aim to support.Comment: 6-page; Under Review for Proceedings of the 2010 Frontiers in Education Conference (ASEE/IEEE

Not throwing out the baby with the bathwater: Bell's condition of local causality mathematically 'sharp and clean'

The starting point of the present paper is Bell's notion of local causality and his own sharpening of it so as to provide for mathematical formalisation. Starting with Norsen's (2007, 2009) analysis of this formalisation, it is subjected to a critique that reveals two crucial aspects that have so far not been properly taken into account. These are (i) the correct understanding of the notions of sufficiency, completeness and redundancy involved; and (ii) the fact that the apparatus settings and measurement outcomes have very different theoretical roles in the candidate theories under study. Both aspects are not adequately incorporated in the standard formalisation, and we will therefore do so. The upshot of our analysis is a more detailed, sharp and clean mathematical expression of the condition of local causality. A preliminary analysis of the repercussions of our proposal shows that it is able to locate exactly where and how the notions of locality and causality are involved in formalising Bell's condition of local causality.Comment: 14 pages. To be published in PSE volume "Explanation, Prediction, and Confirmation", edited by Dieks, et a

Beyond deficit-based models of learners' cognition: Interpreting engineering students' difficulties with sense-making in terms of fine-grained epistemological and conceptual dynamics

Researchers have argued against deficit-based explanations of students' troubles with mathematical sense-making, pointing instead to factors such as epistemology: students' beliefs about knowledge and learning can hinder them from activating and integrating productive knowledge they have. In this case study of an engineering major solving problems (about content from his introductory physics course) during a clinical interview, we show that "Jim" has all the mathematical and conceptual knowledge he would need to solve a hydrostatic pressure problem that we posed to him. But he reaches and sticks with an incorrect answer that violates common sense. We argue that his lack of mathematical sense-making-specifically, translating and reconciling between mathematical and everyday/common-sense reasoning-stems in part from his epistemological views, i.e., his views about the nature of knowledge and learning. He regards mathematical equations as much more trustworthy than everyday reasoning, and he does not view mathematical equations as expressing meaning that tractably connects to common sense. For these reasons, he does not view reconciling between common sense and mathematical formalism as either necessary or plausible to accomplish. We, however, avoid a potential "deficit trap"-substituting an epistemological deficit for a concepts/skills deficit-by incorporating multiple, context-dependent epistemological stances into Jim's cognitive dynamics. We argue that Jim's epistemological stance contains productive seeds that instructors could build upon to support Jim's mathematical sense-making: He does see common-sense as connected to formalism (though not always tractably so) and in some circumstances this connection is both salient and valued.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of Engineering Educatio

The Conway-Kochen argument and relativistic GRW models

In a recent paper, Conway and Kochen proposed what is now known as the "Free Will theorem" which, among other things, should prove the impossibility of combining GRW models with special relativity, i.e., of formulating relativistically invariant models of spontaneous wavefunction collapse. Since their argument basically amounts to a non-locality proof for any theory aiming at reproducing quantum correlations, and since it was clear since very a long time that any relativistic collapse model must be non-local in some way, we discuss why the theorem of Conway and Kochen does not affect the program of formulating relativistic GRW models.Comment: 16 pages, RevTe

Two-particle entanglement as a property of three-particle entangled states

In a recent article [Phys. Rev. A 54, 1793 (1996)] Krenn and Zeilinger investigated the conditional two-particle correlations for the subensemble of data obtained by selecting the results of the spin measurements by two observers 1 and 2 with respect to the result found in the corresponding measurement by a third observer. In this paper we write out explicitly the condition required in order for the selected results of observers 1 and 2 to violate Bell's inequality for general measurement directions. It is shown that there are infinitely many sets of directions giving the maximum level of violation. Further, we extend the analysis by the authors to the class of triorthogonal states |Psi> = c_1 |z_1>|z_2>|z_3> + c_2 |-z_1>|-z_2>|-z_3>. It is found that a maximal violation of Bell's inequality occurs provided the corresponding three-particle state yields a direct ("all or nothing") nonlocality contradiction.Comment: REVTeX, 7 pages, no figure

Optimal Monitoring of Position in Nonlinear Quantum Systems

We discuss a model of repeated measurements of position in a quantum system which is monitored for a finite amount of time with a finite instrumental error. In this framework we recover the optimum monitoring of a harmonic oscillator proposed in the case of an instantaneous collapse of the wavefunction into an infinite-accuracy measurement result. We also establish numerically the existence of an optimal measurement strategy in the case of a nonlinear system. This optimal strategy is completely defined by the spectral properties of the nonlinear system.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX 3.0, 4 PostScript figure