212,698 research outputs found
Probability in Orthodox Quantum Mechanics: Probability as a Postulate Versus Probability as an Emergent Phenomenon
The role of probability in quantum mechanics is reviewed, with a discussion
of the ``orthodox'' versus the statistical interpretive frameworks, and of a
number of related issues. After a brief summary of sources of unease with
quantum mechanics, a survey is given of attempts either to give a new
interpretive framework assuming quantum mechanics is exact, or to modify
quantum mechanics assuming it is a very accurate approximation to a more
fundamental theory. This survey focuses particularly on the issues of whether
probabilities in quantum mechanics are postulated or emergent.Comment: Latex; Submitted to the Proceedings of the Ischia Conference on
``Chance in Physics: Foundations and Perspectives'
Berry's phase in noncommutative spaces
We introduce the perturbative aspects of noncommutative quantum mechanics.
Then we study the Berry's phase in the framework of noncommutative quantum
mechanics. The results show deviations from the usual quantum mechanics which
depend on the parameter of space/space noncommtativity.Comment: 7 pages, no figur
Depicting qudit quantum mechanics and mutually unbiased qudit theories
We generalize the ZX calculus to quantum systems of dimension higher than
two. The resulting calculus is sound and universal for quantum mechanics. We
define the notion of a mutually unbiased qudit theory and study two particular
instances of these theories in detail: qudit stabilizer quantum mechanics and
Spekkens-Schreiber toy theory for dits. The calculus allows us to analyze the
structure of qudit stabilizer quantum mechanics and provides a geometrical
picture of qudit stabilizer theory using D-toruses, which generalizes the Bloch
sphere picture for qubit stabilizer quantum mechanics. We also use our
framework to describe generalizations of Spekkens toy theory to higher
dimensional systems. This gives a novel proof that qudit stabilizer quantum
mechanics and Spekkens-Schreiber toy theory for dits are operationally
equivalent in three dimensions. The qudit pictorial calculus is a useful tool
to study quantum foundations, understand the relationship between qubit and
qudit quantum mechanics, and provide a novel, high level description of quantum
information protocols.Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2014, arXiv:1412.810
Semi-classical limit and minimum decoherence in the Conditional Probability Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
The Conditional Probability Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics replaces the
abstract notion of time used in standard Quantum Mechanics by the time that can
be read off from a physical clock. The use of physical clocks leads to apparent
non-unitary and decoherence. Here we show that a close approximation to
standard Quantum Mechanics can be recovered from conditional Quantum Mechanics
for semi-classical clocks, and we use these clocks to compute the minimum
decoherence predicted by the Conditional Probability Interpretation.Comment: 8 pages, references adde
Realism about the Wave Function
A century after the discovery of quantum mechanics, the meaning of quantum
mechanics still remains elusive. This is largely due to the puzzling nature of
the wave function, the central object in quantum mechanics. If we are realists
about quantum mechanics, how should we understand the wave function? What does
it represent? What is its physical meaning? Answering these questions would
improve our understanding of what it means to be a realist about quantum
mechanics. In this survey article, I review and compare several realist
interpretations of the wave function. They fall into three categories:
ontological interpretations, nomological interpretations, and the \emph{sui
generis} interpretation. For simplicity, I will focus on non-relativistic
quantum mechanics.Comment: Penultimate version for Philosophy Compas
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