Dynamical Correspondence in a Generalized Quantum Theory

In order to figure out why quantum physics needs the complex Hilbert space, many attempts have been made to distinguish the C*-algebras and von Neumann algebras in more general classes of abstractly defined Jordan algebras (JB- and JBW-algebras). One particularly important distinguishing property was identified by Alfsen and Shultz and is the existence of a dynamical correspondence. It reproduces the dual role of the selfadjoint operators as observables and generators of dynamical groups in quantum mechanics. In the paper, this concept is extended to another class of nonassociative algebras, arising from recent studies of the quantum logics with a conditional probability calculus and particularly of those that rule out third-order interference. The conditional probability calculus is a mathematical model of the Lueders-von Neumann quantum measurement process, and third-order interference is a property of the conditional probabilities which was discovered by R. Sorkin in 1994 and which is ruled out by quantum mechanics. It is shown then that the postulates that a dynamical correspondence exists and that the square of any algebra element is positive still characterize, in the class considered, those algebras that emerge from the selfadjoint parts of C*-algebras equipped with the Jordan product. Within this class, the two postulates thus result in ordinary quantum mechanics using the complex Hilbert space or, vice versa, a genuine generalization of quantum theory must omit at least one of them.Comment: 11 pages in Foundations of Physics 201

A simple and quantum-mechanically motivated characterization of the formally real Jordan algebras

Quantum theory's Hilbert space apparatus in its finite-dimensional version is nearly reconstructed from four simple and quantum-mechanically motivated postulates for a quantum logic. The reconstruction process is not complete, since it excludes the two-dimensional Hilbert space and still includes the exceptional Jordan algebras, which are not part of the Hilbert space apparatus. Options for physically meaningful potential generalizations of the apparatus are discussed.Comment: 19 page

Quantum teleportation and Grover's algorithm without the wavefunction

In the same way as the quantum no-cloning theorem and quantum key distribution in two preceding papers, entanglement-assisted quantum teleportation and Grover's search algorithm are generalized by transferring them to an abstract setting, including usual quantum mechanics as a special case. This again shows that a much more general and abstract access to these quantum mechanical features is possible than commonly thought. A non-classical extension of conditional probability and, particularly, a very special type of state-independent conditional probability are used instead of Hilbert spaces and wavefunctions.Comment: 21 pages, including annex, important typo in annex corrected in v2, Found Phys (2017

Quantum key distribution without the wavefunction

A well-known feature of quantum mechanics is the secure exchange of secret bit strings which can then be used as keys to encrypt messages transmitted over any classical communication channel. It is demonstrated that this quantum key distribution allows a much more general and abstract access than commonly thought. The results include some generalizations for the Hilbert space version of quantum key distribution,but base upon a general non-classical extension of conditional probability. A special state-independent conditional probability is identified as origin of the superior security of quantum key distribution and may have more profound implications for the foundations and interpretation of quantum mechanics,quantum information theory, and the philosophical question what actually constitutes physical reality.Comment: 16 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1502.0215

Non-classical conditional probability and the quantum no-cloning theorem

The quantum mechanical no-cloning theorem for pure states is generalized and transfered to the quantum logics with a conditional probability calculus in a rather abstract, though simple and basic fashion without relying on a tensor product construction or finite dimension as required in other generalizations.Comment: 6 page

Local tomography and the role of the complex numbers in quantum mechanics

Various reconstructions of finite-dimensional quantum mechanics result in a formally real Jordan algebra A and a last step remains to conclude that A is the self-adjoint part of a C*-algebra. Using a quantum logical setting, it is shown that this can be achieved by postulating that there is a locally tomographic model for a composite system consisting of two copies of the same system. Local tomography is a feature of classical probability theory and quantum mechanics; it means that state tomography for a multipartite system can be performed by simultaneous measurements in all subsystems. The quantum logical definition of local tomography is sufficient, but not as strong as the prevalent definition in the literature and involves some subtleties concerning the so-called spin factors

Quantum probability's algebraic origin

Max Born's statistical interpretation made probabilities play a major role in quantum theory. Here we show that these quantum probabilities and the classical probabilities have very different origins. While the latter always result from an assumed probability measure, the first include transition probabilities with a purely algebraic origin. Moreover, the general definition of transition probability introduced here comprises not only the well-known quantum mechanical transition probabilities between pure states or wave functions, but further novel cases. A transition probability that differs from 0 and 1 manifests the typical quantum indeterminacy in a similar way as Heisenberg's and others' uncertainty relations and, furthermore, rules out deterministic states in the same way as the Bell-Kochen-Specker theorem. However, the transition probability defined here achieves a lot more beyond that: it demonstrates that the algebraic structure of the Hilbert space quantum logic dictates the precise values of certain probabilities and it provides an unexpected access to these quantum probabilities that does not rely on states or wave functions