A canonical hidden-variable space

DOI10.1016/J.APAL.2018.08.003MaRDI QIDQ1799036zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Adam Brandenburger, H. Jerome Keisler

Publication date 18 October 2018

Published in Annals of Pure and Applied Logic (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1401.3726

zbMATH Keywords

hidden-variable modelsMaharam's theoremno-go theoremsquantum mechanics

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Measures on Boolean rings, measure algebras (28A60) Probabilistic measure theory (60A10) General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15) Quantum state spaces, operational and probabilistic concepts (81P16) Quantum coherence, entanglement, quantum correlations (81P40) Alternative quantum mechanics (including hidden variables, etc.) (81Q65)

Abstract: The hidden-variable question is whether or not various properties --- randomness or correlation, for example --- that are observed in the outcomes of an experiment can be explained via introduction of extra (hidden) variables which are unobserved by the experimenter. The question can be asked in both the classical and quantum domains. In the latter, it is fundamental to the interpretation of the quantum formalism (Bell [1964], Kochen and Specker [1967], and others). In building a suitable mathematical model of an experiment, the physical set-up will guide us on how to model the observable variables --- i.e., the measurement and outcome spaces. But, by definition, we cannot know what structure to put on the hidden-variable space. Nevertheless, we show that, under a measure-theoretic condition, the hidden-variable question can be put into a canonical form. The condition is that the $sigma$-algebras on the measurement and outcome spaces are countably generated. An argument using a classical result on isomorphisms of measure algebras then shows that the hidden-variable space can always be taken to be the unit interval equipped with the Lebesgue measure on the Borel sets.

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Cites work

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Cited in

(5)

• Statistical definition of observable and the structure of statistical models
• Proposed test of relative phase as hidden variable in quantum mechanics
• Compressing the hidden variable space of a qubit
• Use of a canonical hidden-variable space in quantum mechanics
• On joint distributions, counterfactual values and hidden variables in understanding contextuality

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