No label defined (Q3972945)

[For the entire collection see Zbl 0719.00025.] In [``Mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics'' (1955) (chapter 6)] \textit{J. von Neumann} deduced a canonical form for the states of a quantum system composite of two subsystems, but he did not discuss the uniqueness of this representation. In [``Perspectives in quantum theory'', edited by \textit{W. Yourgran} and \textit{A. van der Merve} (1971)] \textit{H. Margenau} and \textit{J. L. Park} discussed a generalized form of the Einstein- Podolsky-Rosen paradox. In fact, the statement of von Neumann's theorem can be expressed by saying that any state of a composite system can be written in the form discussed by Margenau and Park in [loc. cit.]. These authors also discussed how to generalize the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen construction in the case when a Lie group is involved. In this note, which is a comment to their paper, it is shown that a discussion of the uniqueness of the von Neumann representation shows that also the situation envisaged by \textit{S. Bergia} et al. [Am. J. Phys. 47, 548-552 (1979)] is universal, in the sense that a Lie group (and in fact a whole sequence of them) is always involved, being canonically associated to the state of the composite system.