Coexistence vs. functional coexistence of quantum observables (Q5937874)

The authors study observables on effect algebras, in particular on the Hilbert space effects. Two observables are coexistent if the union of their ranges belongs to the range of a single observable. Two observables are functionally coexistent if they can be obtained by application of different functions to the same observable. These notions play an important role in the mathematical description of quantum mechanical systems. Functionally coexistent observables are coexistent. It remains an open question whether the reverse implication holds. The authors give a lot of sufficient conditions under which coexistent observables are functionally coexistent.