The expected Markov property for quantum Markov fields (Q6066108)

The difficulty to construct a quantum theory of Markov processes is rooted in the fact that, given a von Neumann algebra \(\mathcal{A}\) with a state \(\phi\) and a von Neumann sub-algebra \(\mathcal{B}\), a conditional expectation \(E\), from \(\mathcal{A}\) onto \(\mathcal{B}\) compatible with \(\phi\), namely such that \(\phi\circ E = \phi\), in general does not exist. If it exists, \(\mathcal{B}\) is called \(\phi\)-expected. Classical Markov processes are \(\phi\) expected and the theory of Markov processes has been extended to fields, i.e., processes whose index set is multi-dimensional. The authors prove that such an extension exists in the case of expected Markov fields showing the equivalence of several formulations of the multi-dimensional Markov property and providing an extension to quantum fields of the known equivalence between the forward and the backward classical Markov property.