Quantum processes on phase space.

DOI10.1016/S0003-4916(03)00006-XzbMATH Open1084.81049arXivquant-ph/0205132OpenAlexW2062820322MaRDI QIDQ1869986FDOQ1869986

Authors: Charis Anastopoulos 

Publication date: 4 May 2003

Published in: Annals of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Quantum theory predicts probabilities as well as relative phases between different alternatives of the system. A unified description of both probabilities and phases comes through a generalisation of the notion of a density matrix for histories; this object is the decoherence functional of the consistent histories approach. If we take phases as well as probabilities as primitive elements of our theory, we abandon Kolmogorov probability and can describe quantum theory in terms of fundamental commutative observables, without being obstructed by Bell's and related theorems. Generalising the theory of stochastic processes, we develop the description of relative phases and probabilities for paths on the classical phase space. This description provides a theory of quantum processes. We identify a number of basic postulates and study its corresponding properties. We strongly emphasise the notion of conditioning and are able to write ``quantum differential equations as analogous to stochastic differential equations. These can be interpreted as referring to individual systems. We, then, show the sense in which quantum theory is equivalent to a quantum process on phase space (using coherent states). Conversely, starting from quantum processes on phase space we recover standard quantum theory on Hilbert space from the requirement that the process satisfies (the Markov property together with time reversibility. The statistical predictions of our theory are identical to the ones of standard quantum theory, but the ``logic of events is Boolean; events are not represented by projectors any more. We discuss some implication of this fact for the interpretation of quantum theory, emphasising that it makes plausible the existence of realist theories for individual quantum systems.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0205132

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Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Phase-space methods including Wigner distributions, etc. applied to problems in quantum mechanics (81S30)

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Cited In (16)

• Phase space representations and perturbation theory for continuous-time histories
• SPIN-STATISTICS THEOREM AND GEOMETRIC QUANTIZATION
• Glafka 2004: some remarks on the role of complex numbers in quantum theory
• Mind-body interaction and modern physics
• Time-of-arrival probabilities and quantum measurements
• Classical versus quantum probability in sequential measurements
• JOINT ENTROPY OF THE HARMONIC OSCILLATOR WITH TIME-DEPENDENT MASS AND/OR FREQUENCY
• The role of phase space geometry in Heisenberg's uncertainty relation.
• Time dependence of joint entropy of oscillating quantum systems
• Unique quantum paths by continuous diagonalization of the density operator
• Quantum versus stochastic processes and the role of complex numbers
• Multi-time measurements in Hawking radiation: information at higher-order correlations
• Fixed points of quantum operations
• Time-of-arrival probabilities and quantum measurements. II. Application to tunneling times
• On the relation between quantum mechanical probabilities and event frequencies
• On the phase-space picture of quantum mechanics

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