What is a quantum-mechanical ``weak value the value of?

DOI10.1007/S10701-013-9740-6zbMATH Open1356.81048arXiv1301.4328OpenAlexW2031392659WikidataQ59298692 ScholiaQ59298692MaRDI QIDQ2015090FDOQ2015090

Authors: Bengt E. Y. Svensson 

Publication date: 18 June 2014

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

Abstract: A so called 'weak value' of an observable in quantum mechanics (QM) may be obtained in a weak measurement + post-selection procedure on the QM system under study. Applied to number operators, it has been invoked in revisiting some QM paradoxes (e.g., the so called Three Box paradox and Hardy s paradox). This requires the weak value to be interpreted as a bona fide property of the system considered, a par with entities like operator mean values and eigenvalues. I question such an interpretation; it has no support in the basic axioms of quantum mechanics and it leads to unreasonable results in concrete situations.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1301.4328

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zbMATH Keywords

weak valuenumber operatorHardy's paradoxinterpretation of QM

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Operator spaces and completely bounded maps (46L07) General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15) Many-body theory; quantum Hall effect (81V70) General theory of von Neumann algebras (46L10)

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Cited In (28)

• Comment on ``Non-representative quantum mechanical weak values
• What is the value of an observable between pre- and postselection?
• On the spin projection operator and the probabilistic meaning of the bipartite correlation function
• Weak measurements from the point of view of Bohmian mechanics
• Weak values in collision theory
• On the two-state vector reformulation of quantum mechanics
• Weak measurements measure probability amplitudes (and very little else)
• Weak value and the wave-particle duality
• Weak value as an indicator of back-action
• Geometric description of modular and weak values in discrete quantum systems using the Majorana representation
• Strange weak values
• Quantum weak values and logic: an uneasy couple
• The reconstruction problem and weak quantum values
• Non-representative quantum mechanical weak values
• Weak values and quantum properties
• Entanglement and weak values: a quantum miracle cookbook
• Weak values beyond post-selection
• Pre- and post-selection, weak values and contextuality
• Weak values and consistent histories in quantum theory
• The transactional interpretation, counterfactuals, and weak values in quantum theory
• Mean and variance in quantum theory
• The physical origin of anomalous weak values
• On the quantum mechanical measurement process
• Are the weak measurements really measurements?
• Sufficient conditions for uniqueness of the weak value
• Linear optics implementation of weak values in Hardy's paradox
• Pedagogical review of quantum measurement theory with an emphasis on weak measurements
• Weak quantum theory: formal framework and selected applications

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