Against the tyranny of `pure states' in quantum theory

DOI10.1007/S10699-020-09720-XMaRDI QIDQ2153997zbMATHOpenAlexFDO

Authors C. De Ronde, César Massri

Publication date 13 July 2022

Published in Foundations of Science (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.01667

zbMATH Keywords

mixtureinvariancequantum mechanicspure state

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05)

Abstract: We argue that the notion of pure sate within Standard Quantum Mechanics is presently applied within the specialized literature in relation to two mutually inconsistent definitions. While the first (operational purity) provides a basis-dependent definition which makes reference to the certain prediction of measurement outcomes, the latter (trace-invariant purity) provides a purely abstract invariant definition which lacks operational content. In this work we derive a theorem which exposes the serious inconsistencies existent within these two incompatible definitions of purity.

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• Unscrambling the quantum omelette
• No purification ontology, no quantum paradoxes
• Purity through factorisation
• Pure quantum interpretations are not viable
• Pure operations and measurements
• The physical interpretation of partial traces: two nonstandard views
• Operational axioms for diagonalizing states

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