Weak measurement and Bohmian conditional wave functions

DOI10.1016/J.AOP.2014.07.014zbMATH Open1344.81046arXiv1305.2409OpenAlexW2046900508MaRDI QIDQ309368FDOQ309368

Authors: Travis Norsen, Ward Struyve 

Publication date: 7 September 2016

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

Abstract: It was recently pointed out (and demonstrated experimentally) by Lundeen et al. that the wave function of a particle (more precisely, the wave function possessed by each member of an ensemble of identically-prepared particles) can be "directly measured" using weak measurement. Here it is shown that if this same technique is applied, with appropriate post-selection, to one particle from a (perhaps entangled) multi-particle system, the result is precisely the so-called "conditional wave function" of Bohmian mechanics. Thus, a plausibly operationalist method for defining the wave function of a quantum mechanical sub-system corresponds to the natural definition of a sub-system wave function which Bohmian mechanics (uniquely) makes possible. Similarly, a weak-measurement-based procedure for directly measuring a sub-system's density matrix should yield, under appropriate circumstances, the Bohmian "conditional density matrix" as opposed to the standard reduced density matrix. Experimental arrangements to demonstrate this behavior -- and also thereby reveal the non-local dependence of sub-system state functions on distant interventions -- are suggested and discussed.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1305.2409

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zbMATH Keywords

quantum mechanicsweak measurementbohmian mechanicsquantum non-locality

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15)

Cites Work

• Quantum equilibrium and the origin of absolute uncertainty
• Speakable and unspeakable in quantum mechanics. With an introduction by Alain Aspect
• On the weak measurement of velocity in Bohmian mechanics
• Observing the average trajectories of single photons in a two-slit interferometer
• The theory of (exclusively) local beables
• On the role of density matrices in bohmian mechanics

Cited In (6)

• Strong measurements give a better direct measurement of the quantum wave function
• Weak measurements from the point of view of Bohmian mechanics
• Quantum state nonclassicality in weak measurements in view of Bochner's criteria
• Reconstruction of Bohmian trajectories via weak measurement for bipartite states
• On the weak measurement of velocity in Bohmian mechanics
• Weak values as context-dependent values of observables and Born’s rule

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