Experimental test of the ``special state theory of quantum measurement

DOI10.3390/E14040665MaRDI QIDQ406048zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Lawrence S. Schulman

Publication date 8 September 2014

Published in Entropy (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.2602

zbMATH Keywords

Cauchy distributionarrow of timeretrocausalityspecial statestests of quantum mechanics

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15) Alternative quantum mechanics (including hidden variables, etc.) (81Q65) Experimental work for problems pertaining to quantum theory (81-05)

Abstract: An experimental test of the "special state" theory of quantum measurement is proposed. It should be feasible with present-day laboratory equipment and involves a slightly elaborated Stern-Gerlach setup. The "special state" theory is conservative with respect to quantum mechanics, but radical with respect to statistical mechanics, in particular regarding the arrow of time. In this article background material is given on both quantum measurement and statistical mechanics aspects. For example, it is shown that future boundary conditions would not contradict experience, indicating that the fundamental equal-a-priori-probability assumption at the foundations of statistical mechanics is far too strong (since future conditioning reduces the class of allowed states). The test is based on a feature of this theory that was found necessary in order to recover standard (Born) probabilities in quantum measurements. Specifically, certain systems should have "noise" whose amplitude follows the long-tailed Cauchy distribution. This distribution is marked by the occasional occurrence of extremely large signals as well as a non-self-averaging property. The proposed test is a variant of the Stern-Gerlach experiment in which protocols are devised, some of which will require the presence of this noise, some of which will not. The likely observational schemes would involve the distinction between detection and non-detection of that "noise". The signal to be detected (or not) would be either single photons in the visible and UV range or electric fields (and related excitations) in the neighborhood of the ends of the magnets.

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Cited in

(8)

• The post-determined block universe
• Proposed Experimental Tests of the Bell-Kochen-Specker Theorem
• The universe remembers no wavefunction collapse
• Looking for the source of change
• Special states demand a force for the observer
• A state-independent test of the Kochen–Specker theorem
• A theory of quantum (statistical) measurement
• General tracking control of arbitrary \(N\)-level quantum systems using piecewise time-independent potentials

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