Pedagogical review of quantum measurement theory with an emphasis on weak measurements
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Abstract: In this, partly pedagogical review, I attempt to give a self-contained overview of the basis of (non-relativistic) QM measurement theory expressed in density matrix formalism. The focus is on applications to the theory of weak measurement, as developed by Aharonov and Vaidman and their collaborators. Their development of weak measurement combined with what they call 'post-selection' - judiciously choosing not only the initial state of a system ('pre-selection') but also its final state - has received much attention recently. Not the least has it opened up new, fruitful experimental vistas, like novel approaches to amplification. But the approach has also attached to it some air of mystery. I will attempt to 'de-mystify' it by showing that (almost) all results can be derived in a straight-forward way from conventional QM. Among other things, I develop the formalism not only to first order but also to second order in the weak interaction responsible for the measurement. This also allows me to derive, more or less as a by-product, the master equation for the density matrix of an open system in interaction with an environment. One particular application I shall treat of the weak measurement is the so called Leggett-Garg inequalities, a k a 'Bell inequalities in time'. I also give an outline, even if rough, of some of the ingenious experiments that the work by Aharonov, Vaidman and collaborators has inspired. If anything is magic in the weak measurement + post-selection approach, it is the interpretation of the so called weak value of an observable. Is it a bona fide property of the system considered? I have no answer to this question; I shall only exhibit the pros and cons of the proposed interpretation.
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Cites work
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Cited in
(17)- Overcoming experimental limitations in a nonlinear two-qubit gate through postselection
- Weak measurement on a quantum system in contact with a thermal reservoir: projection operator method
- Quantum weak values and logic: an uneasy couple
- What is a quantum-mechanical ``weak value the value of?
- Optimal noise suppression of phase damping quantum systems via weak measurement
- Decoherence of weak values in a pure dephasing process
- Linear response theory for open quantum systems within the framework of the ABL formalism
- On the two-state vector reformulation of quantum mechanics
- Decoherence of a weak value influenced by a non-Markovian environment
- Monte Carlo simulation of quantum Zeno effect in the brain
- Investigating and improving student understanding of the probability distributions for measuring physical observables in quantum mechanics
- Introduction to weak measurements and weak values
- Separating the wave and particle attributes of two entangled photons
- Controlled quantum communication using quantum walk
- Exploring weak value arguments and Bargmann invariants in N-level quantum systems through the Majorana symmetric representation
- Quantum state tomography on closed timelike curves using weak measurements
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