The unreasonable success of quantum probability. II: Quantum measurements as universal measurements

DOI10.1016/J.JMP.2015.05.001zbMATH Open1354.81006arXiv1401.2650OpenAlexW2962993816WikidataQ62607195 ScholiaQ62607195MaRDI QIDQ899140FDOQ899140

Authors: Diederik Aerts, Massimiliano Sassoli de Bianchi 

Publication date: 21 December 2015

Published in: Journal of Mathematical Psychology (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: In the first part of this two-part article, we have introduced and analyzed a multidimensional model, called the 'general tension-reduction' (GTR) model, able to describe general quantum-like measurements with an arbitrary number of outcomes, and we have used it as a general theoretical framework to study the most general possible condition of lack of knowledge in a measurement, so defining what we have called a 'universal measurement'. In this second part, we present the formal proof that universal measurements, which are averages over all possible forms of fluctuations, produce the same probabilities as measurements characterized by 'uniform' fluctuations on the measurement situation. Since quantum probabilities can be shown to arise from the presence of such uniform fluctuations, we have proven that they can be interpreted as the probabilities of a first-order non-classical theory, describing situations in which the experimenter lacks complete knowledge about the nature of the interaction between the measuring apparatus and the entity under investigation. This same explanation can be applied -- mutatis mutandis -- to the case of cognitive measurements, made by human subjects on conceptual entities, or in decision processes, although it is not necessarily the case that the structure of the set of states would be in this case strictly Hilbertian. We also show that universal measurements correspond to maximally 'robust' descriptions of indeterministic reproducible experiments, and since quantum measurements can also be shown to be maximally robust, this adds plausibility to their interpretation as universal measurements, and provides a further element of explanation for the great success of the quantum statistics in the description of a large class of phenomena.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1401.2650

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zbMATH Keywords

emergencerobustnesscontextquantum probabilityquantum modelinghuman decisionhuman thoughtuniversal measurement

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Decision theory (91B06) Cognitive psychology (91E10) Measurement and performance in psychology (91E45) Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15)

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Cited In (8)

• On the Unpredictability of Individual Quantum Measurement Outcomes
• The unreasonable success of quantum probability. I: Quantum measurements as uniform fluctuations
• Do spins have directions?
• The GTR-model: a universal framework for quantum-like measurements
• Solving the hard problem of Bertrand's paradox
• Beyond-quantum modeling of question order effects and response replicability in psychological measurements
• The extended Bloch representation of quantum mechanics and the hidden-measurement solution to the measurement problem
• On the conceptuality interpretation of quantum and relativity theories

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