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Proposed Test of Relative Phase as Hidden Variable in Quantum Mechanics

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Abstract

We consider the possibility that the relative phase in quantum mechanics plays a role in determining measurement outcome and could therefore serve as a “hidden” variable. The Born rule for measurement equates the probability for a given outcome with the absolute square of the coefficient of the basis state, which by design removes the relative phase from the formulation. The value of this phase at the moment of measurement naturally averages out in an ensemble, which would prevent any dependence from being observed, and we show that conventional frequency-spectroscopy measurements on discrete quantum systems cannot be imposed at a specific phase due to a straightforward uncertainty relation. We lay out general conditions for imposing measurements at a specific value of the relative phase so that the possibility of its role as a hidden variable can be tested, and we discuss implementation for the specific case of an atomic two-state system with laser-induced fluorescence for measurement.

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Notes

  1. We implicitly mean a specific value of ϕ mod2π.

  2. See, for example, [13], for a discussion of state reduction via null measurement.

  3. More precisely, this could be called the minimum measurement time or the quantum measurement time. In the presence of technical noise, more averaging may be required to determine the state of the system.

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  1. United States Naval Observatory, 3450 Massachusetts Ave., Washington, DC, 20392, USA

    Steven Peil

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  1. Steven Peil
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Correspondence to Steven Peil.

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Peil, S. Proposed Test of Relative Phase as Hidden Variable in Quantum Mechanics. Found Phys 42, 1523–1533 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-012-9680-6

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