Abstract
We show that exactly the same intuitively plausible definitions of state, observable, symmetry, dynamics, and compound systems of the classical Boolean structure of intrinsic properties of systems lead, when applied to the structure of extrinsic, relational quantum properties, to the standard quantum formalism, including the Schrödinger equation and the von Neumann–Lüders Projection Rule. This approach is then applied to resolving the paradoxes and difficulties of the orthodox interpretation.
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Notes
The group \(\mathrm{Aut}(Q)\) may, in fact, be construed as a topological group by defining, for each \(\epsilon >0\), an \(\epsilon \)-neighborhood of the identity to be \(\{ \sigma \mid |p_\sigma (x)- p(x)| < \epsilon \) for all \(x\) and \(p \}\). We may then directly speak of the continuity of the map \(\sigma \), in place of the condition that \(p_{\sigma _t}(x)\) is continuous in \(t\).
More precisely, we have a projective unitary representation of \(\mathbb {R}\), but such a representation of \(\mathbb {R}\) is equivalent to a vector representation. (See, e.g., Varadarajan [22]).
Historically, of course, it was not such interferometry experiments, but rather spectroscopic experiments that lead Schrödinger to his equation.
This is reminiscent of Aristotle’s famous sea battle in De Interpretatione: “A sea battle must either take place tomorrow or not, but it is not necessary that it should take place tomorrow neither is it necessary that it should not take place, yet it is necessary that it either should or should not take place tomorrow.”
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This work was partially supported by an award from the John Templeton Foundation.
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Dedicated to the memory of Ernst Specker.
Appendix: Summary Table of Concepts
Appendix: Summary Table of Concepts
General mechanics | Classical mechanics | Quantum mechanics | |
---|---|---|---|
Properties | \(\sigma \)-Complex | \(\sigma \)-Algebra | \(\sigma \)-Complex |
\(Q = \cup B\), with \(B\) a \(\sigma \)-algebra | \(B(\Omega )\) | \(Q(\mathcal {H}\}\) | |
States | \(p: Q\rightarrow [0,1]\) | \(p: B(\Omega )\rightarrow [0,1]\) | \(w: \mathcal {H}\rightarrow \mathcal {H}\) |
\(p\mid B\), a probability measure | a probability measure | Density operator | |
\(p(x)=\mathrm{tr}(wx)\) | |||
Pure states | Extreme point | 1 dim operator | |
of convex set | \(\omega \in \Omega \) | i.e. unit \(\phi \in \mathcal {H}\) | |
\(p(x)=\left\langle x,x\phi \right\rangle \) | |||
Observables | \(u: B(\mathbb {R})\rightarrow Q\) | \(f:\Omega \rightarrow \mathbb {R}\) | \(A: \mathcal {H}\rightarrow \mathcal {H}\) |
homomorphism | Borel function | Hermitean operator | |
Symmetries | \(\sigma :Q \rightarrow Q\) | \(h:\Omega \rightarrow \Omega \) | \(u: \mathcal {H}\rightarrow \mathcal {H}\) |
automorphism | canonical | unitary or | |
transformation | anti-unitary operator | ||
\(\sigma (x)=uxu^{-1}\) | |||
Dynamics | \(\sigma :\mathbb {R}\rightarrow \mathrm{Aut}(Q)\) | Liouville equation | von Neumann |
representation | \(\partial _t \rho =-[H, \rho ]\) | –Liouville equation | |
\(\partial _t w_t=-\frac{i}{\hbar } [ H, w_t]\) | |||
Conditionalized | \( p(x) \rightarrow p(x \mid y)\) | \(p(x) \rightarrow p(x \mid y)\) | \(w\rightarrow ywy / \mathrm{tr}(wy)\) |
states | for \(x,y\in B\) in \(Q\) | \(=p(x \wedge y)/p(y)\) | von Neumann |
\(p(x \mid y)=p(x \mid y)/p(y)\) | –Lüders Rule | ||
Combined | \(Q_1 \oplus Q_2\) | \(\Omega _1 \times \Omega _2\) | \(\mathcal {H}_1 \otimes \mathcal {H}_2\) |
systems | direct sum of | direct product of | tensor product of |
\(\sigma \)-complexes | phase spaces | Hilbert spaces |
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Kochen, S. A Reconstruction of Quantum Mechanics. Found Phys 45, 557–590 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-015-9886-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-015-9886-5