Theory of filters

Abstract

We consider the following statistical problem: suppose we have a light beam and a collection of semi-transparent windows which can be placed in the way of the beam. Assume that we are colour blind and we do not possess any colour sensitive detector. The question is, whether by only measurements of the decrease in the beam intensity in various sequences of windows we can recognize which among our windows are light beam filters absorbing photons according to certain definite rules?

To answer this question a definition of physical systems is formulated independent of “quantum logic” and lattice theory, and a new idea of quantization is proposed. An operational definition of filters is given: in the framework of this definition certain nonorthodox classes of filters are admissible with a geometry incompatible to that assumed in orthodox quantum mechanics. This leads to an extension of the existing quantum mechanical structure generalizing the schemes proposed by Ludwig [10] and the present author [13]. In the resulting theory, the quantum world of orthodox quantum mechanics is not the only possible but is a special member of a vast family of “quantum worlds” mathematically admissible. An approximate classification of these worlds is given, and their possible relation to the quantization of non-linear fields is discussed. It turns out to be obvious that the convex set theory has a similar significance for quantum physics as the Riemannian geometry for space-time physics.