Consistent histories and quantum reasoning

被引:100
作者
Griffiths, RB
机构
[1] Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
来源
PHYSICAL REVIEW A | 1996年 / 54卷 / 04期
关键词
D O I
10.1103/PhysRevA.54.2759
中图分类号
O43 [光学];
学科分类号
070207 ; 0803 ;
摘要
A system of quantum reasoning for a closed system is developed by treating nonrelativistic quantum mechanics as a stochastic theory. The sample space corresponds to a decomposition, as a sum of orthogonal projectors, of the identity operator on a Hilbert space of histories. Provided a consistency condition is satisfied, the corresponding Boolean algebra of histories, called a framework, can be assigned probabilities in the usual way, and within a single framework quantum reasoning is identical to ordinary probabilistic reasoning. A refinement rule, which allows a probability distribution to be extended from one framework to a larger (refined) framework, incorporates the dynamical laws of quantum theory. Two or more frameworks which are incompatible because they possess no common refinement cannot be simultaneously employed to describe a single physical system. Logical reasoning is a special case of probabilistic reasoning in which (conditional) probabilities are 1 (true) or 0 (false). As probabilities an only meaningful relative to some framework, the same is true of the truth or falsity of a quantum description. The formalism is illustrated using simple examples, and the physical considerations which determine the choice of a framework are discussed.
引用
收藏
页码:2759 / 2774
页数:16
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