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arXiv:1010.5300 · Foundations of Physics

Derivation of the Rules of Quantum Mechanics from Information-Theoretic Axioms

Daniel I. Fivel

Published Oct 28, 2011• 18 citations
arXivHTMLPDF
DOI
10.1007/s10701-011-9603-y

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Conventional quantum mechanics with a complex Hilbert space and the Born Rule is derived from five axioms describing properties of probability distributions for the outcome of measurements. Axioms I,II,III are common to quantum mechanics and hidden variable theories. Axiom IV recognizes a phenomenon, first noted by Turing and von Neumann, in which the increase in entropy resulting from a measurement is reduced by a suitable intermediate measurement. This is shown to be impossible for local hidden variable theories. Axiom IV, together with the first three, almost suffice to deduce the conventional rules but allow some exotic, alternatives such as real or quaternionic quantum mechanics. Axiom V recognizes a property of the distribution of outcomes of random measurements on qubits which holds only in the complex Hilbert space model. It is then shown that the five axioms also imply the conventional rules for all dimensions. 1

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Conventional quantum mechanics with a complex Hilbert space and the Born Rule is derived from five axioms describing properties of probability distributions for the outcome of measurements. Axioms I,II,III are common to quantum mechanics and hidden variable theories. Axiom IV recognizes a phenomenon, first noted by Turing and von Neumann, in which the increase in entropy resulting from a measurement is reduced by a suitable intermediate measurement. This is shown to be impossible for local hidden variable theories. Axiom IV, together with the first three, almost suffice to deduce the conventional rules but allow some exotic, alternatives such as real or quaternionic quantum mechanics. Axiom V recognizes a property of the distribution of outcomes of random measurements on qubits which holds only in the complex Hilbert space model. It is then shown that the five axioms also imply the conventional rules for all dimensions. 1
A major problem facing no-collapse interpretations of quantum mechanics in the tradition of Everett is how to understand the probabilistic axiom of quantum mechanics (the Born rule) in the context of a deterministic theory in which every outcome of a measurement occurs. Deutsch claims to derive a decision-theoretic analogue of the Born rule from the non-probabilistic part of quantum mechanics and some non-probabilistic axioms of classical decision theory, and hence concludes that no probabilistic axiom is needed. I argue that Deutsch’s derivation begs the question.
This paper derives the complete mathematical structure of quantum mechanics—complex Hilbert spaces, unitary evolution, and Born-rule probabilities—from five information-theoretic axioms, without assuming quantum mechanics at the outset. Starting from an ontology of microhistories (fully specified microscopic trajectories), we define branches as equivalence classes of operationally indistinguishable microhistories. We then show that five physically motivated constraints on how information is stored, mixed, and transformed uniquely force the effective state space to be a complex projective space with unitary dynamics.