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arXiv:1412.8528 · Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science

Categorical characterizations of operator-valued measures

Frank Roumen

Published Dec 26, 2014• 0 citations
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Abstract

The most general type of measurement in quantum physics is modeled by a positive operator-valued measure (POVM). Mathematically, a POVM is a generalization of a measure, whose values are not real numbers, but positive operators on a Hilbert space. POVMs can equivalently be viewed as maps between effect algebras or as maps between algebras for the Giry monad. We will show that this equivalence is an instance of a duality between two categories. In the special case of continuous POVMs, we obtain two equivalent representations in terms of morphisms between von Neumann algebras.

DOI
10.4204/eptcs.171.12

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The most general type of measurement in quantum physics is modeled by a positive operator-valued measure (POVM). Mathematically, a POVM is a generalization of a measure, whose values are not real numbers, but positive operators on a Hilbert space. POVMs can equivalently be viewed as maps between effect algebras or as maps between algebras for the Giry monad. We will show that this equivalence is an instance of a duality between two categories. In the special case of continuous POVMs, we obtain two equivalent representations in terms of morphisms between von Neumann algebras.
We show that a partition of the unity (or POVM) on a Hilbert space that is almost orthogonal is close to an orthogonal POVM in the same von Neumann algebra. This generalizes to infinite dimension previous results in matrix algebras by Kempe–Vidick and Ji–Natarajan–Vidick–Wright–Yuen. Quantitatively, our result are also finer, as we obtain a linear dependance, which is optimal. We also generalize to infinite dimension a duality result between POVMs and minimal majorants of finite subsets in the predual of a von Neumann algebra.
We generalize the Abramsky--Brandenburger sheaf-theoretic treatment of contextuality by replacing probability distributions with distributions valued in a convex effect algebra AAA. This yields a notion of AAA-valued measurement model encompassing probabilistic, deterministic, and quantum measurement structures within a single framework. States σ:A→[0,1]σ:A\to[0,1]σ:A→[0,1] induce ordinary empirical models, allowing observable behaviour to be viewed as arising from effect-valued measurement data. This leads to a distinction between internal contextuality of AAA-models and observable contextuality after state evaluation. We analyze the relationship between these notions and identify coherence conditions under which observable classical explanations assemble into internal ones. Using the ordered-vector-space representation of effect modules, we show that non-contextuality is characterized by feasibility of an associated cone program, generalizing the linear-programming formulation of contextuality in the probabilistic case. We also introduce an effect-valued contextual fraction and study its relation to observable contextuality witnesses. We show how cone duality leads to a notion of Bell witnesses for contextuality as a direct generalization of Bell inequalities. Finally, we analyze sharp realizability and uniform dilation for measurement models, clarifying the relationship between general POVMs and projective measurements, and show how resource-indexed effect structures induce graded monads generalizing the quantum monad.
We present a correspondence between positive operator valued measures (POVMs) and sets of generalized coherent states. POVMs describe quantum observables and, similar to quantum states, quantum observables can also be mixed. We show how the formalism of generalized coherent states leads to a useful characterization of extremal POVMs. We prove that covariant phase-space observables related to squeezed states are extremal, while those related to number states are not extremal. This article is part of a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical devoted to 'Coherent states: mathematical and physical aspects'.
The space POVM H(X) of positive operator-valued probability measures on the Borel sets of a compact (or even locally compact) Hausdorff space X with values in B(H), the algebra of linear operators acting on a d-dimensional Hilbert space H, is studied from the perspectives of classical and nonclassical convexity through a transform Γ that associates any positive operator-valued measure ν with a certain completely positive linear map Γ(ν) of the homogeneous C*-algebra C(X)⊗B(H) into B(H). This association is achieved by using an operator-valued integral in which nonclassical random variables (that is, operator-valued functions) are integrated with respect to positive operator-valued measures and which has the feature that the integral of a random quantum effect is itself a quantum effect. A left inverse Ω for Γ yields an integral representation, along the lines of the classical Riesz representation theorem for linear functionals on C(X), of certain (but not all) unital completely positive linear maps φ:C(X)⊗B(H)→B(H). The extremal and C*-extremal points of POVM H(X) are determined.
Monads are a ubiquitous structure in functional programming used for modelling computational effects. For example, the state monad models the effect of a computation interacting with a memory system. Here we introduce the quantum instrument monad IA\mathcal{I}_\mathcal{A}IA​, which models the effect of a computation interacting with a quantum system with algebra of observables A\mathcal{A}A. It can be thought of as a noncommutative generalization of the state monad. We construct this quantum instrument monad in two versions: a finitary version on the category of sets and a measure-theoretic version on the category of measurable spaces (the latter under the assumption that A\mathcal{A}A is a type I von Neumann algebra with separable predual). Both versions are strong monads. The construction of the measure-theoretic version is based on a new notion of integral of a quantum-operation-valued function against a state-valued measure.