We first show that every operation possesses an unique dual operation and measures an unique effect. If a and b are effects and J is an operation that measures a, we define the sequential product of a then b relative to J. Properties of the sequential product are derived and are illustrated in terms of Lüders and Holevo operations. We next extend this work to the theory of instruments and observables. We also define the concept of an instrument (observable) conditioned by another instrument (observable). Identity, state-constant and repeatable instruments are considered. Sequential products of finite observables relative to Lüders and Holevo instruments are studied. Quanta 2022; 11: 15–27.
This article considers quantum systems described by a finite-dimensional complex Hilbert space
H. We first define the concept of a finite observable on
H. We then discuss ways of combining observables in terms of convex combinations, post-processing and sequential products. We also define complementary and coexistent observables. We then introduce finite instruments and their related compatible observables. The previous combinations and relations for observables are extended to instruments and their properties are compared. We present four types of instruments; namely, identity, trivial, Lüders and Kraus instruments. These types are used to illustrate different ways that instruments can act. We next consider joint probabilities for observables and instruments. The article concludes with a discussion of measurement models and the instruments they measure.
Observables and instruments have played significant roles in recent studies on the foundations of quantum mechanics. Sequential products of effects and conditioned observables have also been introduced. After an introduction in Section~1, we review these concepts in Section~2. Moreover, it is shown how these ideas can be unified within the framework of measurement models. In Section~3, we illustrate these concepts and their relationships for the simple example of a qubit Hilbert space. Conditioned observables and their distributions are studied in Section~4. Section~5 considers joint probabilities of observables. We introduce a definition for joint probabilities and discuss why we consider this to be superior to the standard definition.
Our basic concept is the set
E(H) of effects on a finite dimensional complex Hilbert space
H. If
a,b∈E(H), we define the sequential product
a[I]b of
a then
b. The sequential product depends on the operation
I used to measure
a. We begin by studying the properties of this sequential product. It is observed that
b↦a[I]b is an additive, convex morphism and we show by examples that
a↦a[I]b enjoys very few conditions. This is because a measurement of
a can interfere with a later measurement of
b. We study sequential products relative to Kraus, Lüders and Holevo operations and find properties that characterize these operations. We consider repeatable effects and conditions on
a[I]b that imply commutativity. We introduce the concept of an effect
b given an effect
a and study its properties. We next extend the sequential product to observables and instruments and develop statistical properties of real-valued observables. This is accomplished by employing corresponding stochastic operators. Finally, we introduce an uncertainty principle for conditioned observables.
If
H1 and
H2 are finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces, a channel from
H1 to
H2 is a completely positive, linear map
I that takes the set of states
S(H1) for
H1 to the set of states
S(H2) for
H2. Corresponding to
I there is a unique dual map
I∗ from the set of effects
E(H2) for
H2 to the set of effects
E(H1) for
H1. We call
I∗(b) the effect
b conditioned by
I and the set
Ic=I∗(E(H2)) the conditioned set of
I. We point out that
Ic is a convex subeffect algebra of the effect algebra
E(H1). We extend this definition to the conditioning
I∗(B) for an observable
B on
H2 and say that an observable
A is in
Ic if
A=I∗(B) for some observable
B. We show that
Ic is closed under post-processing and taking parts. We also define the conditioning of instruments by channels. These concepts are illustrated using examples of Holevo instruments and channels. We next discuss measurement models and their corresponding observables and instruments. We show that calculations can be simplified by employing Kraus and Holevo separable channels. Such channels allow one to separate the components of a tensor product.
This article introduces the concepts of multi-observables and multi-instruments in quantum mechanics. A multi-observable
A (multi-instrument
I) has an outcome space of the form
Ω=Ω1×⋯×Ωn and is denoted by
Ax1⋯xn (
Ix1⋯xn) where
(x1,…,xn)∈Ω. We also call
A (
I) an
n-observable (
n-instrument) and when
n=2 we call
A (
I) a bi-observable (bi-instrument). We point out that bi-observables
A (
I) and bi-instruments have been considered in past literature, but the more general case appears to be new. In particular, two observables (instruments) have been defined to coexist or be compatible if they possess a joint bi-observable (bi-instrument). We extend this definition to
n observables and
n instruments by considering joint marginals of
n-observables and joint reduced marginals of
n-instruments. We show that a
n-instrument measures a unique
n-observable and if a finite umber of instruments coexist, then their measured observables coexist. We prove that there is a close relationship between a nontrivial
n-observable and its parts. Moreover, a similar result holds for instruments. We next show that a natural definition for the tensor product of a finite number of instruments exist and possess reasonable properties. We then discuss sequential products of a finite number of observables and instruments. We present various examples such as Kraus, Holevo and Lüders instruments.