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arXiv:2512.18907

Interactions of pre- and postselected quantum particles

Gregory Reznik, Jan Dziewior, Shrobona Bagchi, Lev Vaidman

quant-phSubmitted Dec 21, 2025• Announced Dec 23, 2025• 0 citations• Revised Mar 15, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Dec 21, 2025v2 · Mar 15, 2026
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Abstract

An approach for analysis of effective interaction between pre- and postselected quantum particles is developed. It is argued that the cases of complete pre- and postselection of particles are more profound than the cases of partial pre- and postselection, since the former goes beyond modification of the average of interactions on an ensemble of experiments. Recently discussed paradoxical phenomena such as the pigeonhole paradox and the modification of the interaction from repulsion to attraction are analyzed within the introduced formalism, and a few new surprising examples are presented.

Comments
The manuscript has been accepted for publication in Physical Review A

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An approach for analysis of effective interaction between pre- and postselected quantum particles is developed. It is argued that the cases of complete pre- and postselection of particles are more profound than the cases of partial pre- and postselection, since the former goes beyond modification of the average of interactions on an ensemble of experiments. Recently discussed paradoxical phenomena such as the pigeonhole paradox and the modification of the interaction from repulsion to attraction are analyzed within the introduced formalism, and a few new surprising examples are presented.
In analogy with the usual quantum state-estimation problem, we introduce the problem of state estimation for a pre- and postselected ensemble. The problem has fundamental physical significance since, as argued by Y. Aharonov and collaborators, pre- and postselected ensembles are the most basic quantum ensembles. Two new features are shown to appear: (1) information is flowing to the measuring device both from the past and from the future; (2) because of the postselection, certain measurement outcomes can be forced never to occur. Due to these features, state estimation in such ensembles is dramatically different from the case of ordinary, preselected-only ensembles. We develop a general theoretical framework for studying this problem and illustrate it through several examples. We also prove general theorems establishing that information flowing from the future is closely related to, and in some cases equivalent to, the complex conjugate information flowing from the past. Finally, we illustrate our approach on examples involving covariant measurements on spin-1/2 particles. We emphasize that all state-estimation problems can be extended to the pre- and postselected situation. The present work thus lays the foundations of a much more general theory of quantum state estimation.
I shall discuss two recently suggested quantum experiments. These experiments lead to paradoxical situations. I will argue that in the framework of a particular Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum theory the paradoxes do not arise. The first experiment is the “interaction-free measurement” (Elitzur and Vaidman 1993). The experimental group at Innsbruck headed by Prof. Zeilinger is working now on its realization. Before describing the experiment let me discuss a general question: “How do we know that there is an object in a region of space?” The simplest case is when the object itself causes some physical changes outside the region: i) The object is charged, so there is a field outside. We can measure this field. ii) The object yields a potential outside. Aharonov and Bohm have taught us that potential even without field leads to a measurable effect. iii) The objects radiates photons or other particles.
The pigeonhole principle upholds the idea that by ascribing to three different particles either one of two properties, we necessarily end up in a situation when at least two of the particles have the same property. In quantum physics, this principle is violated in experiments involving postselection of the particles in appropriately-chosen states. Here, we give two explicit constructions using standard gates and measurements that illustrate this fact. Intriguingly, the procedures described are manifestly non-local, which demonstrates that the correlations needed to observe the violation of this principle can be created without direct interactions between particles.
The question ``Where was a quantum particle between pre- and postselection measurements?'' is analyzed in view of a recent proposal that the quantum particle was in the overlap of the forward and backward evolving wave functions. It is argued that this proposal corresponds not only to the criterion of where the particle leaves a weak trace but also to the criterion of where the local interactions can affect the probability of postselection and where finding the particle in a strong nondemolition measurement is possible. The concept of a ``secondary presence'' of a pre- and postselected particle where local interactions affect the weak trace in the overlap region is introduced.
Although there is no consensus regarding the ``reality'' of the past of a quantum particle, in situations where there is only one trajectory with a nonvanishing quantum wave of the particle between its emission and detection points, it seems ``safe'' to associate the past of the particle with this trajectory. A method for analyzing the past of a quantum particle according to the weak trace it leaves is proposed. Such a trace can be observed via measurements performed on an ensemble of identically pre- and postselected particles. Examples in which this method contradicts the above common sense description of the past of the particle are presented. It is argued that it is possible to describe the past of a quantum particle, but the naive approach has to be replaced by both forward- and backward-evolving quantum states.