Quantum Theory: von Neumann vs. Dirac

Jeffrey Bub

Léon Van Hove

Anthony Sudbery

The projection postulate is a description of the effect on a quantum system, assumed to be in a pure state, of a measurement of an observable with a discrete spectrum, in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. It is often called "von Neumann's projection postulate" or "the Lüders rule". This paper is an examination of the versions of this postulate due to Dirac, von Neumann and Lüders. It is shown that Dirac, in 1930, proposed what is now generally known as the projection postulate. Von Neumann, in 1932, gave a different theory which only applies in special and rather unusual cases. Lüders, in 1951, rejected this theory and presented one which is the same as Dirac's. Treatments of observables with continuous spectra by both Dirac and von Neumann are criticised, and the possibility of a generalised version of the projection postulate for this case is considered. The paper concludes with a discussion of the status of the projection postulate (in its various forms) as a separate postulate (independent of the other postulates of quantum mechanics) and as a separate form of time development (in addition to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation).

A. R. Marlow

In this paper the results from various areas of mathematical research which are necessary for a consistent unification of the Dirac and von Neumann formulations of quantum mechanics are collected and presented as a single synthesis. For this purpose, direct integral decompositions of Hilbert space must be introduced into Dirac's formulation of spectral theory and representation theory; true unit vectors in the direct integral decomposition spaces replace unnormalizable vectors of infinite length. It then becomes clear that families of modified Dirac projection operators are simply related to the Radon-Nikodym derivative of von Neumann spectral measures. In terms of these mathematical preliminaries a second paper will present the more physical aspects of the resulting unified formulation of quantum mechanics.

Vilas Y. Rajopadhye

A Correspondent