Sequential products of quantum measurements

Aurelian Gheondea, Stanley Gudder

Unsharp quantum measurements can be modelled by means of the class E ( H ) \mathcal {E}(\mathcal {H}) of positive contractions on a Hilbert space H \mathcal {H} , in brief, quantum effects. For A , B ∈ E ( H ) A,B\in \mathcal {E}(\mathcal {H}) the operation of sequential product A ∘ B = A 1 / 2 B A 1 / 2 A\circ B=A^{1/2}BA^{1/2} was proposed as a model for sequential quantum measurements. We continue these investigations on sequential product and answer positively the following question: the assumption A ∘ B ≥ B A\circ B\geq B implies A B = B A = B AB=BA=B . Then we propose a geometric approach of quantum effects and their sequential product by means of contractively contained Hilbert spaces and operator ranges. This framework leads us naturally to consider lattice properties of quantum effects, sums and intersections, and to prove that the sequential product is left distributive with respect to the intersection.

Robert Henry Dicke

Yuan Li, Xiu-Hong Sun, Zhengli Chen

The quantum effects for a physical system can be described by the set E(H) of positive operators on a complex Hilbert space H that are bounded above by the identity operator I. For A, B∊E(H), the operation of sequential product A∘B=A1∕2BA1∕2 was proposed as a model for sequential quantum measurements. A nice investigation of properties of the sequential product has been carried over [Gudder, S. and Nagy, G., “Sequential quantum measurements,” J. Math. Phys. 42, 5212 (2001)]. In this note, we extend some results of this reference. In particular, a gap in the proof of Theorem 3.2 in this reference is overcome. In addition, some properties of generalized infimum A⨅B are studied.

Willis E. Lamb

Art Hobson

Qiang Lei, Xiaochao Su, Junde Wu

In order to study quantum measurement theory, sequential product defined by A∘B = A1/2BA1/2 for any two quantum effects A, B has been introduced. Physically motivated conditions ask the sequential product to be continuous with respect to the strong operator topology. In this paper, we study the continuity problems of the sequential product A∘B = A1/2BA1/2 with respect to other important topologies, such as norm topology, weak operator topology, order topology, and interval topology.