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Journal of Mathematical Physics

Uncertainty relation for non-Hamiltonian quantum systems

Vasily Evgenevich Tarasov

Published Jan 1, 2013• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

General forms of uncertainty relations for quantum observables of non-Hamiltonian quantum systems are considered. Special cases of uncertainty relations are discussed. The uncertainty relations for non-Hamiltonian quantum systems are considered in the Schrödinger-Robertson form since it allows us to take into account Lie-Jordan algebra of quantum observables. In uncertainty relations, the time dependence of quantum observables and the properties of this dependence are discussed. We take into account that a time evolution of observables of a non-Hamiltonian quantum system is not an endomorphism with respect to Lie, Jordan, and associative multiplications.

DOI
10.1063/1.4776653

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General forms of uncertainty relations for quantum observables of non-Hamiltonian quantum systems are considered. Special cases of uncertainty relations are discussed. The uncertainty relations for non-Hamiltonian quantum systems are considered in the Schrödinger-Robertson form since it allows us to take into account Lie-Jordan algebra of quantum observables. In uncertainty relations, the time dependence of quantum observables and the properties of this dependence are discussed. We take into account that a time evolution of observables of a non-Hamiltonian quantum system is not an endomorphism with respect to Lie, Jordan, and associative multiplications.
Abstract The uncertainty principle sets a limit to our capacity to predict the outcomes of two incompatible measurements. The Heisenberg uncertainty relation for two arbitrary observables A and B is usually discussed in textbooks. However, little or no attention is paid to the fact that Schrödinger generalised the Heisenberg relation taking into account the covariance between the observables A and B . This extended inequality is known as the Robertson–Schrödinger uncertainty relation. Here, we demonstrate the less known fact that two-level quantum states, i.e., qubits, satisfy the equality of the Robertson–Schrödinger uncertainty relation for two arbitrary observables A and B . Taking advantage of the homomorphism between SU(2) and SO(3) groups, it is possible to map the distributions of the expectation values and variances of the observables, and the Heisenberg and covariance terms on the Bloch sphere. The graphical visualisation of the relevant quantities involved in the uncertainty relations allows us to distinguish specific properties and symmetries that are not so evident in the algebraic formalism.
We analyze the Schwarz inequality and its generalizations, as well as inequalities resulting from the Jensen inequality. They are used in quantum theory to derive the Heisenberg-Robertson (HR) and Schroedinger-Robertson (SR) uncertainty relation for two non-commuting observables and their generalizations to three or more non-commuting observables. Jensen's inequality, in turn, is helpful in deriving various the "sum uncertainty relations" for two or more observables. Using these inequalities, we derive various types of generalized uncertainty relations for more than two non--commuting observables and analyze their properties and critical points. We also study the connections between the generalizations of the HR and SR uncertainty relations for two and more observables and the correlations of these observables in the state of the quantum system under study. In this analysis, we pay special attention to the consequences of the generalized SR uncertainty relation for three non--commuting observables on their correlations in a given state of a quantum system and to the connections of this relation with the appropriate correlation matrix, whose matrix elements are the quantum versions of the Pearson coefficient. We show also that the SR uncertainty relation (including the generalized ones) can be written in an equivalent way using these Pearson coefficients.
Analyzing general uncertainty relations one can find that there can exist such pairs of non-commuting observables A and B and such vectors that the lower bound for the product of standard deviations ΔA and ΔB calculated for these vectors is zero: ΔA·ΔB≥0. Here we discuss examples of such cases and some other inconsistencies which can be found performing a rigorous analysis of the uncertainty relations in some special cases. As an illustration of such cases matrices (2×2) and (3×3) and the position–momentum uncertainty relation for a quantum particle in the box are considered. The status of the uncertainty relation in PT–symmetric quantum theory and the problems associated with it are also studied.
A universal formulation of uncertainty relations for quantum measurements is presented with additional focus on the representability of quantum observables by classical observables over a given state. Owing to the simplicity and operational tangibility of the framework, the resultant general relations admit natural operational interpretations and characterisations, and are thus also experimentally verifiable. In view of the universal formulation, Heisenberg's philosophy of the uncertainty principle is also revisited; it is reformulated and restated as a refined no-go theorem, albeit perhaps in a weaker form than was originally intended. In fact, the relations entail, in essence as corollaries to their special cases, several previously known relations, including most notably the Arthurs-Kelly-Goodman, Ozawa, and Watanabe-Sagawa-Ueda relations for quantum measurements. The Schr{ö}dinger relation (hence the standard Kennard-Robertson relation as its trivial corollary as well) is also shown to be a special case when the measurement is non-informative.
A concise review of various mathematical formulations of the uncertainty relations in quantum mechanics discovered since 1927 is given. Besides the traditional Heisenberg inequality, the modifications made by Schrödinger and Robertson, as well as generalizations to sets of several noncommuting operators, are considered. The "entropic" inequalities and "local" uncertainty relations, together with inequalities which connect the so-called total width and the mean peak width of a wave function, are discussed. Inequalities for the products of higher order moments of the coordinate and momentum are presented. Inequalities making the uncertainty relations more accurate when the "purity" of a quantum state is fixed are demonstrated. Diverse formulations of the energy-time uncertainty relations are considered.