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Violation of the Born Rule: Implications for Macroscopic Fields

Ruth E. Kastner

Published Jun 25, 2016• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

It is shown that violation of the Born Rule leads to a breakdown of the correspondence between the quantum electromagnetic field and its classical counterpart. Specifically, the relationship of the quantum coherent state to the classical electromagnetic field turns out to imply that if the Born Rule were violated, this could result in apparent deviations from the energy conservation law applying to the field and its sources (Poynting's Theorem). The result, which is fully general and independent of interpretations of quantum theory, suggests that the Born Rule is just as fundamental a law of Nature as are the field conservation laws.

Related papers

Violation of the Born Rule: Implications for the Classical Electromagnetic Field

Ruth E. Kastner

It is shown that violation of the Born Rule leads to a breakdown of the correspondence between the quantum electromagnetic field and its classical counterpart. Specifically, the relationship of the quantum coherent state to the classical electromagnetic field turns out to imply that if the Born Rule were violated, this could result in apparent deviations from the energy conservation law applying to the field and its sources (Poynting's Theorem). The result suggests that the Born Rule is just as fundamental a law of Nature as are the conservation laws.

arXiv:1603.05301•Mar 16, 2016•0 citations

Mathematics and physics of consistency of the Born rule with normal probability distribution

Alexey A. Kryukov

Abstract Newtonian and Scrödinger dynamics can be formulated in a physically meaningful way within the same Hilbert space framework. The resulting unexpected relation between classical and quantum motions goes beyond the results provided by the Ehrenfest theorem. The normal probability distribution and the Born rule turn out to be related. A dynamical mechanism responsible for the latter formula is proposed and applied to measurements of macroscopic and microscopic systems.

Journal of Physics Conference Series•Sep 1, 2019•2 citations

Does Born Rule Imply Unitarity of Time Evolution in Quantum Mechanics?

Ali Mostafazadeh

The Born rule for computing probabilities of the outcomes of measurements is an indispensable ingredient of quantum mechanics. The standard textbook description of this rule gives the impression that it implies the unitarity of time evolution. This view relies on the argument that unless the dynamics is unitary, the probabilities of finding all possible outcomes of a measurement do not add up to 1, i.e., the total probability is not conserved. We show that this argument is flawed, and that the general expression for the Born rule ensures the conservation of total probabilities even when the dynamics of a quantum system is not unitary. This applies to the dynamics of ensembles of quantum systems in both pure and mixed states. We discuss the status of the local conservation of probabilities and the arguments against the plausibility of non-unitary time evolutions that are based on the identification of the Hamiltonian operator with the energy observable.

quant-pharXiv:2607.07560•Jul 9, 2026•0 citations

Observations of wavefunction collapse and the retrospective application of the Born rule

Sivapalan Chelvaniththilan

In this paper I present a thought experiment that gives different results depending on whether or not the wavefunction collapses. Since the wavefunction does not obey the Schrodinger equation during the collapse, conservation laws are violated. This is the reason why the results are different. Quantities that are conserved if the wavefunction does not collapse might change if it does. I also show that using the Born Rule to derive probabilities of states before a measurement given the state after it (rather than the other way round as it is usually used) leads to the conclusion that the memories that an observer has about making measurements of quantum systems have a significant probability of being false memories.

arXiv:2010.15101•Oct 27, 2020•0 citations

Born Rule: Quantum Probability as Classical Probability

Ovidiu Cristinel Stoica

Abstract I provide a simple derivation of the Born rule as giving a classical probability, that is, the ratio of the measure of favorable states of the system to the measure of its total possible states. In classical systems, the probability is due to the fact that the same macrostate can be realized in different ways as a microstate. Despite the radical differences between quantum and classical systems, I show that the same can be applied to quantum systems, and the result is the Born rule. This works only if the basis is continuous (an eigenbasis of observables with continuous spectra), but all known physically realistic measurements involve a continuous basis (the position basis). The continuous basis is not unique, and for subsystems it depends on the observable. But for the entire universe, there are continuous bases that give the Born rule for all measurements, because all measurements reduce to distinguishing macroscopic pointer states, and macroscopic observations commute. This allows for the possibility of a unique ontic basis for the entire universe. In the wavefunctional formulation, the basis can be chosen to consist of classical field configurations, and the coefficients $$\Psi [\phi ]$$ Ψ [ ϕ ] can be made real by absorbing them into a global U(1) gauge. For the many-worlds interpretation, this result gives the Born rule from micro-branch counting.

arXiv:2209.08621•International Journal of Theoretical Physics•Apr 25, 2025•6 citations

Classicality versus quantumness in Born's probability

Shunlong Luo

Born's rule, which postulates the probability of a measurement outcome in a quantum state, is pivotal to interpretations and applications of quantum mechanics. By exploiting the departure of the product of two Hermitian operators in Born's rule from Hermiticity, we prescribe an intrinsic and natural scheme to decompose Born's probability into a classical part and a quantum part, which have significant implications in quantum information theory. The classical part constitutes the information compatible with the associated measurement operator, while the quantum part represents the quantum coherence of the state with respect to the measurement operator. Fundamental properties of the decomposition are revealed. As applications, we establish several trade-off relations for the classicality and quantumness in Born's probability, which may be interpreted as alternative realizations of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. The results shed physical lights on related issues concerning quantification of complementarity, coherence, and uncertainty, as well as the classical-quantum interplay.

Physical Review A•Nov 20, 2017•8 citations
It is shown that violation of the Born Rule leads to a breakdown of the correspondence between the quantum electromagnetic field and its classical counterpart. Specifically, the relationship of the quantum coherent state to the classical electromagnetic field turns out to imply that if the Born Rule were violated, this could result in apparent deviations from the energy conservation law applying to the field and its sources (Poynting's Theorem). The result, which is fully general and independent of interpretations of quantum theory, suggests that the Born Rule is just as fundamental a law of Nature as are the field conservation laws.
It is shown that violation of the Born Rule leads to a breakdown of the correspondence between the quantum electromagnetic field and its classical counterpart. Specifically, the relationship of the quantum coherent state to the classical electromagnetic field turns out to imply that if the Born Rule were violated, this could result in apparent deviations from the energy conservation law applying to the field and its sources (Poynting's Theorem). The result suggests that the Born Rule is just as fundamental a law of Nature as are the conservation laws.
The Born rule for computing probabilities of the outcomes of measurements is an indispensable ingredient of quantum mechanics. The standard textbook description of this rule gives the impression that it implies the unitarity of time evolution. This view relies on the argument that unless the dynamics is unitary, the probabilities of finding all possible outcomes of a measurement do not add up to 1, i.e., the total probability is not conserved. We show that this argument is flawed, and that the general expression for the Born rule ensures the conservation of total probabilities even when the dynamics of a quantum system is not unitary. This applies to the dynamics of ensembles of quantum systems in both pure and mixed states. We discuss the status of the local conservation of probabilities and the arguments against the plausibility of non-unitary time evolutions that are based on the identification of the Hamiltonian operator with the energy observable.
In this paper I present a thought experiment that gives different results depending on whether or not the wavefunction collapses. Since the wavefunction does not obey the Schrodinger equation during the collapse, conservation laws are violated. This is the reason why the results are different. Quantities that are conserved if the wavefunction does not collapse might change if it does. I also show that using the Born Rule to derive probabilities of states before a measurement given the state after it (rather than the other way round as it is usually used) leads to the conclusion that the memories that an observer has about making measurements of quantum systems have a significant probability of being false memories.
Abstract I provide a simple derivation of the Born rule as giving a classical probability, that is, the ratio of the measure of favorable states of the system to the measure of its total possible states. In classical systems, the probability is due to the fact that the same macrostate can be realized in different ways as a microstate. Despite the radical differences between quantum and classical systems, I show that the same can be applied to quantum systems, and the result is the Born rule. This works only if the basis is continuous (an eigenbasis of observables with continuous spectra), but all known physically realistic measurements involve a continuous basis (the position basis). The continuous basis is not unique, and for subsystems it depends on the observable. But for the entire universe, there are continuous bases that give the Born rule for all measurements, because all measurements reduce to distinguishing macroscopic pointer states, and macroscopic observations commute. This allows for the possibility of a unique ontic basis for the entire universe. In the wavefunctional formulation, the basis can be chosen to consist of classical field configurations, and the coefficients Ψ[ϕ]\Psi [\phi ]Ψ[ϕ] Ψ [ ϕ ] can be made real by absorbing them into a global U(1) gauge. For the many-worlds interpretation, this result gives the Born rule from micro-branch counting.
Born's rule, which postulates the probability of a measurement outcome in a quantum state, is pivotal to interpretations and applications of quantum mechanics. By exploiting the departure of the product of two Hermitian operators in Born's rule from Hermiticity, we prescribe an intrinsic and natural scheme to decompose Born's probability into a classical part and a quantum part, which have significant implications in quantum information theory. The classical part constitutes the information compatible with the associated measurement operator, while the quantum part represents the quantum coherence of the state with respect to the measurement operator. Fundamental properties of the decomposition are revealed. As applications, we establish several trade-off relations for the classicality and quantumness in Born's probability, which may be interpreted as alternative realizations of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. The results shed physical lights on related issues concerning quantification of complementarity, coherence, and uncertainty, as well as the classical-quantum interplay.