On measurement and quantum nondemolition
H. D. Zeh
In his letter, Christopher Monroe recommends that the term “quantum nondemolition” be abandoned (PHYSICS TODAY, January 2011, page 8). I agree, but for somewhat different reasons. Quantum measurement theory has always used the concept of ideal measurements, or “measurements of the first kind,” in which the state of the measured system does not change—that is, it is not “demolished”—if it is already in an eigenstate of the observable. Although an ideal measurement is often a good approximation when dealing with conserved particles, its realization requires special effort in the case of photons, which are usually absorbed while being measured. The concept of ideal measurements is certainly meaningful, but I do not agree with the suggestion that the repeated preparation of the same photon state should be regarded as being equivalent to its nondemolition during a measurement. The term nondemolition may be quite useful in photon experiments or in the construction of gravitational-wave antennae, where it was first used, as far as I know. But in a general context, the traditional terminology would be more to the point, since nonabsorption of the measured photon does not necessarily define an ideal measurement.Much of the confusion originates in the abridged description of a measurement as a stochastic jump from a superposition a∣0〉 + b∣1〉 of a microscopic system into ∣0〉 or ∣1〉 with probabilities ∣a∣2 or ∣b∣2, respectively. That description is a relic from the times when quantum theory was expected to apply only to isolated atoms, electrons, and so forth. (It does not seem to be a genuine part of the Copenhagen interpretation, which describes measurement outcomes in classical terms and often assumes that the wavefunction loses its meaning thereafter.) In most situations, though, one has to include other interacting systems in the unitary description. In fact, all of the much-discussed weirdness of quantum theory has been derived by using entangled quantum states for all involved systems. Therefore, most of the inflationary confusing vocabulary of quantum weirdness—including spooky action, quantum teleportation, quantum eraser, quantum Darwinism, sudden death, quantum information, and even quantum jumps—could be abandoned if one used instead a consistent description in terms of entangled wavefunctions, at least as far as this entanglement remains relevant.11. See, for example, H. D. Zeh, Foundations of Physics 40 9-10 1476 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-009-9383-9 Usually this is so until irreversible decoherence, which was itself derived from unitary interaction with the environment, has occurred in the chain of interactions leading to observation. However, I think it is definitely wrong to say that decoherence theory allows us to “think of any measurement as a [quantum nondemolition] measurement plus a possible interaction with a reservoir.” Although I personally prefer the assumption that unitary dynamics is universal, I agree that some stochastic dynamics has to be used somewhere along the chain of interactions that ends at the observer. It does not matter whether you describe this observed indeterminism in terms of a collapse or a branching of a universal wavefunction into dynamically autonomous components (unlike the collapse, the branching does not require any new dynamical postulate; it is a consequence of the Schrödinger equation with local interactions). Such a real or apparent collapse is an important part of the effective dynamics of “our quantum world”—our “branch,” if you like—that should be carefully analyzed rather than being used ad hoc in a pragmatic and confusing manner. In neither case would it describe a mere increase of information about an initially incompletely known quantum state of the involved systems; the indeterminism is described by a change of a state, which is known to be different from an ensemble of potential states.REFERENCESSection:ChooseTop of pageREFERENCES <<1. See, for example, H. D. Zeh, Foundations of Physics 40 9-10 1476 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-009-9383-9 , Google ScholarCrossref, ISI© 2011 American Institute of Physics.
Physics Today•Jul 1, 2011•2 citations