The standard formalism of quantum theory treats space and time in fundamentally different ways. In particular, a composite system at a given time is represented by a joint state, but the formalism does not prescribe a joint state for a composite of systems at different times. If there were a way of defining such a joint state, this would potentially permit a more even-handed treatment of space and time, and would strengthen the existing analogy between quantum states and classical probability distributions. Under the assumption that the joint state over time is an operator on the tensor product of single-time Hilbert spaces, we analyse various proposals for such a joint state, including one due to Leifer and Spekkens, one due to Fitzsimons, Jones and Vedral, and another based on discrete Wigner functions. Finding various problems with each, we identify five criteria for a quantum joint state over time to satisfy if it is to play a role similar to the standard joint state for a composite system: that it is a Hermitian operator on the tensor product of the single-time Hilbert spaces; that it represents probabilistic mixing appropriately; that it has the appropriate classical limit; that it has the appropriate single-time marginals; that composing over multiple time steps is associative. We show that no construction satisfies all these requirements. If Hermiticity is dropped, then there is an essentially unique construction that satisfies the remaining four criteria.
The standard formalism of quantum theory treats space and time in fundamentally different ways. In particular, a composite system at a given time is represented by a joint state, but the formalism does not prescribe a joint state for a composite of systems at different times. If there were a way of defining such a joint state, this would potentially permit a more even-handed treatment of space and time, and would strengthen the existing analogy between quantum states and classical probability distributions. Under the assumption that the joint state over time is an operator on the tensor product of single-time Hilbert spaces, we analyse various proposals for such a joint state, including one due to Leifer and Spekkens, one due to Fitzsimons, Jones and Vedral, and another based on discrete Wigner functions. Finding various problems with each, we identify five criteria for a quantum joint state over time to satisfy if it is to play a role similar to the standard joint state for a composite system: that it is a Hermitian operator on the tensor product of the single-time Hilbert spaces; that it represents probabilistic mixing appropriately; that it has the appropriate classical limit; that it has the appropriate single-time marginals; that composing over multiple time steps is associative. We show that no construction satisfies all these requirements. If Hermiticity is dropped, then there is an essentially unique construction that satisfies the remaining four criteria.
The standard formalism of quantum theory treats space and time in fundamentally different ways. In particular, a composite system at a given time is represented by a joint state, but the formalism does not prescribe a joint state for a composite of systems at different times. If there were a way of defining such a joint state, this would potentially permit a more even-handed treatment of space and time, and would strengthen the existing analogy between quantum states and classical probability distributions. Under the assumption that the joint state over time is an operator on the tensor product of single-time Hilbert spaces, we analyse various proposals for such a joint state, including one due to Leifer and Spekkens, one due to Fitzsimons, Jones and Vedral, and another based on discrete Wigner functions. Finding various problems with each, we identify five criteria for a quantum joint state over time to satisfy if it is to play a role similar to the standard joint state for a composite system: that it is a Hermitian operator on the tensor product of the single-time Hilbert spaces; that it represents probabilistic mixing appropriately; that it has the appropriate classical limit; that it has the appropriate single-time marginals; that composing over multiple time steps is associative. We show that no construction satisfies all these requirements. If Hermiticity is dropped, then there is an essentially unique construction that satisfies the remaining four criteria.
The conventional framework of quantum theory treats space and time in vastly different ways by representing temporal correlations via quantum channels and spatial correlations via multipartite quantum states—an imbalance absent in classical probability theory. Since Leifer and Spekkens [] called for a causally neutral formulation of quantum theory in their seminal work, numerous attempts have been made to rectify this asymmetry by proposing a dynamical description of a quantum system encapsulated by a static , without a definite consensus on which one is most appropriate. In this paper, we propose sets of operationally motivated axioms for quantum states over time alternative to the ones proposed by Fullwood and Parzygnat [], which we show is unable to induce a unique quantum state over time. Our proposed axioms are better suited to describe quantum states over any spacetime regions beyond two points. Through this reformulation, we prove that the Fullwood-Parzygnat state over time uniquely satisfies all these operational axioms, unifying the bipartite spacetime correlations of quantum systems. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
I discuss a set of strong, but probabilistically intelligible, axioms from which one can {\em almost} derive the appratus of finite dimensional quantum theory. Stated informally, these require that systems appear completely classical as restricted to a single measurement, that different measurements, and likewise different pure states, be equivalent (up to the action of a compact group of symmetries), and that every state be the marginal of a bipartite non-signaling state perfectly correlating two measurements. This much yields a mathematical representation of measurements and states that is already very suggestive of quantum mechanics. In particular, in any theory satisfying these axioms, measurements can be represented by orthonormal subsets of, and states, by vectors in, an ordered real Hilbert space -- in the quantum case, the space of Hermitian operators, with its usual tracial inner product. One final postulate (a simple minimization principle, still in need of a clear interpretation) forces the positive cone of this space to be homogeneous and self-dual and hence, to be the the state space of a formally real Jordan algebra. From here, the route to the standard framework of finite-dimensional quantum mechanics is quite short.
While in relativity theory space evolves over time into a single entity known as spacetime, quantum theory lacks a standard notion of how to encapsulate the dynamical evolution of a quantum state into a single "state over time". Recently it was emphasized in the work of Fitzsimons, Jones and Vedral that if such a state over time is to encode not only spatial but also temporal correlations which exist within a quantum dynamical process, then it should be represented not by a density matrix, but rather, by a pseudo-density matrix . A pseudo-density matrix is a hermitian matrix of unit trace whose marginals are density matrices, and in this work, we make use a factorization system for quantum channels to associate a pseudo-density matrix with a quantum system which is to evolve according to a finite sequence of quantum channels. We then view such a pseudo-density matrix as the quantum analog of a local patch of spacetime, and we make an in-depth mathematical analysis of such quantum dynamical pseudo-density matrices and the properties they satisfy. We also show how to explicitly extract quantum dynamics from a given pseudo-density matrix, thus solving an open problem posed in the literature.
Textbook quantum superposition refers to the feature that certain linear combinations of Hilbert space rays, each representing a valid quantum state, are themselves valid states. This notion is not operational, and it relies on the underlying Hilbert space formalism. Recent proposals for experimental tests of indefinite causal order, as well as tests probing the non-classicality of gravity, pivot on superposition, thereby calling for a theory-independent, operational formalisation of the concept. Here, we define superposition within the framework of Generalised Probabilistic Theories, based on observed statistics in prepare-and-measure experiments. Using this, we formulate three superposition principles to investigate which structural features of quantum theory carry over to other theories. We study conditions under which these principles carry over from subsystems to their compositions; to this end, we show that the quantum tensor product emerges as the largest composition rule for quantum systems respecting all three principles. Furthermore, we show how non-classical features such as entanglement and preparational uncertainty can be viewed as special forms of superposition.
Complex Hilbert spaces play an important role in the description of quantum systems. In fact, with every quantum system there is associated an infinite dimensional or a finite dimensional separable complex Hilbert space ℍ that consists of the states of the quantum system. In physics terminology, the Hilbert space ℍ is usually referred to as the space of (pure) states. Throughout this monograph, the mathematical description of a quantum system shall be based on a certain complex (separable) Hilbert space ℍ, and therefore the quantum system will simply be denoted by ℍ. The quantum system ℍ is said to be a finite-dimensional system if ℍ is a finite-dimensional complex Hilbert space. Otherwise, the quantum system ℍ is said to be an infinite-dimensional system. The Hilbert space ℍ representing a composite quantum system that consists of n subsystems is a tensor product of the Hilbert spaces of n component systems described by ℍ 1 , … ℍ n , i.e., ℍ = ℍ 1 ⊗ … ⊗ ℍ n . In the theory of Hilbert spaces, a tensor product of Hilbert spaces is a way to create a new Hilbert space out of 2 (or more) Hilbert spaces. In the following, we illustrate the concept and construction of tensor product ℍ ⊗ 핂 of only 2 Hilbert spaces ℍ and 핂. The concepts and constructions can be easily extended to more than 2 Hilbert spaces such as ℍ 1 ⊗ ℍ 2 ⊗ … ⊗ ℍ n . Recall that the tensor product of ℍ with 핂 denoted by ℍ ⊗ 핂 is a new Hilbert space that consists of elements ϕ ⊗ φ ( ϕ ∈ ℍ and φ ∈ 핂) and is equipped with the Hilbertian inner product 〈·, ·〉 ℍ⊗핂 :(ℍ ⊗ 핂) × (ℍ ⊗ 핂) → C defined by 〈 ϕ 1 ⊗ φ 1 , ϕ 2 ⊗ φ 2 〉 ℍ⊗핂 = 〈 ϕ 1 , ϕ 2 〉 ℍ 〈 φ 1 , φ 2 〉 핂 , ϕ i ∈ ℍ and φ i ∈ 핂 for i = 1, 2.