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Luders theorem for unsharp quantum measurements

Paul Busch, J Singh

Published Jan 1, 1998• 75 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

A theorem of Lüders states that an ideal measurement of a sharp discrete observable does not alter the statistics of another sharp observable if, and only if, the two observables commute. It will be shown that this statement extends to certain pairs of unsharp observables. Implications for local relativistic quantum theory will be discussed.

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Unsharp localization and causality in relativistic quantum theory

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The conflict between relativistic causality and localizability is analysed in the light of the existence of unsharp localization observables. A theorem due to Schlieder is generalized, showing that the assumption of local commutativity implies the localization observable in question to be unsharp in a strong sense. Furthermore, a recent generalization of a theorem of Lüders is applied to demonstrate that local commutativity is a necessary consequence of Einstein causality even in the case of unsharp observables if they admit local measurements. These findings raise the question of whether localization observables can be measured by means of local operations.

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What is the appropriate notion of noncontextuality for unsharp measurements in quantum theory

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In order to claim that one has experimentally tested whether a noncontextual ontological model could underlie certain measurement statistics in quantum theory, it is necessary to have a notion of noncontextuality that applies to unsharp measurements, i.e., those that can only be represented by positive operator-valued measures rather than projection-valued measures. This is because any realistic measurement necessarily has some nonvanishing amount of noise and therefore never achieves the ideal of sharpness. Assuming a generalized notion of noncontextuality that applies to arbitrary experimental procedures, it is shown that the outcome of a measurement depends deterministically on the ontic state of the system being measured if and only if it is associated with a projector. Hence for every unsharp measurement, its outcome necessarily has an indeterministic dependence on the ontic state. We defend this proposal against alternatives. In particular, we demonstrate why considerations parallel to Fine's theorem do not challenge this conclusion.

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Lüders theorem for coherent-state POVMs

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Quantum state discrimination via repeated measurements and the rule of three

Tom Bullock, Teiko Heinosaari

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Sharp reconstruction of unsharp quantum observables

Roberto Beneduci, Giuseppe Nisticò

A well defined procedure exists which allows us to “reconstruct” a sharp, i.e., standard, quantum observable A starting from a given commutative unsharp observable F. In this work we prove that the outcomes of measurements of F can be consistently interpreted as the result of a stochastic diffusion of outcomes of its sharp reconstruction A. Furthermore, for every sharp observable B, such that F is unsharp realization of B, we explicitly construct a real mapping g such that A=g(B).

Journal of Mathematical Physics•Nov 22, 2003•21 citations
A theorem of Lüders states that an ideal measurement of a sharp discrete observable does not alter the statistics of another sharp observable if, and only if, the two observables commute. It will be shown that this statement extends to certain pairs of unsharp observables. Implications for local relativistic quantum theory will be discussed.
The conflict between relativistic causality and localizability is analysed in the light of the existence of unsharp localization observables. A theorem due to Schlieder is generalized, showing that the assumption of local commutativity implies the localization observable in question to be unsharp in a strong sense. Furthermore, a recent generalization of a theorem of Lüders is applied to demonstrate that local commutativity is a necessary consequence of Einstein causality even in the case of unsharp observables if they admit local measurements. These findings raise the question of whether localization observables can be measured by means of local operations.
In order to claim that one has experimentally tested whether a noncontextual ontological model could underlie certain measurement statistics in quantum theory, it is necessary to have a notion of noncontextuality that applies to unsharp measurements, i.e., those that can only be represented by positive operator-valued measures rather than projection-valued measures. This is because any realistic measurement necessarily has some nonvanishing amount of noise and therefore never achieves the ideal of sharpness. Assuming a generalized notion of noncontextuality that applies to arbitrary experimental procedures, it is shown that the outcome of a measurement depends deterministically on the ontic state of the system being measured if and only if it is associated with a projector. Hence for every unsharp measurement, its outcome necessarily has an indeterministic dependence on the ontic state. We defend this proposal against alternatives. In particular, we demonstrate why considerations parallel to Fine's theorem do not challenge this conclusion.
Lüders’ theorem states that two observables commute if measuring one of them does not disturb the measurement outcomes of the other. We study measurements which are described by continuous positive operator-valued measurements (or POVMs) associated with coherent states on Lie groups. In general, operators turn out to be invariant under the Lüders map if their P- and Q-symbols coincide. For a spin corresponding to SU(2), the identity is shown to be the only operator with this property. For a particle, a countable family of linearly independent operators is identified which are invariant under the Lüders map generated by the coherent states of the Heisenberg–Weyl group, H3. The Lüders map is also shown to implement the anti-normal ordering of creation and annihilation operators of a particle.
The quantum mechanical measurement problem is the difficulty of dealing with the indefiniteness of the pointer observable at the conclusion of a measurement process governed by unitary quantum dynamics. There has been hope to solve this problem by eliminating idealizations from the characterization of measurement. We state and prove two ‘insolubility theorems’ that disappoint this hope. In both the initial state of the apparatus is taken to be mixed rather than pure, and the correlation of the object observable and the pointer observable is allowed to be imperfect. In the insolubility theorem for sharp observables, which is only a modest extension of previous results, the object observable is taken to be an arbitrary projection valued measure. In the insolubility theorem for unsharp observables, which is essentially new, the object observable is taken to be a positive operator valued measure. Both theorems show that the measurement problem is not the consequence of neglecting the ever-present imperfections of actual measurements.
Abstract The task of state discrimination for a set of mutually orthogonal pure states is trivial if one has access to the corresponding sharp (projection-valued) measurement, but what if we are restricted to an unsharp measurement? Given that any realistic measurement device will be subject to some noise, such a problem is worth considering. In this paper, we consider minimum error state discrimination for mutually orthogonal states with a noisy measurement. We show that by considering repetitions of commutative Lüders measurements on the same system we are able to increase the probability of successfully distinguishing states. In the case of binary Lüders measurements, we provide a full characterisation of the success probabilities for any number of repetitions. This leads us to identify a ‘rule of three’, where no change in probability is obtained from a second measurement but there is noticeable improvement after a third. We also provide partial results for N-valued commutative measurements where the rule of three remains, but the general pattern present in binary measurements is no longer satisfied.