On the Quantum Mechanical Measurement Process

Peter Mittelstaedt

Eugene Paul Wigner, Mutsuo M. Yanase

Kentaro Imafuku

An idea for an application of the quantum annealing mechanism to construct a projection measurement in a collective space is proposed. We use the annealing mechanism to drive the pointer degree of freedom associated with the measurement process. The parameters in its problem Hamiltonian is given not as classical variables but as quantum variables (states). By additionally introducing successive short interactions so that the back reaction to the quantum state (to be measured) can be controlled, we invent a quantum mechanically parametrized quantum annealing process. Applying to a particular problem of discrimination of two collective states , we find that the process by the quantum mechanically parametrized annealing arrives at projection measurement in the collective space when the parametrizing quantum variables themselves are orthogonal (or distinguishable).

Loyal Durand

This paper is concerned with the description of the process of measurement within the context of a quantum theory of the physical world. It is noted that quantum mechanics permits a quasi-classical description (classical in the limited sense implied by the correspondence principle of Bohr) of those macroscopic phenomena in terms of which the observer forms his perceptions. Thus, the process of measurement in quantum mechanics can be understood on the quasi-classical level by transcribing from the strictly classical observables of Newtonian physics to their quasi-classical counterparts the known rules for the measurement of the former. The remaining physical problem is the delineation of the circumstances in which the correlation of a peculiarly quantum mechanical observable A with a classically measurable observable B can result in a significant measurement of A. This is undertaken within the context of quantum theory. The resulting clarification of the process of measurement has important implications relative to the philosophic interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Michael Drieschner

Masahiro Morikawa, Akika Nakamichi

Quantum mechanics cannot be applied within a closed system. Inevitable measurement process in quantum mechanics is usually treated separately from the basic principles of the framework and requires outside observer of the system. In this paper, we propose that the quantum measurement process is actually a physical process associated with the ubiquitous mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking. Based on this proposal, we construct a quantum measurement model in which the mixed state evolves into a pure state as the dynamical pro-coherence process. Furthermore, the classically distinguishable pointer parameter emerges as the c-number order parameter in the formalism of closed time-path quantum field theory. We also discuss the precision of the measurement and the possible deduction of the Born probability postulate.