Analysis of quantum probability theory. II

James van Aken

Nikos A. Mitsiou, Ioannis Krikidis

In this paper, we investigate the symbol error probability (SEP) of phase-squeezed M-ary phase-shift keying (M-PSK). Since the relevant observable for M-PSK detection is the optical phase, we adopt the adaptive Mark-II receiver which is a physically realizable phase measurement. First, we develop a theoretical analysis based on the phase probability operator measure (POM) of the Mark-II scheme in the Fock basis. Then, we develop two SEP methods based on the statistics of the received PSK symbol and the error introduced by the Mark-II measurement. The first method derives the phase probability density induced by the squeezed state noise and incorporates the additional Mark-II phase uncertainty through an angular convolution. Since this convolution does not admit a simple closed form, we also introduce an effective tangential-variance model, which yields a closed form SEP expression in terms of the Owen's T-function. Numerical results show that phase squeezing substantially reduces the SEP of M-PSK compared to coherent state transmission, with greater gains for higher constellation orders. Notably, for the investigated scenario, squeezing can almost double the photon efficiency of M-PSK as the mean number of transmitted photons increases. Finally, the proposed approximations closely follow the Mark-II POM analysis, typically within an accuracy of 2-4 photons, and therefore provide accurate and computationally efficient tools for analyzing phase squeezed quantum M-PSK communication.

David Wallace

Through extended consideration of two wide classes of case studies -- dilute gases and linear systems -- I explore the ways in which assumptions of probability and irreversibility occur in contemporary statistical mechanics, where the latter is understood as primarily concerned with the derivation of quantitative higher-level equations of motion, and only derivatively with underpinning the equilibrium concept in thermodynamics. I argue that at least in this wide class of examples, (i) irreversibility is introduced through a reasonably well-defined initial-state condition which does not precisely map onto those in the extant philosophical literature; (ii) probability is explicitly required both in the foundations and in the predictions of the theory. I then consider the same examples, as well as the more general context, in the light of quantum mechanics, and demonstrate that while the analysis of irreversibility is largely unaffected by quantum considerations, the notion of statistical-mechanical probability is entirely reduced to quantum-mechanical probability.

Luigi Accardi, Wilhelm von Waldenfels

Angelo Bassi, Davide G M Salvetti

We analyse in mathematical detail, within the framework of the QMUPL model of spontaneous wavefunction collapse, the von Neumann measurement scheme for the measurement of a 1/2 spin particle. We prove that, according to the equation of the model, (i) throughout the whole measurement process, the pointer of the measuring device is always perfectly well localized in space; (ii) the probabilities for the possible outcomes are distributed in agreement with the Born probability rule; (iii) at the end of the measurement the state of the microscopic system has collapsed to the eigenstate corresponding to the measured eigenvalue. This analysis shows rigorously how dynamical reduction models provide a consistent solution to the measurement problem of quantum mechanics.

Luigi Accardi, Wilhelm von Waldenfels