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Annalen der Physik

Scopes and limits of modality in quantum mechanics

Graciela Domenech, Héctor Freytes, Christian DE RONDE

Published Nov 17, 2006• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract We develop an algebraic frame for the simultaneous treatment of actual and possible properties of quantum systems. We show that, in spite of the fact that the language is enriched with the addition of a modal operator to the orthomodular structure, contextuality remains a central feature of quantum systems.
DOI
10.1002/andp.20065181201

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The study of the foundations of Quantum Mechanics, especially after the advent of Quantum Computation and Information, has benefited from the application of category-theoretic tools and modal logics to the analysis of Quantum processes: we witness a wealth of theoretical frameworks casted in either of the two languages. This paper explores the interplay of the two formalisms in the peculiar context of Quantum Theory. After a review of some influential abstract frameworks, we show how different modal logic frames can be extracted from the category of finite dimensional Hilbert spaces, connecting the Categorical Quantum Mechanics approach to some modal logics that have been proposed for Quantum Computing. We then apply a general version of the same technique to two other categorical frameworks, the ‘topos approach’ of Doering and Isham and the sheaf-theoretic work on contextuality by Abramsky and Brandenburger, suggesting how some key features can be expressed with modal languages.
Abstract The modal interpretation is actually a family of interpretations sharing the feature that a system’s density operator constrains the possibilities for assigning definite values to its observables (Healey 1989, Dieks & Vermaas 1998). We start with a brief review of the basic idea behind these interpretations from an algebraic point of view (Zimba & Clifton 1998, Halvorson & Clifton 1999). Consider a ‘universe’ comprised of a quantum system U, with finitely many degrees of freedom, represented by a Hilbert space Hu = ®i Hi. At any given time, U will occupy a pure vector state x E Hu that determines a reduced density operator Ds on the Hilbert space Hi of any subsystem S U. Let B(Hs) de­
Kochen-Specker theorem rules out the non-contextual assignment of values to physical magnitudes. Here we enrich the usual orthomodular structure of quantum mechanical propositions with modal operators. This enlargement allows to refer consistently to actual and possible properties of the system. By means of a topological argument, more precisely in terms of the existence of sections of sheaves, we give an extended version of Kochen-Specker theorem over this new structure. This allows us to prove that contextuality remains a central feature even in the enriched propositional system.
Many world interpretations (MWIs) of quantum mechanics avoid the measurement problem by considering every term in the quantum superposition as actual. A seemingly opposed solution is proposed by modal interpretations (MIs) which state that quantum mechanics does not provide an account of what “actually is the case,” but rather deals with what “might be the case,” i.e., with possibilities. In this paper we provide an algebraic framework which allows us to analyze in depth the modal aspects of MWI. Within our general formal scheme we also provide a formal comparison between MWI and MI, in particular, we provide a formal understanding of why—even though both interpretations share the same formal structure—MI fall pray of Kochen–Specker-type contradictions while MWI escape them.