Our aim is to unify the Schroedinger dynamics and the projection postulate. We first prove that the Schroedinger evolution is the only quantum evolution that is deterministic and compatible with relativity. Next we present a non deterministic generalization of the Schroedinger equation compatible with relativity. This time continuous pure state valued stochastic process covers the whole class of quantum dynamical semigroups, as exemplified by the damped harmonic oscillator and spin relaxation. Finally a symmetry preserving generalization of the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber model is presented. (orig.).
Our aim is to unify the Schroedinger dynamics and the projection postulate. We first prove that the Schroedinger evolution is the only quantum evolution that is deterministic and compatible with relativity. Next we present a non deterministic generalization of the Schroedinger equation compatible with relativity. This time continuous pure state valued stochastic process covers the whole class of quantum dynamical semigroups, as exemplified by the damped harmonic oscillator and spin relaxation. Finally a symmetry preserving generalization of the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber model is presented. (orig.).
Abstract This chapter contains the foundations of the stochastic formulation of continuous measurements carried out on an open quantum system. It shows that the time evolution of the state vector, conditioned on the measurement record, is given by a piecewise deterministic process in Hilbert space involving continuous time-evolution periods which are broken by randomly occurring, sudden quantum jumps. This so-called unravelling of the quantum master equation in the form of a stochastic process is based on a close relation between quantum dynamical semigroups and piecewise deterministic processes. The general theory is illustrated by means of a number of examples, such as direct, homodyne, and heterodyne photodetection. The chapter also treats the corresponding description of continuous measurements through stochastic Schr ö dinger equations and stochastic differential equations for the density matrix, as well as the stochastic representation of multitime correlations functions.
We develop systematically a new unifying approach to the analysis of linear stochastic, quantum stochastic and even deterministic equations in Banach spaces. Solutions to a wide class of these equations (in particular those describing the processes of continuous quantum measurements) are proved to coincide with the interaction representations of the solutions to certain Dirac type equations with boundary conditions in pseudo-Fock spaces. The latter are presented as the semiclassical limit of an appropriately dressed unitary evolutions corresponding to a boundary-value problem for rather general Schrödinger equations with bounded below Hamiltonians.
In this paper we shall re-visit the well-known Schrödinger and Lindblad dynamics of quantum mechanics. However, these equations may be realized as the consequence of a more general, underlying dynamical process. In both cases we shall see that the evolution of a quantum state Pψ=ϱ(0) has the not so well-known pseudo-quadratic form ∂tϱ(t)=V⋆ϱ(t)V where V is a vector operator in a complex Minkowski space and the pseudo-adjoint V⋆ is induced by the Minkowski metric η. The interesting thing about this formalism is that its derivation has very deep roots in a new understanding of the differential calculus of time. This Minkowski-Hilbert representation of quantum dynamics is called the \emph{Belavkin Formalism}; a beautiful, but not well understood theory of mathematical physics that understands that both deterministic and stochastic dynamics may be `unraveled' in a second-quantized Minkowski space. Working in such a space provided the author with the means to construct a QS (quantum stochastic) Duhamel principle and known applications to a Schrödinger dynamics perturbed by a continual measurement process are considered. What is not known, but presented here, is the role of the Lorentz transform in quantum measurement, and the appearance of Riemannian geometry in quantum measurement is also discussed.
We discuss a model of spontaneous collapse of the quantum state that does not require adding any stochastic processes to the standard dynamics. The additional ingredient with respect to the wave function is a position in the configuration space which drives the collapse in a completely deterministic way. This new variable is equivalent to a set of positions of all the particles, i.e., a set of Bohmian positions, which obey the usual guiding equation of Bohmian theory. Any superposition of quantum states of a macroscopic object occupying different regions of space is projected by a localization process onto the region occupied by the positions. Since the Bohmian positions are well defined in a single realization of the experiment, a space localization into one region is produced. The mechanism is based on the correlations between these positions arising from the cohesive forces inside macroscopic objects. The model introduces two collapse parameters which play a role very similar to those of the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) [Ghirardi et al., Phys. Rev. D 34, 470 (1986)] and continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) [Pearle, Phys. Rev. A 39, 2277 (1989); Ghirardi et al., Phys. Rev. A 42, 78 (1990)] theories. With appropriate values of these parameters, we check that the corresponding dynamics rapidly projects superpositions of macroscopic states localized in different regions of space into a single region, while it maintains a negligible effect in all situations where the predictions of standard quantum dynamics are known to be correct. We briefly speculate about the possible relations with gravity. We then study the evolution of the density operator and a mean-field approximation of the dynamical equations of this model, as well as the change of the evolution of the momentum introduced by the localization process. Possible theoretical interpretations are discussed. Generally speaking, this model introduces a sharper border between the quantum and classical worlds than the GRW and CSL theories and leaves a broader range of acceptable values for the parameters.
We have revisited the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber-Pearle (GRWP) approach for continuous dynamical evolution of the state vector for a macroscopic object. Our main concern is to recover the decoupling of the state vector dynamics for the center-of-mass (CM) and internal motion, as in the GRWP model, but within the framework of the standard cosmology. In this connection we have taken the opposite direction of the GRWP argument that the cosmic background radiation (CBR) has originated from a fundamental stochastic hitting process. We assume the CBR to be a clue of the Big Bang, playing a main role in the decoupling of the state vector dynamics of the CM and internal motion. In our model, instead of describing a continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) of a system of massive particles as proposed by Ghirardi, Pearle, and Rimini [Phys. Rev. A 42, 78 (1990)] the It\^o stochastic equation accounts for the intervention of the CBR on the system of particles. Essentially, this approach leads to a precursor of the master equation for both the CBR and particle degrees of freedom. The violation of the principle of energy conservation characteristic of the CSL model is avoided as well as the additional assumption on the size of the GRWP's localization width necessary to reach the decoupling between the collective and internal motions. Moreover, realistic estimation for the decoherence time, exhibiting an interesting dependence on the CBR temperature, is obtained. From the formula for the decoherence time it is possible to analyze the transition from micro- to macrodynamics in both the early hot universe and the nowadays cold one. The entropy of the system under decoherence is analyzed and the emergent ``pointer basis'' is discussed. In spite of not having imposed a privileged basis, in our model the position still emerges as the preferred observable as in the CSL model.
The problem of quantum time and evolution of quantum systems, where time is not a parameter, is considered. In our model, following some earlier works, time is represented by a quantum operator. In this paper, similarly to the position operators in the Schrödinger representation of quantum mechanics, this operator is a multiplication-type operator. It can be also represented by an appropriate positive operator-valued measure (POVM) which together with the 3D position operators/measures provide a quantum observable giving a position in the quantum spacetime. The quantum evolution itself is a stochastic process based on Lüder’s projection postulate. In fact, it is a generalization of the unitary evolution. This allows to treat time and generally the spacetime position as a quantum observable, in a consistent and observer-independent way.