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arXiv:quant-ph/0301051

What is really "quantum" in quantum theory?

Andrei Yu. Khrennikov

Published Jan 13, 2003• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

By analysing probabilistic foundations of quantum theory we understood that the so called quantum calculus of probabilities (including Born's rule) is not the main distinguishing feature of "quantum". This calculus is just a special variant of a contextual probabilistic calculus. In particular, we analysed the EPR-Bohm-Bell approach by using contextual probabilistic models (e.g., the frequency von Mises model). It is demonstrated that the EPR-Bohm-Bell consideration are not so much about "quantum", but they are merely about contextual. Our conjecture is that the "fundamental quantum element" is the Schrödinger evolution describing the very special dependence of probabilities on contexts. The main quantum mystery is neither the probability calculus in a Hilbert space nor the nonncommutative (Heisenberg) representation of physical observables, but the Schrödinger evolution of contextual probabilities.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0301051

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By analysing probabilistic foundations of quantum theory we understood that the so called quantum calculus of probabilities (including Born's rule) is not the main distinguishing feature of "quantum". This calculus is just a special variant of a contextual probabilistic calculus. In particular, we analysed the EPR-Bohm-Bell approach by using contextual probabilistic models (e.g., the frequency von Mises model). It is demonstrated that the EPR-Bohm-Bell consideration are not so much about "quantum", but they are merely about contextual. Our conjecture is that the "fundamental quantum element" is the Schrödinger evolution describing the very special dependence of probabilities on contexts. The main quantum mystery is neither the probability calculus in a Hilbert space nor the nonncommutative (Heisenberg) representation of physical observables, but the Schrödinger evolution of contextual probabilities.
The notion of context (complex of physical conditions) is basic in this paper. We show that the main structures of quantum theory (interference of probabilities, Born's rule, complex probabilistic amplitudes, Hilbert state space, representation of observables by operators) are present in a latent form in the classical Kolmogorov probability model. However, this model should be considered as a calculus of contextual probabilities. In our approach it is forbidden to consider abstract context independent probabilities: ``first context and then probability.'' We start with the conventional formula of total probability for contextual (conditional) probabilities and then we rewrite it by eliminating combinations of incompatible contexts from consideration. In this way we obtain interference of probabilities without to appeal to the Hilbert space formalism or wave mechanics. However, we did not just reconstruct the probabilistic formalism of conventional quantum mechanics. Our contextual probabilistic model is essentially more general and, besides the projection to the complex Hilbert space, it has other projections. The most important new prediction is the possibility (at least theoretical) of appearance of hyperbolic interference.
Schrodinger wave equation, Hilbert space formalism, born’s rule for probability and hermitian operator are mainly the core of quantum theory and quantum description is generally based on Hilbert space of states, observables are described by self adjoint operators on the space of states, physical symmetries are explained by unitary transformations, and time evolution is a one-parameter group of unitary transformations on the Hilbert space of states. In this paper, I have discussed why a generalized philosophy is required before the development of quantum probability to fill up the gap.
The predictions of quantum mechanics are probabilistic. Quantum probabilities are extracted using a postulate of the theory called the Born rule, the status of which is central to the "measurement problem" of quantum mechanics. Efforts to justify the Born rule from other physical principles, and thus elucidate the measurement process, have involved lengthy statistical or information-theoretic arguments. Here we show that Bohm's deterministic formulation of quantum mechanics allows the Born rule for measurements on a single system to be derived, without any statistical assumptions. We solve a simple example where the creation of an ensemble of identical quantum states, together with position measurements on those states, are described by Bohm's quantum dynamics. The calculated measurement outcomes agree with the Born-rule probabilities, which are thus a consequence of deterministic evolution. Our results demonstrate that quantum probabilities can emerge from simple dynamical laws alone, and they support the view that there is no underlying indeterminism in quantum phenomena.
Is quantum mechanics about 'states'? Or is it basically another kind of probability theory? It is argued that the elementary formalism of quantum mechanics operates as a well-justified alternative to 'classical' instantiations of a probability calculus. Its providing a general framework for prediction accounts for its distinctive traits, which one should be careful not to mistake for reflections of any strange ontology. The suggestion is also made that quantum theory unwittingly emerged, in Schroedinger's formulation, as a 'lossy' by-product of a quantum-mechanical variant of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. As it turns out, the effectiveness of quantum theory qua predictive algorithm makes up for the computational impracticability of that master equation.
The notion of context (complex of physical conditions) is basic in this paper. We show that the main structures of quantum theory (interference of probabilities, Born’s rule, complex probabilistic amplitudes, Hilbert state space, representation of observables by operators) are present in a latent form in the classical Kolmogorov probability model. However, this model should be considered as a calculus of contextual probabilities. In our approach it is forbidden to consider abstract context independent probabilities: “first context and then probability.” We start with the conventional formula of total probability for contextual (conditional) probabilities and then we rewrite it by eliminating combinations of incompatible contexts from consideration. In this way we obtain interference of probabilities without to appeal to the Hilbert space formalism or wave mechanics. However, we did not just reconstruct the probabilistic formalism of conventional quantum mechanics. Our contextual probabilistic model is essentially more general and, besides the projection to the complex Hilbert space, it has other projections. The most important new prediction is the possibility (at least theoretical) of appearance of hyperbolic interference. A projection of the classical contextual probabilistic model to the hyperbolic Hilbert space (a module over the commutative two dimensional Clifford algebra) has some similarities with the projection to the complex Hilbert space. However, in the hyperbolic quantum mechanics the principle of superposition is violated. Our realistic (but contextual!) approach to quantum mechanics does not contradict to various “no‐go theorems”, e.g., von Neumann, Bell, Kochen‐Specker. We emphasize that our projection of the classical probabilistic model to the complex Hilbert space is based on two incompatible observables (“reference observables”), e.g., the position and the momentum, or the position and the energy. Only these two observables can be considered as objective properties of quantum systems.
The probabilistic structure of quantum mechanics is investigated in the frequency framework. Such an approach can be interpreted as a contextual approach to quantum probabilities. By using rather complicated frequency calculations we reproduce the EPR-Bohm correlation function which is typically derived by using the calculus of probabilities in a Hilbert space. Our frequency probabilistic model of the EPR-Bohm experiment is a realist model -- physical observables are considered as objective properties of physical systems. It is also local -- a measurement over one part of a composite system does not disturb another part of this system. Nevertheless, our result does not contradict to the well known Bell's ``NO-GO'' theorem. J. Bell used the conventional (Kolmogorov) measure-theoretical approach. We use the frequency approach. In the latter approach there are no reasons to assume that the simultaneous probability distribution exists: corresponding frequencies may fluctuate and not approach any definite limit (which Bell would like to use as the probability). The frequency probabilistic derivation demonstrated that incompatibility of observables under consideration plays the crucial role in producing of the EPR-Bohm correlations.