dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaBranch dependence in the "consistent histories" approach to quantum mechanics
| Authors | Thomas Müller |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0506051 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0506051 |
Abstract
In the consistent histories formalism one specifies a family of histories as an exhaustive set of pairwise exclusive descriptions of the dynamics of a quantum system. We define branching families of histories, which strike a middle ground between the two available mathematically precise definitions of families of histories, viz., product families and Isham's history projector operator formalism. The former are too narrow for applications, and the latter's generality comes at a certain cost, barring an intuitive reading of the ``histories''. Branching families retain the intuitiveness of product families, they allow for the interpretation of a history's weight as a probability, and they allow one to distinguish two kinds of coarse-graining, leading to reconsidering the motivation for the consistency condition.
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"abstract": "In the consistent histories formalism one specifies a family of histories as\nan exhaustive set of pairwise exclusive descriptions of the dynamics of a\nquantum system. We define branching families of histories, which strike a\nmiddle ground between the two available mathematically precise definitions of\nfamilies of histories, viz., product families and Isham\u0027s history projector\noperator formalism. The former are too narrow for applications, and the\nlatter\u0027s generality comes at a certain cost, barring an intuitive reading of\nthe ``histories\u0027\u0027. Branching families retain the intuitiveness of product\nfamilies, they allow for the interpretation of a history\u0027s weight as a\nprobability, and they allow one to distinguish two kinds of coarse-graining,\nleading to reconsidering the motivation for the consistency condition.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0506051",
"authors": [
"Thomas M\u00fcller"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"title": "Branch dependence in the \"consistent histories\" approach to quantum mechanics",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0506051"
},
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