dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaConsistency and Linearity in Quantum Theory
| Authors | Ariel Caticha |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9803086 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9803086 |
| DOI | 10.1016/S0375-9601(98)00289-8 |
| Journal | Phys.Lett. A244 (1998) 13-17 |
Abstract
Quantum theory is formulated as the uniquely consistent way to manipulate probability amplitudes. The crucial ingredient is a consistency constraint: if the amplitude of a quantum process can be computed in two different ways, the two answers must agree. The constraint is expressed in the form of functional equations the solution of which leads to the usual sum and product rules for amplitudes. An immediate consequence is that the Schrodinger equation must be linear: non-linear variants of quantum mechanics violate the requirement of consistency. PACS: 03.65.Bz, 03.65.Ca.
{
"annotation_id": "9ea867ed-df40-4e20-bb0e-65ac72bfda14",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:02:41.734000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:02:41.734000Z",
"file_hash": "0ddb015a9466f6c4d6919ab6b0dbc8f2dcd33a51bffcc53ee61e9bcf3ccfba34",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "Quantum theory is formulated as the uniquely consistent way to manipulate\nprobability amplitudes. The crucial ingredient is a consistency constraint: if\nthe amplitude of a quantum process can be computed in two different ways, the\ntwo answers must agree. The constraint is expressed in the form of functional\nequations the solution of which leads to the usual sum and product rules for\namplitudes. An immediate consequence is that the Schrodinger equation must be\nlinear: non-linear variants of quantum mechanics violate the requirement of\nconsistency.\n PACS: 03.65.Bz, 03.65.Ca.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9803086",
"authors": [
"Ariel Caticha"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph",
"cond-mat.stat-mech",
"gr-qc",
"math-ph",
"math.MP"
],
"doi": "10.1016/S0375-9601(98)00289-8",
"journal_ref": "Phys.Lett. A244 (1998) 13-17",
"title": "Consistency and Linearity in Quantum Theory",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9803086"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "25f99280-a218-4b98-b9d3-e2499012a029",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}