Why John von Neumann did not Like the Hilbert Space formalism of quantum mechanics (and what he liked instead)

Author(s):  
Miklos Rédei
2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 1342030 ◽  
Author(s):  
KYRIAKOS PAPADODIMAS ◽  
SUVRAT RAJU

We point out that nonperturbative effects in quantum gravity are sufficient to reconcile the process of black hole evaporation with quantum mechanics. In ordinary processes, these corrections are unimportant because they are suppressed by e-S. However, they gain relevance in information-theoretic considerations because their small size is offset by the corresponding largeness of the Hilbert space. In particular, we show how such corrections can cause the von Neumann entropy of the emitted Hawking quanta to decrease after the Page time, without modifying the thermal nature of each emitted quantum. Second, we show that exponentially suppressed commutators between operators inside and outside the black hole are sufficient to resolve paradoxes associated with the strong subadditivity of entropy without any dramatic modifications of the geometry near the horizon.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
So Katagiri

Abstract We investigate measurement theory in classical mechanics in the formulation of classical mechanics by Koopman and von Neumann (KvN), which uses Hilbert space. We show a difference between classical and quantum mechanics in the “relative interpretation” of the state of the target of measurement and the state of the measurement device. We also derive the uncertainty relation in classical mechanics.


2020 ◽  
pp. 203-218
Author(s):  
Jim Baggott

The evolution of quantum mechanics through the 1920s was profoundly messy. Some physicists believed that it was necessary to throw out much of the conceptual baggage that early quantum mechanics tended to carry around with it and re-establish the theory on much firmer ground. It was at this critical stage that the search for deeper insights into the underlying reality was set aside in favour of mathematical expediency. All the conceptual problems appeared to be coming from the wavefunctions. But whatever was to replace them needed to retain all the properties and relationships that had so far been discovered. Dirac and von Neumann chose to derive a new quantum formalism by replacing the wavefunctions with state vectors operating in an abstract Hilbert space, and formally embedding all the most important definitions and relations within a system of axioms.


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