scholarly journals The Time-symmetric Formulation of Quantum Mechanics, Weak Values and the Classical Limit of Quantum Mechanics

Author(s):  
Jeff Tollaksen
Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Michael B. Heaney

The conventional explanation of delayed-choice experiments appears to violate our causal intuition at the quantum level. I reanalyze these experiments using time-reversed and time-symmetric formulations of quantum mechanics. The time-reversed formulation does not give the same experimental predictions. The time-symmetric formulation gives the same experimental predictions but actually violates our causal intuition at the quantum level. I explore the reasons why our causal intuition may be wrong at the quantum level, suggest how conventional causation might be recovered in the classical limit, propose a quantum analog to the classical block universe viewpoint, and speculate on implications of the time-symmetric formulation for cosmological boundary conditions.


1972 ◽  
Vol 50 (17) ◽  
pp. 2037-2047 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Razavy

From the equation of motion and the canonical commutation relation for the position of a particle and its conjugate momentum, different first integrals of motion can be constructed. In addition to the proper Hamiltonian, there are other operators that can be considered as the generators of motion for the position operator (q-equivalent Hamiltonians). All of these operators have the same classical limit for the probability density of the coordinate of the particle, and many of them are symmetric and self-adjoint operators or have self-adjoint extensions. However, they do not satisfy the Heisenberg rule of quantization, and lead to incorrect commutation relations for velocity and position operators. Therefore, it is concluded that the energy first integral and the potential, rather than the equation of motion and the force law, are the physically significant operators in quantum mechanics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhavya Bhatt ◽  
Manish Ram Chander ◽  
Raj Patil ◽  
Ruchira Mishra ◽  
Shlok Nahar ◽  
...  

AbstractThe measurement problem and the absence of macroscopic superposition are two foundational problems of quantum mechanics today. One possible solution is to consider the Ghirardi–Rimini–Weber (GRW) model of spontaneous localisation. Here, we describe how spontaneous localisation modifies the path integral formulation of density matrix evolution in quantum mechanics. We provide two new pedagogical derivations of the GRW propagator. We then show how the von Neumann equation and the Liouville equation for the density matrix arise in the quantum and classical limit, respectively, from the GRW path integral.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document