Physical origins and limitations of canonical quantum measurement behavior
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866911232748945408 |
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| author | Schonfeld, Jonathan F. |
| author_facet | Schonfeld, Jonathan F. |
| contents | I review and augment my work of the last few years on the physical origins and limitations of canonical quantum measurement behavior. Central to this work is a detailed analysis of the microstructure of real measurement devices. Particular attention is paid to the Mott problem, which addresses a simpler version of canonical quantum measurement behavior: It asks why an alpha particle emitted in a nuclear decay produces one and only one track in a cloud chamber. My analysis - entirely consistent with unitarity - leads to an emergent, approximate Born rule supported by experiment, with possible breakdown at very small probability density. I argue that a similar picture applies to other measurement scenarios, including Geiger counters, the Stern-Gerlach experiment and superconducting qubits. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_00716 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Physical origins and limitations of canonical quantum measurement behavior Schonfeld, Jonathan F. Quantum Physics I review and augment my work of the last few years on the physical origins and limitations of canonical quantum measurement behavior. Central to this work is a detailed analysis of the microstructure of real measurement devices. Particular attention is paid to the Mott problem, which addresses a simpler version of canonical quantum measurement behavior: It asks why an alpha particle emitted in a nuclear decay produces one and only one track in a cloud chamber. My analysis - entirely consistent with unitarity - leads to an emergent, approximate Born rule supported by experiment, with possible breakdown at very small probability density. I argue that a similar picture applies to other measurement scenarios, including Geiger counters, the Stern-Gerlach experiment and superconducting qubits. |
| title | Physical origins and limitations of canonical quantum measurement behavior |
| topic | Quantum Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.00716 |