Towards a test of the Born rule in high-energy collisions

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Valentini, Antony, Varma, Mira
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Valentini, Antony
Varma, Mira
author_facet Valentini, Antony
Varma, Mira
contents We consider how the Born rule, a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics, can be tested for particles created on the shortest timescales ($\sim10^{-25}\,\mathrm{s}$) currently accessible at high-energy colliders. We focus on targeted tests of the Born rule for spin or polarisation probabilities, which offer a particularly clean experimental signal, and which can be described by a simple hidden-variables model of two-state systems proposed by Bell. These probabilities test a remarkable feature of the quantum formalism, whereby expectation values for incompatible experiments are linearly related. Born-rule violations can be parameterised by nonlinear expectation values for quantum measurements of spin or polarisation, together with anomalies in ensemble averages, which may then be constrained by experiment. Notable experiments considered here include the recent detection of single photons from top-quark decay, and the indirect measurement of tau-lepton polarisation. Repurposing these experiments as tests of the Born rule, however, presents several challenges, which are discussed in this paper.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_07510
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Towards a test of the Born rule in high-energy collisions
Valentini, Antony
Varma, Mira
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum Physics
We consider how the Born rule, a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics, can be tested for particles created on the shortest timescales ($\sim10^{-25}\,\mathrm{s}$) currently accessible at high-energy colliders. We focus on targeted tests of the Born rule for spin or polarisation probabilities, which offer a particularly clean experimental signal, and which can be described by a simple hidden-variables model of two-state systems proposed by Bell. These probabilities test a remarkable feature of the quantum formalism, whereby expectation values for incompatible experiments are linearly related. Born-rule violations can be parameterised by nonlinear expectation values for quantum measurements of spin or polarisation, together with anomalies in ensemble averages, which may then be constrained by experiment. Notable experiments considered here include the recent detection of single photons from top-quark decay, and the indirect measurement of tau-lepton polarisation. Repurposing these experiments as tests of the Born rule, however, presents several challenges, which are discussed in this paper.
title Towards a test of the Born rule in high-energy collisions
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.07510