Counterfactual quantum measurements
Fuente:
arXiv
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| Autori principali: | , , |
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866917400738267136 |
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| author | Banerjee, Ingita Laverick, Kiarn T. Wiseman, Howard M. |
| author_facet | Banerjee, Ingita Laverick, Kiarn T. Wiseman, Howard M. |
| contents | Counterfactual reasoning plays a crucial role in exploring hypothetical scenarios, by comparing some consequent under conditions identical except as results from a differing antecedent. David Lewis' well-known analysis evaluates counterfactuals using a hierarchy of desiderata. These were, however, built upon a deterministic classical framework, and whether it could be generalized to indeterministic quantum theory has been an open question. In this paper, we propose a formalism for quantum counterfactuals in which antecedents are measurement settings. Unlike other approaches, it non-trivially answers questions like: "Given that a photon-detector, observing an atom's fluorescence, clicked at a certain time, what would a field-quadrature detector have measured, if it had been used instead?" |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_01888 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Counterfactual quantum measurements Banerjee, Ingita Laverick, Kiarn T. Wiseman, Howard M. Quantum Physics Counterfactual reasoning plays a crucial role in exploring hypothetical scenarios, by comparing some consequent under conditions identical except as results from a differing antecedent. David Lewis' well-known analysis evaluates counterfactuals using a hierarchy of desiderata. These were, however, built upon a deterministic classical framework, and whether it could be generalized to indeterministic quantum theory has been an open question. In this paper, we propose a formalism for quantum counterfactuals in which antecedents are measurement settings. Unlike other approaches, it non-trivially answers questions like: "Given that a photon-detector, observing an atom's fluorescence, clicked at a certain time, what would a field-quadrature detector have measured, if it had been used instead?" |
| title | Counterfactual quantum measurements |
| topic | Quantum Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01888 |