Authors

S. Gudder

Publication Date

2011

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Quantum measures, Quantum integrals, Decoherence functionals

Abstract

We show that quantum measures and integrals appear naturally in any L2-Hilbert space H. We begin by defining a decoherence operator D(A, B) and it’s associated q-measure operator µ(A) = D(A, A) on H. We show that these operators have certain positivity, additivity and continuity properties. If ρ is a state on H, then Dρ(A, B) = tr [ρD(A, B)] and µρ(A) = Dρ(A, A) have the usual properties of a decoherence functional and q-measure, respectively. The quantization of a random variable f is defined to be a certain self-adjoint operator fb on H. Continuity and additivity properties of the map f 7→ fb are discussed. It is shown that if f is nonnegative, then fb is a positive operator. A quantum integral is de- fined by R f dµρ = tr(ρfb). A tail-sum formula is proved for the quantum integral. The paper closes with an example that illustrates some of the theory.

Comments

The final version of this article published in Reports on Mathematical Physics is available online at: https://doi-org.du.idm.oclc.org/10.1016/S0034-4877(12)60019-6



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