Quantum mechanics as a framework for dealing with uncertainty

TY - JOUR

T1 - Quantum mechanics as a framework for dealing with uncertainty

AU - Busch, Paul

PY - 2010/9

Y1 - 2010/9

N2 - Quantum uncertainty is described here in two guises: indeterminacy with its concomitant indeterminism of measurement outcomes, and fuzziness, or unsharpness. Both features were long seen as obstructions of experimental possibilities that were available in the realm of classical physics. The birth of quantum information science was due to the realization that such obstructions can be turned into powerful resources. Here we review how the utilization of quantum fuzziness makes room for a notion of approximate joint measurement of noncommuting observables. We also show how from a classical perspective quantum uncertainty is due to a limitation of measurability reflected in a fuzzy event structure-all quantum events are fundamentally unsharp.

AB - Quantum uncertainty is described here in two guises: indeterminacy with its concomitant indeterminism of measurement outcomes, and fuzziness, or unsharpness. Both features were long seen as obstructions of experimental possibilities that were available in the realm of classical physics. The birth of quantum information science was due to the realization that such obstructions can be turned into powerful resources. Here we review how the utilization of quantum fuzziness makes room for a notion of approximate joint measurement of noncommuting observables. We also show how from a classical perspective quantum uncertainty is due to a limitation of measurability reflected in a fuzzy event structure-all quantum events are fundamentally unsharp.

KW - Mathematical Physics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78650903092&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1088/0031-8949/2010/T140/014003

DO - 10.1088/0031-8949/2010/T140/014003

M3 - Article

VL - T140

JO - Physica Scripta

JF - Physica Scripta

SN - 0031-8949

M1 - 014003

ER -