The Hilbert space operator formalism within dynamical reduction models

Abstract

Unlike standard quantum mechanics, dynamical reduction models assign no particular a priori status to `measurement processes', `apparata', and `observables', nor self-adjoint operators and positive operator valued measures enter the postulates defining these models. In this paper, we show why and how the Hilbert-space operator formalism, which standard quantum mechanics postulates, can be derived from the fundamental evolution equation of dynamical reduction models. Far from having any special ontological meaning, we show that within the dynamical reduction context the operator formalism is just a compact and convenient way to express the statistical properties of the outcomes of experiments.

25 pages, RevTeX. Changes made and two figures added

References in corpus (3)

• Dynamical Reduction Models
• Quantum Equilibrium and the Role of Operators as Observables in Quantum Theory
• The quantum theory of measurement within dynamical reduction models

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