What is a quantum-mechanical 'weak value' the value of?
arXiv:1301.4328 · doi:10.1007/s10701-013-9740-6
Abstract
A so called 'weak value' of an observable in quantum mechanics (QM) may be obtained in a weak measurement + post-selection procedure on the QM system under study. Applied to number operators, it has been invoked in revisiting some QM paradoxes (e.g., the so called Three Box paradox and Hardy s paradox). This requires the weak value to be interpreted as a bona fide property of the system considered, a par with entities like operator mean values and eigenvalues. I question such an interpretation; it has no support in the basic axioms of quantum mechanics and it leads to unreasonable results in concrete situations.
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- The Weak Reality that Makes Quantum Phenomena more Natural: Novel Insights and Experiments
- Post-Selection and Counterfactual Communication
- Non-representative quantum mechanical weak values
- Quantum weak values and logic, an uneasy couple
- Dual to the anomalous weak value effect of photon-polarisation separation
- Tunneling time problem: At the intersection of quantum mechanics, classical probability theory and special relativity
- Weak values in collision theory
- Even quantum pigeons may thrive together. A note on 'the quantum pigeonhole principle'