Elitzur Avshalom C, Cohen Eliahu
Institute for Quantum Studies, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA.
Iyar, The Israeli Institute for Advanced Research, POB 651, Zichron Ya'akov 3095303, Israel.
Entropy (Basel). 2020 Feb 26;22(3):266. doi: 10.3390/e22030266.
Counterfactuals, i.e., events that could have occurred but eventually did not, play a unique role in quantum mechanics in that they exert causal effects despite their non-occurrence. They are therefore vital for a better understanding of quantum mechanics (QM) and possibly the universe as a whole. In earlier works, we have studied counterfactuals both conceptually and experimentally. A fruitful framework termed quantum oblivion has emerged, referring to situations where one particle seems to "forget" its interaction with other particles despite the latter being visibly affected. This framework proved to have significant explanatory power, which we now extend to tackle additional riddles. The time-symmetric causality employed by the Two State-Vector Formalism (TSVF) reveals a subtle realm ruled by "weak values," already demonstrated by numerous experiments. They offer a realistic, simple and intuitively appealing explanation to the unique role of quantum non-events, as well as to the foundations of QM. In this spirit, we performed a weak value analysis of quantum oblivion and suggest some new avenues for further research.
反事实，即那些本可能发生但最终未发生的事件，在量子力学中扮演着独特的角色，因为尽管它们没有发生，但却能产生因果效应。因此，它们对于更好地理解量子力学（QM）乃至整个宇宙至关重要。在早期的研究中，我们从概念和实验两方面对反事实进行了研究。一个富有成效的框架——量子遗忘——应运而生，它指的是这样一种情形：一个粒子似乎“忘记”了它与其他粒子的相互作用，尽管后者受到了明显的影响。这个框架已被证明具有重要的解释力，我们现在将其扩展以解决更多难题。两态矢形式理论（TSVF）所采用的时间对称因果关系揭示了一个由“弱值”所支配的微妙领域，这已被众多实验所证实。它们为量子非事件的独特作用以及量子力学的基础提供了一个现实、简单且直观吸引人的解释。本着这种精神，我们对量子遗忘进行了弱值分析，并提出了一些进一步研究的新途径。
