Electromagnetism in terms of quantum measurements
Andreas Andersson
September 16, 2015
We consider the question whether electromagnetism can be derived from
the theory of quantum measurements. It turns out that this is possible, both for quantum
and classical electromagnetism, if we use more recent innovations such as
smearing of observables and simultaneous measurability. In this way we justify
the use of von Neumann-type measurement models for physical processes.
We apply operational quantum measurement theory to gain insight in
fundamental aspects of quantum physics. Interactions of von Neumann type make
the Heisenberg evolution of observables describable using explicit operator
deformations. In this way one can obtain quantized electromagnetism as a
measurement of a system by another. The relevant deformations (Rieffel
deformations) have a mathematically well-defined "classical" limit which is
indeed classical electromagnetism for our choice of interaction.
Keywords:
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