Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Stephen Parrott

Publications and source records attributed to Stephen Parrott.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2016

Quantum measurements need not conserve energy: relation to the Wigner-Araki-Yanase theorem

The paper focuses on the fact that quantum projective measurements do not necessarily conserve energy. On the other hand the Wigner-Araki-Yanase (WAY) theorem states that assuming a "standard" von Neumann measurement model and "additivity" of the total energy operator, projective measurements of a system must conserve energy as defined by the system's energy operator. This paper explores the ideas behind the WAY theorem in hopes of uncovering the origin of the contradiction. After Araki and Yanase published their proof of the WAY theorem, Yanase appended a new condition now known as the Yanase condition. Under the simplifying assumption that the observable being measured has discrete and non-degenerate eigenvalues, we prove that the Yanase condition actually follows from the hypotheses of the original WAY theorem. The paper also proves that the hypotheses of the WAY theorem, together with the simplifying assumption, imply that the energy operator for the measuring apparatus must be a multiple of the identity, which seems physically unlikely. It seems probable that this surprising conclusion, along with the Yanase condition, also holds without the simplifying assumption.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2013

Proof gap in "Sufficient conditions for uniqueness of the Weak Value" by J. Dressel and A. N. Jordan, J. Phys. A 45 (2012) 015304

The article of the title attempts to prove a "General theorem" (GT) giving sufficient conditions under which a previously introduced "general conditioned average" "converges uniquely to the quantum weak value in the minimal disturbance limit." The "general conditioned average" is obtained from a positive operator valued measure (POVM) depending on a small "weakness" parameter g. We point out that unstated assumptions in the presentation of the "sufficient conditions" make them appear much more general than they actually are. Indeed, the stated "sufficient conditions" strengthened by these unstated assumptions seem very close to an assumption that the POVM operators be linear polynomials in g. Moreover, there appears to be a critical error or gap in the attempted proof, even assuming a linear POVM. A counterexample to the proof of the GT (though not to its conclusion) is given. Nevertheless, I conjecture that the conclusion is actually true for linear POVM's whose contextual values are chosen by the article's "pseudoinverse prescription".

quant-ph↗
arXiv2012

Counterexample to "Sufficient Conditions for uniqueness of the Weak Value" by J. Dressel and A. N. Jordan, arXiv:1106.1871v1

The abstract of "Contextual Values of Observables in Quantum Measurements" by J. Dressel, S. Agarwal, and A. N. Jordan [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 240401 (2010)] (called DAJ below), states: "We introduce contextual values as a generalization of the eigenvalues of an observable that takes into account both the system observable and a general measurement procedure. This technique leads to a natural definition of a general conditioned average that converges uniquely to the quantum weak value in the minimal disturbance limit." A counterexample to the claim of the last sentence was presented in Version 1. Subsequently Dressel and Jordan placed in the arXiv the paper of the title (called DJ below) which attempts to prove the claim of DAJ quoted above under stronger hypotheses than given in DAJ, hypotheses which the counterexample does not satisfy. The present work (Version 6) presents a new counterexample to this revised claim of DJ. A brief introduction to "contextual values" is included. Also included is a critical analysis of DJ.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2011

"Contextual weak values" of quantum measurements with positive measurement operators are not limited to the traditional weak value

A recent Letter in Physical Review Letters, "Contextual Values of Observables in Quantum Measurements", by J. Dressel, S. Agarwal, and A. N. Jordan (abbreviated DAJ below), introduces the concept of "contextual values" and claims that they lead to "a natural definition of a general conditioned average that converges uniquely to the quantum weak value in the minimal disturbance limit". However, they do not define "minimal disturbance limit". The present paper is in part the saga of my search for a definition of "minimal disturbance limit" under which this claim could be proved. The search finally ended in what is probably a definitive counterexample to the claim.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2010

Quantum weak values are not unique; what do they actually measure?

Precise definitions of "weak [quantum] measurements" and "weak value" [of a quantum observable] are offered, which seem to capture the meaning of the often vague ways that these terms are used in the literature. Simple finite dimensional examples are given showing that weak values of an observable are not unique, and in fact arbitrary weak values can be obtained by appropriate weak measurements. This implies that a "weak value" of an observable A, *by itself*, can furnish no unambiguous information about A; any information in a weak value is inextricably connected with the particular measurement procedure used to obtain that weak value. Moreover, arbitrary weak values can be obtained using a "meter space" of dimension as small as 2. A "Remarks" section questions the utility of "weak measurement".

quant-ph↗
arXiv2009

What do quantum "weak" measurements actually measure?

A precise definition of "weak [quantum] measurements" and "weak value" (of a quantum observable) is offered, and simple finite dimensional examples are given showing that weak values are not unique and therefore probably do not correspond to any physical attribute of the system being "weakly" measured, contrary to impressions given by most of the literature on weak measurements. A possible mathematical error in the seminal paper introducing "weak values" is explicitly identified. A mathematically rigorous argument obtains results similar to, and more general than, the main result of that paper and concludes that even in the infinite-dimensional context of that paper, weak values are not unique. This implies that the "usual" formula for weak values is not universal, but can apply only to specific physical situations. The paper is written in a more pedagogical and informal style than is usual in the research literature in the hope that it might serve as an introduction to weak values.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2005

Comment on Phys. Rev. D 60 084017 "Classical self-force" by F. Rohrlich

F. Rohrlich has recently published two papers, including the paper under review, advocating a particular delay-differential equation as an approximate equation of motion for classical charged particles, which he characterizes as providing a "fully acceptable classical electrodynamics". This Comment notes some mathematical and physical problems with this equation. It points out that most of the claims of these papers are unproved, while some appear to be false as stated.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2005

Asymptotics of a proposed delay-differential equation of motion for charged particles

We study the behavior in the remote past and future of solutions of an equation of motion for charged particles proposed by F. Rohrlich, for the special case in which the motion is in one spatial dimension. We show that if an external force is applied for a finite time, some solutions exhibit the property of ``preacceleration'', meaning that the particle accelerates before the force is applied, but that there do exist solutions without preacceleration. However, most solutions without preacceleration exhibit ``postacceleration'' into the infinite future (i.e., the particle accelerates after the force is removed). Some may consider such behavior as sufficiently "unphysical" to rule out the equation. More encouragingly, we show that analogs of the unphysical ``runaway'' solutions of the Lorentz-Dirac equation do not occur for solutions of Rohrlich's equation. We show that when the external force eventually vanishes, the proper acceleration vanishes asymptotically in the future, and the coordinate velocity becomes asymptotically constant.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2005

Variant forms of Eliezer's Theorem

Over 60 years ago, Eliezer proved the surprising result that an electron moving radially according to the Lorentz-Dirac equation in the Coulomb field of a proton will not be attracted to a collision with the proton as expected. Instead, it is repelled from the proton with proper acceleration increasing asymptotically with proper time. Proponents of the Lorentz-Dirac equation sometimes try to explain this away by speculation that the electron must approach so closely to the proton that the field strength would be beyond the domain of validity of the classical Lorentz-Dirac equation and therefore require a quantum-mechanical analysis. This note proves some variants of Eliezer's result which apply to *bounded*, compactly supported, spherically symmetric fields, and thus call into question such speculation. However, these variants do require the additional hypothesis (not required by Eliezer) that the electron is unaccelerated before entering the field--i.e., that "preacceleration" is impossible. Though these results may not appear in the literature, the methods of proof are well known. The motivation for writing down careful proofs was continued skepticism by proponents of the Lorentz-Dirac equation.

math-ph↗
arXiv2003

Energy Radiation of Charged Particles in Conformally Flat Spacetimes

Original abstract: Consider the worldline of a charged particle in a static spacetime. Contraction of the time-translation Killing field with the retarded electromagnetic energy-momentum tensor gives a conserved electromagnetic energy vector which can be used to define the radiated electromagnetic energy. This note points out that for a conformally flat spacetime, the radiated energy is the same as for a flat spacetime (i.e. Minkowski space). This appears to be inconsistent with an equation of motion for such particles derived by DeWitt and Brehme and later corrected by Hobbs [End of original abstract] New abstract: Same as old abstract with last sentence deleted. The body of the paper is the same as previously. A new Appendix 2 has been added discussing implications to the previous arguments of recent work of Sonego (J. Math. Phys. 40 (1999), 3381-3394) and of Quinn and Wald (Phys. Rev. D 60 (1999), gr-qc/9610053).

gr-qc↗
arXiv2000

The Curvature of a Single Operator on a Hilbert Space

This note studies Arveson's curvature invariant for d-contractions specialized to the case d=1 of a single contraction operator on a Hilbert space. It establishes a formula which gives an easy-to-understand meaning for the curvature of a single contraction. The formula is applied to give an example of an operator with nonintegral curvature. Under the additional hypothesis that the contraction T be "pure", we show that its curvature K(T) is given by K(T) = - index(T) := -(dim ker T - dim coker T).

math.OA↗
arXiv1997

Radiation from a Charge Uniformly Accelerated for All Time

A recent paper of Singal [Gen. Rel. Grav. 27 (1995), 953-967] argues that a uniformly accelerated particle does not radiate, in contradiction to the consensus of the research literature over the past 30 years. This note points out some questionable aspects of Singal's argument and shows how similar calculations can lead to the opposite conclusion.

gr-qc↗