Abstract
We argue that the notion of pure sate within Standard Quantum Mechanics is presently applied within the specialized literature in relation to two mutually inconsistent definitions. While the first (operational purity) provides a basis-dependent definition which makes reference to the certain prediction of measurement outcomes, the latter (trace-invariant purity) provides a purely abstract invariant definition which lacks operational content. In this work we derive a theorem which exposes the serious inconsistencies existent within these two incompatible definitions of purity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 27–41 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Foundations of Science |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We want to thank the insightful suggestions of three anonymous referees which allowed us to make the main point of the text substantially more clear. This work was partially supported by the following grants: FWO project G.0405.08 and FWO-research community W0.030.06. CONICET RES. 4541-12, the Project UNAJ 80020170100058UJ and PIO-CONICET-UNAJ 15520150100008CO “Quantum Superpositions in Quantum Information Processing”. The authors state that there is no conflict of interest.
Funding Information:
We want to thank the insightful suggestions of three anonymous referees which allowed us to make the main point of the text substantially more clear. This work was partially supported by the following grants: FWO project G.0405.08 and FWO-research community W0.030.06. CONICET RES. 4541-12, the Project UNAJ 80020170100058UJ and PIO-CONICET-UNAJ 15520150100008CO ?Quantum Superpositions in Quantum Information Processing?. The authors state that there is no conflict of interest.
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