Quantum reversibility is relative, or does a quantum measurement reset initial conditions?
Abstract
I compare the role of the information in classical and quantum dynamics by examining the relation between information flows in measurements and the ability of observers to reverse evolutions. I show that in the Newtonian dynamics reversibility is unaffected by the observer’s retention of the information about the measurement outcome. By contrast—even though quantum dynamics is unitary, hence, reversible—reversing quantum evolution that led to a measurement becomes, in principle, impossible for an observer who keeps the record of its outcome. Thus, quantum irreversibility can result from the information gain rather than just its loss—rather than just an increase of the (von Neumann) entropy. Recording of the outcome of the measurement resets, in effect, initial conditions within the observer’s (branch of) the Universe. Nevertheless, I also show that the observer’s friend—an agent who knows what measurement was successfully carried out and can confirm that the observer knows the outcome but resists his curiosity and does not find out the result—can, in principle, undo the measurement. This relativity of quantum reversibility sheds new light on the origin of the arrow of time and elucidates the role of information in classical and quantum physics. In conclusion, quantum discord appears as a natural measuremore »
- Authors:
-
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1467216
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-18-22300
Journal ID: ISSN 1364-503X
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. A, Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 376; Journal Issue: 2123; Journal ID: ISSN 1364-503X
- Publisher:
- The Royal Society Publishing
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; Mathematics
Citation Formats
Zurek, Wojciech H. Quantum reversibility is relative, or does a quantum measurement reset initial conditions?. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1098/rsta.2017.0315.
Zurek, Wojciech H. Quantum reversibility is relative, or does a quantum measurement reset initial conditions?. United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0315
Zurek, Wojciech H. Mon .
"Quantum reversibility is relative, or does a quantum measurement reset initial conditions?". United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0315. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1467216.
@article{osti_1467216,
title = {Quantum reversibility is relative, or does a quantum measurement reset initial conditions?},
author = {Zurek, Wojciech H.},
abstractNote = {I compare the role of the information in classical and quantum dynamics by examining the relation between information flows in measurements and the ability of observers to reverse evolutions. I show that in the Newtonian dynamics reversibility is unaffected by the observer’s retention of the information about the measurement outcome. By contrast—even though quantum dynamics is unitary, hence, reversible—reversing quantum evolution that led to a measurement becomes, in principle, impossible for an observer who keeps the record of its outcome. Thus, quantum irreversibility can result from the information gain rather than just its loss—rather than just an increase of the (von Neumann) entropy. Recording of the outcome of the measurement resets, in effect, initial conditions within the observer’s (branch of) the Universe. Nevertheless, I also show that the observer’s friend—an agent who knows what measurement was successfully carried out and can confirm that the observer knows the outcome but resists his curiosity and does not find out the result—can, in principle, undo the measurement. This relativity of quantum reversibility sheds new light on the origin of the arrow of time and elucidates the role of information in classical and quantum physics. In conclusion, quantum discord appears as a natural measure of the extent to which dissemination of information about the outcome affects the ability to reverse the measurement.},
doi = {10.1098/rsta.2017.0315},
journal = {Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. A, Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences},
number = 2123,
volume = 376,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {5}
}
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:

Works referenced in this record:
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journal, July 2010
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Environment-induced superselection rules
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journal, May 2013
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Quantum origin of quantum jumps: Breaking of unitary symmetry induced by information transfer in the transition from quantum to classical
journal, November 2007
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journal, June 2006
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Objective past of a quantum universe: Redundant records of consistent histories
journal, March 2016
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Objectivity in a Noisy Photonic Environment through Quantum State Information Broadcasting
journal, March 2014
- Korbicz, J. K.; Horodecki, P.; Horodecki, R.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 12
Redundant information from thermal illumination: quantum Darwinism in scattered photons
journal, July 2011
- Jess Riedel, C.; Zurek, Wojciech H.
- New Journal of Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 7
Quantum Discord: A Measure of the Quantumness of Correlations
journal, December 2001
- Ollivier, Harold; Zurek, Wojciech H.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 88, Issue 1
Works referencing / citing this record:
Einselection and decoherence from an information theory perspective
journal, November 2000
- Zurek, W. H.
- Annalen der Physik, Vol. 9, Issue 11-12
The Quantum Postulate and the Recent Development of Atomic Theory1
journal, April 1928
- Bohr, N.
- Nature, Vol. 121, Issue 3050
Generic emergence of classical features in quantum Darwinism
journal, August 2015
- Brandão, Fernando G. S. L.; Piani, Marco; Horodecki, Paweł
- Nature Communications, Vol. 6, Issue 1
Complementarity of quantum discord and classically accessible information
journal, May 2013
- Zwolak, Michael; Zurek, Wojciech H.
- Scientific Reports, Vol. 3, Issue 1
Quantum Darwinism, classical reality, and the randomness of quantum jumps
journal, October 2014
- Zurek, Wojciech H.
- Physics Today, Vol. 67, Issue 10
Classical, quantum and total correlations
journal, August 2001
- Henderson, L.; Vedral, V.
- Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, Vol. 34, Issue 35
Quantum discord and its allies: a review of recent progress
journal, December 2017
- Bera, Anindita; Das, Tamoghna; Sadhukhan, Debasis
- Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 81, Issue 2
Redundant information from thermal illumination: quantum Darwinism in scattered photons
journal, July 2011
- Jess Riedel, C.; Zurek, Wojciech H.
- New Journal of Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 7
Foundations of quantum mechanics and their impact on contemporary society
journal, May 2018
- Adesso, Gerardo; Franco, Rosario Lo; Parigi, Valentina
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 376, Issue 2123
Quantum discord and Maxwell’s demons
journal, January 2003
- Zurek, Wojciech Hubert
- Physical Review A, Vol. 67, Issue 1
Quantum Darwinism: Entanglement, branches, and the emergent classicality of redundantly stored quantum information
journal, June 2006
- Blume-Kohout, Robin; Zurek, Wojciech H.
- Physical Review A, Vol. 73, Issue 6
Quantum origin of quantum jumps: Breaking of unitary symmetry induced by information transfer in the transition from quantum to classical
journal, November 2007
- Zurek, Wojciech Hubert
- Physical Review A, Vol. 76, Issue 5
Redundancy of classical and quantum correlations during decoherence
journal, October 2009
- Paz, Juan Pablo; Roncaglia, Augusto J.
- Physical Review A, Vol. 80, Issue 4
Wave-packet collapse and the core quantum postulates: Discreteness of quantum jumps from unitarity, repeatability, and actionable information
journal, May 2013
- Zurek, Wojciech H.
- Physical Review A, Vol. 87, Issue 5
Objective past of a quantum universe: Redundant records of consistent histories
journal, March 2016
- Riedel, C. Jess; Zurek, Wojciech H.; Zwolak, Michael
- Physical Review A, Vol. 93, Issue 3
Pointer basis of quantum apparatus: Into what mixture does the wave packet collapse?
journal, September 1981
- Zurek, W. H.
- Physical Review D, Vol. 24, Issue 6
Environment-induced superselection rules
journal, October 1982
- Zurek, W. H.
- Physical Review D, Vol. 26, Issue 8
Quantum Darwinism in an Everyday Environment: Huge Redundancy in Scattered Photons
journal, July 2010
- Riedel, C. Jess; Zurek, Wojciech H.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 2
Objectivity in a Noisy Photonic Environment through Quantum State Information Broadcasting
journal, March 2014
- Korbicz, J. K.; Horodecki, P.; Horodecki, R.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 12
Amplification, Redundancy, and Quantum Chernoff Information
journal, April 2014
- Zwolak, Michael; Riedel, C. Jess; Zurek, Wojciech H.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 14
Converting Coherence to Quantum Correlations
journal, April 2016
- Ma, Jiajun; Yadin, Benjamin; Girolami, Davide
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 116, Issue 16
Decoherence, chaos, and the second law
journal, April 1994
- Zurek, Wojciech Hubert; Paz, Juan Pablo
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 72, Issue 16
Quantum Discord: A Measure of the Quantumness of Correlations
journal, December 2001
- Ollivier, Harold; Zurek, Wojciech H.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 88, Issue 1
Objective Properties from Subjective Quantum States: Environment as a Witness
journal, November 2004
- Ollivier, Harold; Poulin, David; Zurek, Wojciech H.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 93, Issue 22
Decoherence, einselection, and the quantum origins of the classical
journal, May 2003
- Zurek, Wojciech Hubert
- Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 75, Issue 3
The classical-quantum boundary for correlations: Discord and related measures
journal, November 2012
- Modi, Kavan; Brodutch, Aharon; Cable, Hugo
- Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 84, Issue 4
Foundations of quantum mechanics and their impact on contemporary society
journal, May 2018
- Adesso, Gerardo; Franco, Rosario Lo; Parigi, Valentina
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 376, Issue 2123
Neither Presentism nor Eternalism
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A Generic Model for Quantum Measurements
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