Title: Quantum Probabilities and the Quantum Theory of Experiments
Speaker: Juerg Froehlich, ETH, Zurich and IAS, Princeton
Date: Friday, April 11, 2014
Time: 2:30pm-4:00pm
Place: Lecture Hall 102, Simons Center
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Abstract: I start by explaining why quantum probability theory cannot be embedded into classical probability theory. Subsequently, a dictionary between notions in classical probability theory and classical dynamics and ones in quantum probability theory and quantum dynamics is sketched, and some important features of quantum dynamical systems are highlighted. The theory of “von Neumann measurements” – fundamental to an understanding of quantum mechanics – is then outlined. The lecture concludes with a discussion of “non-demolition measurements” and an analysis of a concrete example of such measurements inspired by experiments in the group of S. Haroche (Nobel Prize 2012). This lecture is conceptual rather than technical, and understanding its message appears to be somewhat challenging. Let’s try!