Complex-Valued Classical Behavior from the Correspondence Limit of Quantum Mechanics with Two Boundary Conditions

Yakir Aharonov, Tomer Shushi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The two-state-vector formalism presents a time-symmetric approach to the standard quantum mechanics, with particular importance in the description of experiments having pre- and post-selected ensembles. In this paper, using the correspondence limit of the quantum harmonic oscillator in the two-state-vector formalism, we produce harmonic oscillators that possess a classical behavior while having a complex-valued position and momentum. This allows us to discover novel effects that cannot be achieved otherwise. The proposed classical behavior does not describe the classical physics in the usual sense since this behavior is subjected to the feature that only after the final measurement is performed, as a boundary condition, the complex-valued classical effects occur between the initial and the final boundary conditions. This classical behavior breaks down if one does not follow the decided boundary conditions during the experiment, since otherwise, one will contradict the impossibility of retrocausality.

Original languageEnglish
Article number56
JournalFoundations of Physics
Volume52
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Keywords

  • Classical systems
  • Complex-valued trajectories
  • Harmonic oscillator
  • Two-state-vector-formalism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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