Repeating measurement of observables?

AI Thread Summary
Alice's ability to deduce Bob's measurement outcome after measuring observable F is questioned, with the consensus that she cannot do so with certainty due to the probabilistic nature of quantum measurements. When Alice measures F, the system collapses into an eigenstate, and Bob's subsequent measurement of G is independent, meaning Alice lacks information about Bob's result. Conversely, if Alice measures G first, she also cannot deduce Bob's outcome when he measures F, unless the observables commute, which would allow for shared eigenfunctions. The discussion emphasizes the independence of measurements and the implications of quantum state collapse. Ultimately, the ability to predict outcomes relies on the relationship between the observables involved.
iharuyuki
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I have a question on my homework set and I'm not sure the principle behind it:
1. Alice measured an observable F (a matrix) and passed the measured system immediately to another experimentalist, Bob, who is going to measure another observable G. Alice claims that she can deduce the experiment outcome of Bob without Bob telling her what his outcome is. Can she really do that?

2. Given the observables F and G, suppose Alice measures an observable G first then passes the measured system to Bob, who then measures F. Can Alice deduce Bob's outcome? Can Bob's deduce Alice's?F=
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 4

G=
1 0 0
0 5 0
0 0 6

I apologize for the poorly formatted matrices. I'm not sure how to put them in LaTeX.1. I believe Alice cannot deduce the outcome of Bob's experiment (Question: what does "deduce" imply in this context?) because upon measurement the system will collapse into one of its eigenstates which each have a probability of occurring. Thus Alice will not be able to deduce with certainty the result that Bob measured.

2. I believe the same principle applies and neither of them can deduce each other's outcome.

Are my answers correct? Thank you.
 
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iharuyuki said:
1. I believe Alice cannot deduce the outcome of Bob's experiment (Question: what does "deduce" imply in this context?) because upon measurement the system will collapse into one of its eigenstates which each have a probability of occurring. Thus Alice will not be able to deduce with certainty the result that Bob measured.

2. I believe the same principle applies and neither of them can deduce each other's outcome.

Are my answers correct? Thank you.
No, but really all you're doing is asserting your answers here. Alice makes a measurement, and as a result, the system collapses into some state. Somehow from there, you jumped to Alice can't deduce what Bob will measure. What's your reasoning here?
 
vela said:
No, but really all you're doing is asserting your answers here. Alice makes a measurement, and as a result, the system collapses into some state. Somehow from there, you jumped to Alice can't deduce what Bob will measure. What's your reasoning here?

Thank you. Let me try again.

1. Once Bob's conducts his experiment, upon measurement, the system will collapse into one of its eigenstates which each have a probability of occurring. Since there is a certain probability of each state occurring, and each measurement could possibly result in a different eigenstate, there is no guarantee that Alice's method of deduction would lead her to the state of Bob's experiment, as each experiment is independent. Thus Alice will not be able to deduce with certainty the result that Bob measured.
 
If the operators for two observables commute, the observables share a common set of eigenfunctions. If this is the case, then Alice can predict what Bob will measure.
 
iharuyuki said:
1. Once Bob's conducts his experiment, upon measurement, the system will collapse into one of its eigenstates which each have a probability of occurring. Since there is a certain probability of each state occurring, and each measurement could possibly result in a different eigenstate, there is no guarantee that Alice's method of deduction would lead her to the state of Bob's experiment, as each experiment is independent. Thus Alice will not be able to deduce with certainty the result that Bob measured.
Each experiment isn't independent. It's the same system. Alice measures F first, leaving it in some state, and then Bob immediately measures G.
 
Thread 'Help with Time-Independent Perturbation Theory "Good" States Proof'
(Disclaimer: this is not a HW question. I am self-studying, and this felt like the type of question I've seen in this forum. If there is somewhere better for me to share this doubt, please let me know and I'll transfer it right away.) I am currently reviewing Chapter 7 of Introduction to QM by Griffiths. I have been stuck for an hour or so trying to understand the last paragraph of this proof (pls check the attached file). It claims that we can express Ψ_{γ}(0) as a linear combination of...

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