Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Entanglement and Measurement in Abstract Probabilistic Theories
Alexander Wilce, Susquehanna University, Department of Mathematics
12:05 pm, 817R Cathedral of Learning

Abstract:  Quantum mechanics is a non-classical probability theory, but hardly the most general one imaginable: any compact convex set can serve as the state space for an abstract probabilistic model, with classical models corresponding to simplices. In this talk, I'll show that almost any non-classical probabilistic theory shares with quantum mechanics a notion of entanglement and, with this, a version of the measurement problem. I'll then discuss what is required for an abstract probabilistic theory to admit a somewhat simplified Everett-style interpretation. (Parts of this talk are based on joint work with Howard Barnum, Jonathan Barrett and Matthew Leifer.)