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On the Debate Concerning the Proper Characterization of Quantum Dynamical Evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Michael E. Cuffaro  and
Wayne C. Myrvold
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Abstract

There has been a long-standing and sometimes passionate debate between physicists over whether a dynamical framework for quantum systems should incorporate not completely positive (NCP) maps in addition to completely positive (CP) maps. Despite the reasonableness of the arguments for complete positivity, we argue that NCP maps should be allowed, with a qualification: these should be understood, not as reflecting ‘not completely positive’ evolution, but as linear extensions, to a system’s entire state space, of CP maps that are only partially defined. Beyond the domain of definition of a partial-CP map, we argue, much may be permitted.

Type
General Philosophy of Science
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 80 , Issue 5 , December 2013 , pp. 1125 - 1136
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

This work was sponsored in part by a grant from the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi).

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