Envariance as a Symmetry in Quantum Mechanics and Applications to Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

A quantum symmetry called entanglement-assisted invariance, also called envariance, is introduced. It is studied with respect to the process of performing quantum measurements. An apparatus which interacts with other physical systems, which are called environments, exchanges a single state with physical states equal in number to that of the possible outcomes of the experiment. Correlations between the apparatus and environment give rise to a type of selection rule which prohibits the apparatus from appearing in a superposition corresponding to different eigenvalues of the pointer basis of the apparatus. The eigenspaces of this observable form a natural basis for the apparatus and determine the observable of the measured quantum system. It is also discussed how statistical mechanics can be formulated in terms of this symmetry.

Keywords

• probability
• correlations
• operator
• measurements
• basis
• eigenstates