Abstract
In a series of lectures written around 1952, Schrödinger refers to von Neumann’s account of measurement in quantum mechanics as follows:
I said quantum physicists bother very little about accounting, according to the accepted law, for the supposed change of the wave-function by measurement. I know of only one attempt in this direction, to which Dr. Balazs recently directed my attention. You find it in John von Neumann’s well-known book. With great acuity he constructs one analytical example. It does not refer to any actual experiment, it is purely analytical. He indicates in a simple case a supplementary operator which, when added to the internal wave operator, would with any desired approximation turn the wave function as time goes on into an eigenfunction of the observable that is measured. He found it necessary to show that such a mechanism is analytically possible. The idea has not been taken up and worked out since — in about twenty years or more. Indeed I do not think it would pay. I do not believe any real measuring device is of this kind. ([1], p. 83)
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
E. Schrödinger, The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics ( Woodbridge, CT: Ox Bow Press, 1995 ).
J. von Neumann, Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik ( Berlin: Springer, 1932 ).
J. von Neumann, Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics ( Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1955 ).
J. von Neumann, ‘Unsolved Problems in Mathematics’ Unpublished address to the International Mathematical Congress, Amsterdam, September 2, 1954. Typescript, von Neumann Archives, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; first published in this volume.
P.A.M. Dirac, Quantum Mechanics ( Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958 ).
A. Einstein, B. Podolsky, and N. Rosen, ‘Can Quantum Mechanical Description of Physical Reality be Considered Complete?’ Physical Review 47 (1935), 777–80.
A. Fine, ‘Probability and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics,’ British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 24 (1973), 1–37.
D. Bohm, ‘A Suggested Interpretation of Quantum Theory in Terms of “Hidden Variables” ’ Parts I and II, Physical Review 85, 166–79, 180–93.
J. Bub, Interpreting the Quantum World ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997 ).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bub, J. (2001). Von Neumann’s Theory of Quantum Measurement. In: Rédei, M., Stöltzner, M. (eds) John von Neumann and the Foundations of Quantum Physics. Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook [2000], vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2012-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2012-0_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5651-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-2012-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive