Conditional probability, three-slit experiments, and the Jordan algebra structure of quantum mechanics

TL;DR

This paper explores the mathematical structure of quantum mechanics through conditional probability and Jordan algebras, linking the absence of higher-order interference to the Jordan algebraic framework.

Contribution

It establishes a connection between the absence of third-order interference and the Jordan algebra structure in quantum logics with a reasonable calculus of conditional probability.

Findings

Jordan algebraic structure linked to no third-order interference

Characterization of quantum probabilities via interference properties

Inclusion of exceptional Jordan algebras in the framework

Abstract

Most quantum logics do not allow for a reasonable calculus of conditional probability. However, those ones which do so provide a very general and rich mathematical structure, including classical probabilities, quantum mechanics as well as Jordan algebras. This structure exhibits some similarities with Alfsen and Shultz's non-commutative spectral theory, but these two mathematical approaches are not identical. Barnum, Emerson and Ududec adapted the concept of higher-order interference, introduced by Sorkin in 1994, into a general probabilistic framework. Their adaption is used here to reveal a close link between the existence of the Jordan product and the non-existence of interference of third or higher order in those quantum logics which entail a reasonable calculus of conditional probability. The complete characterization of the Jordan algebraic structure requires the following three further postulates: a Hahn-Jordan decomposition property for the states, a polynomial functional calculus for the observables, and the positivity of the square of an observable. While classical probabilities are characterized by the absence of any kind of interference, the absence of interference of third (and higher) order thus characterizes a probability calculus which comes close to quantum mechanics, but still includes the exceptional Jordan algebras.