On the relation between measurement outcomes and physical properties

TL;DR

This paper clarifies the fundamental distinction between measurement outcomes and physical properties in quantum mechanics, providing relations that explain how objective properties manifest through measurement interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a formal separation between quantum properties and outcomes within the Hilbert space framework, enhancing understanding of measurement processes.

Findings

Fundamental relations between measurement outcomes and physical quantities.

Objective properties emerge through measurement interactions.

Non-classical correlations relate to physical properties as causes.

Abstract

One of the most difficult problems in quantum mechanics is the analysis of the measurement processes. In this paper, we point out that many of these difficulties originate from the different roles of measurement outcomes and observable quantities, which cannot simply be identified with each other. Our analysis shows that the Hilbert space formalism itself describes a fundamental separation between quantitative properties and qualitative outcomes that needs to be taken into account in an objective description of quantum measurements. We derive fundamental relations between the statistics of measurement outcomes and the values of physical quantities that explain how the objective properties of a quantum system appear in the context of different measurement interactions. Our results indicate that non-classical correlations can be understood in terms of the actual role of physical properties as quantifiable causes of the external effects observed in a quantum measurement.