On non-commutativity in quantum theory (I): from classical to quantum probability

TL;DR

This paper critically examines the role of non-commutativity in quantum mechanics, proposing a method to construct non-commutative probability theory from classical measure-theoretic probability using entropic uncertainty relations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to derive non-commutative probability frameworks from classical probability by leveraging entropic uncertainty relations.

Findings

Establishes a link between classical and quantum probabilistic descriptions.

Proposes a method to identify non-commutativity via entropic uncertainty relations.

Provides insights into the algebraic structure of quantum observables.

Abstract

A central feature of quantum mechanics is the non-commutativity of operators used to describe physical observables. In this article, we present a critical analysis on the role of non-commutativity in quantum theory, focusing on its consequences in the probabilistic description. Typically, a random phenomenon is described using the measure-theoretic formulation of probability theory. Such a description can also be done using algebraic methods, which are capable to deal with non-commutative random variables (like in quantum mechanics). Here we propose a method to construct a non-commutative probability theory starting from an ordinary measure-theoretic description of probability. This will be done using the entropic uncertainty relations between random variables, in order to evaluate the presence of non-commutativity in their algebraic description.