Embedding of a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian to emulate the von Neumann measurement scheme

TL;DR

This paper introduces a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian approach, embedded into a higher-dimensional Hermitian system, to emulate the measurement process described by von Neumann's scheme, providing new insights into quantum measurement dynamics.

Contribution

It proposes a novel non-Hermitian Hamiltonian formalism and embedding protocol to simulate von Neumann measurement, extending the Lindblad equation framework.

Findings

Successfully emulates von Neumann measurement dynamics

Derives constraints for embedding into Hermitian systems

Shows non-Hermitian dynamics closely follow Lindblad equations

Abstract

The problem of how measurement in quantum mechanics takes place has existed since its formulation. Von Neumann proposed a scheme where he treated measurement as a two-part process -- a unitary evolution in the full system-ancilla space and then a projection onto one of the pointer states of the ancilla (representing the "collapse" of the wavefunction). The Lindblad master equation, which has been extensively used to explain dissipative quantum phenomena in the presence of an environment, can effectively describe the first part of the von Neumann measurement scheme when the jump operators in the master equation are Hermitian. We have proposed a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian formalism to emulate the first part of the von Neumann measurement scheme. We have used the embedding protocol to dilate a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian that governs the dynamics in the system subspace into a higher-dimensional Hermitian Hamiltonian that evolves the full space unitarily. We have obtained the various constraints and the required dimensionality of the ancilla Hilbert space in order to achieve the required embedding. Using this particular embedding and a specific projection operator, one obtains non-Hermitian dynamics in the system subspace that closely follow the Lindblad master equation. This work lends a new perspective to the measurement problem by employing non-Hermitian Hamiltonians.