User:Boris Tsirelson/Sandbox1

Measurement and influence

In classical physics an ideal measurement exerts no influence on the object. It only reveals some properties of the object to the experimenter. The experimenter is able to choose an observable (a variable to be measured), or to measure all possible observables at once, and still, the subject may be treated as a closed system.

Quantum physics is strikingly different. The influence of a measurement on the object is almost inevitable. If a macroscopic measuring device together with some environment is treated as a part of the quantum system (the object), and the experimenter only observes the reading of the device, then in some sense the experimenter does not influence the object. This is a subtle point related to decoherence. Typically, macroscopic devices are not included into the quantum system, which implies that every measurement inevitably exerts a substantial influence on the object.

In general, two measuring devices cannot be applied simultaneously to the same object. Thus, in general, two observables are incompatible. For exapmle, the coordinate q_x and the momentum p_x of a particle are incompatible (but q_x and p_y are compatible). The experimenter may choose one of the two observables, coordinate and momentum, and measure it, thus exerting a substantial influence on the other observable.

Local causality and influence

Local causality negates action on a distance. Basically it states that if two objects A, B are far apart in space then any external influence on A has no direct influence on B.

A strict relativistic interpretation states that a signal cannot propagate faster than light. More exactly, let A, B be two domains in space-time. (For example, A may be a given space ship during a given one-second time interval (according to its local clock), and B another space ship, 1,000,000 km apart, during its time interval.) Assume that a light ray emitted from A cannot reach B. (For example, because it can travel only 300,000 km during the given second.) Then any external influence exerted within A is of no consequence within B. (For example, a sudden explosion on the first space ship during its interval cannot cause anxiety on the second space ship before the end of its time interval.)