Work Required for Selective Quantum Measurement

Abstract

In quantum mechanics, we define the measuring system $M$ in a selective measurement by two conditions. Firstly, when we define the measured system $S$ as the system in which the non-selective measurement part acts, $M$ is independent from the measured system $S$ as a quantum system in the sense that any time-dependent process in the total system $S+M$ is divisible into parts for $S$ and $M$. Secondly, when we can separate $S$ and $M$ from each other without changing the unitary equivalence class of the state of $S$ from that obtained by the partial trace of $M$, the eigenstate selection in the selective measurement cannot be realized. In order for such a system $M$ to exist, we show that in one selective measurement of an observable of a quantum system $S_0$ of particles in $S$, there exists a negative entropy transfer from $M$ to $S$ that can be directly transformed into an amount of Helmholtz free energy of $k_BT$ where $T$ is the thermodynamic temperature of the system $S$. Equivalently, an extra amount of work, $k_BT$, is required to be done by the system $M$.