Quantum Mechanics with Contextually Labeled Observables

Abstract

In the Contextuality-by-Default theory random variables representing measurement outcomes are labeled contextually, i.e., not only by what they measure but also under what conditions (in what contexts) the measurements are made, including but not reducible to what other measurements are made "together" with the given one. We propose in this paper that the quantum observables generating these random variables be labeled contextually as well, making the sets of the observables in different contexts disjoint. A quantum observable is defined as a pair consisting of the observable's label and a self-adjoint operator in a Hilbert space. If a system is consistently connected (i.e., obeys "non-disturbance," "non-invasivenes," or "non-signaling" conditions), the observables measuring the same property in different contexts have the same operator. A set of random variables possessing a joint distribution is represented by commuting observables. The reverse, however, is not true: random variables from different contexts do not have a joint distribution irrespective of whether the corresponding observables commute. We illustrate this view of observables by deriving the Tsirelson bound for consistently connected cyclic systems of rank 3.