An Operational Approach to Quantum State Reduction

Abstract

An operational approach to quantum state reduction, the state change of the measured system caused by a measurement of an observable conditional upon the outcome of measurement, is founded without assuming the projection postulate in any stages of the measuring process. Whereas the conventional formula assumes that the probe measurement satisfies the projection postulate, a new formula for determining the state reduction shows that the state reduction does not depend on how the probe observable is measured, or in particular does not depend on whether the probe measurement satisfies the projection postulate or not, contrary to the longstanding attempts in showing how the macroscopic nature of probe detection provokes state reduction.