{ "cells": [ { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "# On Gaussian Quantum Mechanics (and Negative Probabilities)\n" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Negative Probabilities\n", "\n", "Negative probabilities?! Impossible, you say. Well, as usual, there's a quantum mechanical twist to the story. \n", "\n", "In normal probability theory, we can form the \"joint probability distribution\" over, say, two different random variables. But suppose, in a quantum mechanical context, we wanted to construct a joint probability distribution for both position and momentum. But position and momentum don't commute, and we can't know them both simultaneously with complete accuracy. So you might imagine this is going to throw a wrench into the machinery. And indeed, the quantum generalization of a joint probability distribution is called a \"quasi-probability distribution,\" and on the one hand, it is much like a normal joint probability distribution in that, for the case of position/momentum, it's a function of possible position and momentum values, and if you integrate over momenta, you get the usual probability distribution for position, and if you integrate over positions, you get the usual probability distribution for momentum, but the twist is that the quasi-probability distribution itself can take negative values. One can try to interpret these negative joint probabilities in various ways, but like the use of imaginary numbers in the intermediate steps of a calculation, which eventually cancel out, the negative probabilities can be viewed purely instrumentally, if you like. The upshot is that quasi-probability distributions form yet another way of formulating quantum mechanics. Instead of working with wavefunctions, you can work with quasi-probability distributions with no loss of generality. " ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "