An Alternative Approach to Probability in Quantum Information Science

Abstract

This chapter provides a probabilistic framework for formulating classical probability theory, quantum probability, thermodynamics, diffusion, and the Wiener integral using a set of four axioms or principles. It explains everything that conventional quantum information theory and classical probability theory achieve. We want to emphasize that this framework is not an interpretation of quantum mechanics such as “Many-Worlds,” “Bohm’s Theory,” or the “Copenhagen interpretation.” It is much more general and can be viewed as a probability algorithm that calculates probabilities of future events. As a result, previously perplexing paradoxes find resolution. In particular, the superposition principle takes on a new meaning. Our probabilistic framework stands apart from the Hilbert space formalism. It relies solely on elementary set theory, classical logic, and complex numbers. Consequently, this theory is accessible for instruction in educational settings. This framework can be regarded as an axiomatic approach to probability in the sense of Hilbert. In his sixth of the twenty-three open problems presented at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris in 1900, Hilbert called for an axiomatic probability theory.