Formalization of Bohr’s Contextuality Within the Theory of Open Quantum Systems

Abstract

In quantum physics, the notion of contextuality has a variety of interpretations which are typically associated with the names of their inventors, say Bohr, Bell, Kochen and Specker, and recently Dzhafarov. In fact, Bohr was the first who pointed to contextuality of quantum measurements as a part of formulation of his principle of complementarity. (Instead of "contextuality", he considered dependence on "experimental conditions.") Unfortunately, the contextuality counterpart of the complementarity principle was overshadowed by the issue of incompatibility of observables. And the interest for contextuality of quantum measurements rose again only in connection with the Bell inequality. The original Bohr's contextuality, as contextuality of each quantum measurement, was practically forgotten. It was highlighted in the works of the author of this paper, with applications both to physics and cognition. In this note, the theory of open quantum systems is applied to formalization of Bohr's contextuality within the the scheme of indirect measurements. This scheme is widely used in quantum information theory and it leads to the theory of quantum instruments (Davis-Lewis-Ozawa). In this scheme, Bohr's viewpoint on contextuality of quantum measurements is represented in the formal mathematical framework.