Conceptual inadequacy of the Shannon information in quantum measurements
- 18 January 2001
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review A
- Vol. 63 (2) , 022113
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.63.022113
Abstract
In a classical measurement the Shannon information is a natural measure of our ignorance about properties of a system. There, observation removes that ignorance in revealing properties of the system which can be considered to preexist prior to and independent of observation. Because of the completely different root of a quantum measurement as compared to a classical measurement, conceptual difficulties arise when we try to define the information gain in a quantum measurement using the notion of Shannon information. The reason is that, in contrast to classical measurements, quantum measurements, with very few exceptions, cannot be claimed to reveal a property of the individual quantum system existing before the measurement is performed.Keywords
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