How Quantum Mechanics Requires Non-Additive Measures

• Published in: Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2023-12, Vol.25 (12), p.1670
• Main Authors: Carcassi, Gabriele, Aidala, Christine A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Classical mechanics; Entropy; Information theory; Lower bounds; measure theory; non-additive measures; Probability; Quantum mechanics; Quantum physics; Quantum theory; Statistical mechanics
• ISSN: 1099-4300; 1099-4300
• DOI: 10.3390/e25121670

Measure theory is used in physics, not just to capture classical probability, but also to quantify the number of states. In previous works, we found that state quantification plays a foundational role in classical mechanics, and, therefore, we set ourselves to construct the quantum equivalent of the Liouville measure. Unlike the classical counterpart, this quantized measure is non-additive and has a unitary lower bound (i.e., no set of states can have less than one state). Conversely, requiring that state quantification is finite for finite continuous regions and that each state counts as one already implies non-additivity, which in turn implies the failure of classical theory. In this article we show these preliminary results and outline a new line of inquiry that may provide a different insight into the foundations of quantum theory. Additionally, this new approach may prove to be useful to those interested in a quantized theory of space-time, as we believe this requires a quantized measure for the quantification of the independent degrees of freedom.