Paper detail

An Information-Geometric Reconstruction of Quantum Theory, I: The Abstract Quantum Formalism

In this paper and a companion paper, we show how the framework of information geometry, a geometry of discrete probability distributions, can form the basis of a derivation of the quantum formalism. The derivation rests upon a few elementary features of quantum phenomena, such as the statistical nature of measurements, complementarity, and global gauge invariance. It is shown that these features can be traced to experimental observations characteristic of quantum phenomena and to general theoretical principles, and thus can reasonably be taken as a starting point of the derivation. When appropriately formulated within an information geometric framework, these features lead to (i) the abstract quantum formalism for finite-dimensional quantum systems, (ii) the result of Wigner's theorem, and (iii) the fundamental correspondence rules of quantum theory, such as the canonical commutation relationships. The formalism also comes naturally equipped with a metric (and associated measure) over the space of pure states which is unitarily- and anti-unitarily invariant. The derivation suggests that the information geometric framework is directly or indirectly responsible for many of the central structural features of the quantum formalism, such as the importance of square-roots of probability and the occurrence of sinusoidal functions of phases in a pure quantum state. Global gauge invariance is seen to play a crucial role in the emergence of the formalism in its complex form.