Reverse Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Physics arXiv:2608.27543 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 27 Aug 2026] Title:Reverse Quantum Mechanics Authors:Gabriele Carcassi, Tobias Thrien, Christine A. Aidala View a PDF of the paper titled Reverse Quantum Mechanics, by Gabriele Carcassi and 2 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Reverse Physics is a methodology that breaks physical theories into separate mathematical and physical conditions to establish their logical relationships. To showcase the power of the methodology, we present several results for quantum mechanics and their related insights. The standard Hilbert-space formulation conflicts with basic physical requirements, while a minimal topological modification can solve these problems. The ensemble space, rather than the pure-state space, distinguishes classical from quantum systems. The Born rule is an additional assumption linking orthogonality, mutual exclusivity and information entropy. Under explicit background conditions, unitary evolution is equivalent to deterministic and reversible evolution. Nonselective projective measurements can be characterized as Lindblad equilibration processes, while unitary evolution can be characterized as a limit of infinitesimal projective processes. Classical mechanics is recovered as the high-entropy limit of quantum mechanics, and every quantum state, pure or mixed, is a dynamical, spectral and thermodynamic equilibrium. These results are self-contained, use the standard vector-space representation and can thus be used as common tools and constraints for teaching, interpretations, reconstructions and future theories. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2608.27543 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2608.27543v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.27543 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Christine Aidala [view email] [v1] Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:22:26 UTC (577 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Reverse Quantum Mechanics, by Gabriele Carcassi and 2 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-08 References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)