High-energy decays and weak quantum measurements
High-energy particle decays naturally realise informationally weak measurements of quantum spin. Decay kinematics act as continuous pointer variables whose overlapping angular distributions encode partial, non-projective information about the parent spin state. Ensemble averages of these pointers yield weak values, linking collider spin-density reconstruction to Aharonov-Vaidman measurement theory. This framework unifies spin tomography, entangled-decay correlations, and spin-correlation algorithms, showing that relativistic decays realise informationally weak measurements of spin and suggesting new ways to probe coherence and interference in high-energy processes.
Authors
- A. J. Barr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3533-3740)
Institutions
- University of Geneva (CH)
- Kingston College (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The European Physical Journal C
- Published
- 2026-04-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-026-15694-0
- Primary Topic
- International Science and Diplomacy
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- John Templeton Foundation
- University of Oxford
- Science and Technology Facilities Council