Quasi-probability Distribution
A quasiprobability distribution is a mathematical object similar to a probability distribution but relaxing some of the axioms of probability theory. Although quasiprobabilities share many of the same general features of ordinary probabilities such as the ability to take expectation values with respect to the weights of the distribution, they all violate the third probability axiom because regions integrated under them do not represent probabilities of mutually exclusive states. To compensate, some quasiprobability distributions also counterintuitively have regions of negative probability density, contradicting the first axiom. Quasiprobability distributions arise naturally in the study of quantum mechanics when treated in the phase space formulation, commonly used in quantum optics, time-frequency analysis, and elsewhere.
Read more about Quasi-probability Distribution: Introduction, Characteristic Functions, Time Evolution and Operator Correspondences
Famous quotes containing the word distribution:
“In this distribution of functions, the scholar is the delegated intellect. In the right state, he is, Man Thinking. In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men’s thinking.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)