Barandes, Jacob A. (2026) The ABL Rule and the Perils of Post-Selection. [Preprint]
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Abstract
In 1964, Aharonov, Bergmann, and Lebowitz introduced their well-known ‘ABL rule’ with the intention of providing a time-symmetric formalism for computing novel kinds of conditional probabilities in quantum theory. Later papers attached additional significance to the ABL rule, including assertions that it supported violations of the uncertainty principle. The present work challenges these claims, as well as subsequent attempts to salvage the original interpretation of the ABL rule. Taking a broader view, this paper identifies a subtle category error at the heart of the ABL rule that consists of confusing observables that belong to a single system with emergent observables that arise only for physical ensembles. Along the way, this paper points out other problems and fallacious reasoning in the research literature surrounding the ABL rule, including the misuse of post-selection, a reliance on pattern matching to classical formulas, and a posture of ‘measurementism’ that takes experimental data as providing answers to interpretational questions.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Keywords: | philosophy of physics, quantum foundations, ABL rule, time-symmetric quantum theory, time-reversal symmetry, symmetry, post-selection, statistics, selection bias, measurement, quantum mechanics, quantum theory, conditional probabilities, probability, philosophy of probability, uncertainty principle | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances |
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| Depositing User: | Dr. Jacob Barandes | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 07 Feb 2026 19:28 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 07 Feb 2026 19:28 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 28143 | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances |
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| Date: | 7 February 2026 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/28143 |
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