Negative probabilities arise primarily in physics, statistical quantum mechanics, and quantum computing. Negative probabilities arise as mixing distributions of unobserved latent variables in Bayesian modeling. Our goal is to provide a link between these two viewpoints. Bartlett provides a definition of negative probabilities based on extraordinary random variables and properties of their characteristic function. A version of the Bayes rule is given with negative mixing weights. The classic half-coin distribution and Polya-Gamma mixing are discussed. Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty and the duality of scale mixtures of Normals is also discussed. A number of examples of dual densities with negative mixing measures are provided including the Linnik and Wigner distributions. Finally, we conclude with directions for future research.
{"title":"Negative Probability","authors":"Nick Polson, Vadim Sokolov","doi":"10.1002/asmb.2910","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/asmb.2910","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Negative probabilities arise primarily in physics, statistical quantum mechanics, and quantum computing. Negative probabilities arise as mixing distributions of unobserved latent variables in Bayesian modeling. Our goal is to provide a link between these two viewpoints. Bartlett provides a definition of negative probabilities based on extraordinary random variables and properties of their characteristic function. A version of the Bayes rule is given with negative mixing weights. The classic half-coin distribution and Polya-Gamma mixing are discussed. Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty and the duality of scale mixtures of Normals is also discussed. A number of examples of dual densities with negative mixing measures are provided including the Linnik and Wigner distributions. Finally, we conclude with directions for future research.</p>","PeriodicalId":55495,"journal":{"name":"Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/asmb.2910","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143120639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"数学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}