QUANTUM FORMALISM WITH STATE-COLLAPSE AND SUPERLUMINAL COMMUNICATION

Given the collapse hypothesis (CH) of quantum measurement, EPR-type co rrelations along with the hypothesis of the impossibility of superlumi nal communication (ISC) have the effect of globalizing gross features of the quantum formalism making them universally true. In particular, these hypotheses imply that state transformations of density matrices must be linear and that evolution which preserves purity of states mus t also be linear. A gedanken experiment shows that Lorentz covariance along with the second law of thermodynamics imply a non-entropic versi on of ISC. Partial results using quantum logic suggest, given ISC and a version of CH, a connection between Lorentz covariance and the cover ing law. These results skew that standard quantum mechanics is structu rally unstable, and suggest that viable relativistic alternatives must question CH. One may also speculate that some features of the Hilbert -space model of quantum mechanics have their origin in space time stru cture.