On Boolean posets of numerical events

Abstract

Let S be a set of states of a physical system and p(s) the probability of the occurrence of an event when the system is in state s ∈ S. A function p : S → [0, 1] is called a numerical event or alternatively, an S-probability. If a set P of Sprobabilities is ordered by the order of real functions it becomes a poset which can be considered as a quantum logic. In case P is a Boolean algebra this will indicate that the underlying physical system is a classical one. The goal of this paper is to study sets of S-probabilities which are not far from being Boolean algebras, especially by means of the addition and comparison of functions that occur in these sets. In particular, certain classes of Boolean posets of S-probabilities are characterized and related to each other and descriptions based on sets of states are derived.