An Analogy between the Double Slit Experiment and Document Ranking

In the last years several works have investigated a formal model for Information Retrieval (IR) based on the mathematical formalism underlying quantum theory [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. These works have mainly exploited geometric and logical–algebraic features of the quantum formalism, for example entanglement, superposition of states, collapse into basis states, lattice relationships. In this poster I present an analogy between a typical IR scenario and the double slit experiment. This experiment exhibits the presence of interference phenomena between events in a quantum system, causing the Kolmogorovian law of total probability to fail. The analogy allows to put forward the routes for the application of quantum probability theory in IR. However, several questions need still to be addressed; they will be the subject of my PhD research.