A quasiprobability distribution is a mathematical object similar to a probability distribution but which relaxes some of Kolmogorov's axioms of probability theory. Quasiprobability distributions arise naturally in the study of quantum mechanics when treated in phase space formulation, commonly used in quantum optics, time-frequency analysis,[1] and elsewhere.
Quasiprobabilities share several of general features with ordinary probabilities, such as, crucially, the ability to yield expectation values with respect to the weights of the distribution. However, they can violate the σ-additivity axiom: integrating over them does not necessarily yield probabilities of mutually exclusive states. Quasiprobability distributions also have regions of negative probability density, counterintuitively, contradicting the first axiom.