From physics to information theory and back

Myrvold, Wayne C.

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511676550.011

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…For a different interesting illustration of the limits of the C*-algebra approach, see alsoMyrvold (2010). It's a Matter of Principle 555 © 2017 The Author dialectica © 2017 Editorial Board of dialectica…”

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confidence: 99%

It's a Matter of Principle: Scientific Explanation in Information-Theoretic Reconstructions of Quantum Theory

Felline

2016

Dialectica

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The aim of this paper is to explore the ways in which Axiomatic Reconstructions of Quantum Theory in terms of Information-Theoretic principles (ARQITs) can contribute to explaining and understanding quantum phenomena, as well as to study their explanatory limitations. This is achieved in part by offering an account of the kind of explanation that axiomatic reconstructions of quantum theory provide, and re-evaluating the epistemic status of the program in light of this explanation. As illustrative cases studies, I take Clifton's, Bub's and Halvorson's characterization theorem and Popescu's and Rohrlich's toy models, and their explanatory contribution with respect to quantum non-locality. On the one hand, I argue that ARQITs can aspire to provide genuine explanations of (some aspects of) quantum non-locality. On the other hand, I argue that such explanations cannot rule out a mechanical quantum theory.

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confidence: 99%

It's a Matter of Principle: Scientific Explanation in Information-Theoretic Reconstructions of Quantum Theory

Felline

2016

Dialectica

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“…One of the strengths of principle-theoretic approaches to physics is that they give us insight into the multi-faceted nature of the objects of a theory. 80 A formal framework is set up, for example the C * -algebraic framework of Clifton, Bub and Halvorson (2003), one of the minimalist operationalist frameworks of states, transformations and effects dis-cussed in Myrvold (2010), "general probabilistic" frameworks (Koberinski and Müller, 2018), "informational" and/or "computational" frameworks (Chiribella and Ebler, 2019), "operator tensor" formulations (Hardy, 2012) and so on. 81 Each such framework focuses on a particular aspect of quantum phenomena, for example on distant quantum correlations, quantum measurement statistics, quantum dynamics and so on.…”

Section: From Within and From Withoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting probabilities first. How Hilbert space generates and constrains them

Janas,

Cuffaro,

Janssen

2019

Preprint

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We use correlation arrays, the workhorse of Bub's (2016) Bananaworld, to analyze the correlations found in an experimental setup due to Mermin (1981) for measurements on the singlet state of a pair of spin-1 2 particles. Adopting an approach pioneered by Pitowsky (1989b) and promoted in Bananaworld, we geometrically represent the class of correlations allowed by quantum mechanics in this setup as an elliptope in a non-signaling cube. To determine which of these quantum correlations are allowed by local hidden-variable theories, we investigate which ones we can simulate using raffles with baskets of tickets that have the outcomes for all combinations of measurement settings printed on them. The class of correlations found this way can be represented geometrically by a tetrahedron contained within the elliptope. We use the same Bub-Pitowsky framework to analyze a generalization of the Mermin setup for measurements on the singlet state of two particles with higher spin. The class of correlations allowed by quantum mechanics in this case is still represented by the elliptope; the subclass of those whose main features can be simulated with our raffles can be represented by polyhedra that, with increasing spin, have more and more vertices and facets and get closer and closer to the elliptope. We use these results to advocate for Bubism (not to be confused with QBism), an interpretation of quantum mechanics along the lines of Bananaworld. Probabilities and expectation values are primary in this interpretation. They are determined by inner products of vectors in Hilbert space. Such vectors do not themselves represent what is real in the quantum world. They encode families of probability distributions over values of different sets of observables. As in classical theory, these values ultimately represent what is real in * Dedicated to the memory of Itamar Pitowsky (1950) and William Demopoulos (1943.

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“…Hard problems are those which are not easy; they are those problems whose solution requires resources that are 'exponential' in n, i.e., that grow faster than any polynomial in n. 4,5 The factoring problem is believed to be hard, classically, and indeed, much of current Internet security relies on this fact. Shor's quantum algorithm for factoring 1 For some more recent speculation on the the distinguishing feature(s) of quantum mechanics, see, for instance, Clifton et al (2003); Myrvold (2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%