Quantum information does not exist

Duwell, Armond J.

doi:10.1016/s1355-2198(03)00041-8

Cited by 20 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…On a final note, the deflationary approach that has been adopted towards teleportation in this chapter should be compared with what may be termed the 'nihilist' approach of Duwell (2003). While I am in broad sympathy with much of what Duwell has to say, we differ on some important points.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Quantum information theory and the foundations of quantum mechanics

Timpson¹

2013

Choice Reviews Online

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of Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of PhilosophyThis thesis is a contribution to the debate on the implications of quantum information theory for the foundational problems of quantum mechanics. In Part I an attempt is made to shed some light on the nature of information and quantum information theory. It is emphasized that the everyday notion of information is to be firmly distinguished from the technical notions arising in information theory;however it is maintained that in both settings 'information' functions as an abstract noun, hence does not refer to a particular or substance. The popular claim 'Information is Physical' is assessed and it is argued that this proposition faces a destructive dilemma. Accordingly, the slogan may not be understood as an ontological claim, but at best, as a methodological one. A novel argument is provided against Dretske's (1981) attempt to base a semantic notion of information on ideas from information theory.The function of various measures of information content for quantum systems is explored and the applicability of the Shannon information in the quantum context maintained against the challenge of Brukner and Zeilinger (2001). The phenomenon of quantum teleportation is then explored as a case study serving to emphasize the value of recognising the logical status of 'information' as an abstract noun: it is argued that the conceptual puzzles often associated with this phenomenon result from the familiar error of hypostatizing an abstract noun.The approach of Deutsch and Hayden (2000) to the questions of locality and information flow in entangled quantum systems is assessed. It is suggested that the approach suffers from an equivocation between a conservative and an ontological reading; and the differing implications of each is examined. Some results are presented on the characterization of entanglement in the Deutsch-Hayden formalism.Part I closes with a discussion of some philosophical aspects of quantum computation.In particular, it is argued against Deutsch that the Church-Turing hypothesis is not underwritten by a physical principle, the Turing Principle. Some general morals are drawn concerning the nature of quantum information theory.In Part II, attention turns to the question of the implications of quantum information theory for our understanding of the meaning of the quantum formalism. Following some preliminary remarks, two particular information-theoretic approaches to the foundations of quantum mechanics are assessed in detail. It is argued that Zeilinger's (1999) Foundational Principle is unsuccessful as a foundational principle for quantum mechanics. The information-theoretic characterization theorem of Clifton, is assessed more favourably, but the generality of the approach is questioned and it is argued that the implications of the theorem for the traditional foundational problems in quantum mechanics remains obscure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Quantum information theory and the foundations of quantum mechanics

Timpson¹

2013

Choice Reviews Online

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“…Do we need to assume that classical physics arises as the classical limit of quantum mechanics? On the other hand, if classical information is a particular case of quantum information, then, pace Duwell (2003), strictly speaking what really exist is quantum information and not classical information. In turn, if quantum information turns out to be the most general concept of information and, at the same time, it is really essentially tied to quantum mechanics, any attempt to reconstruct quantum mechanics in informational terms runs the risk of becoming circular.…”

Section: -Quantum States or Non-orthogonal States?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to several authors (Timpson 2003;Duwell 2003;Lombardi 2004;Lombardi, Fortin and Vanni 2014), the information appearing in Shannon's theory and measured by the Shannon entropy is not classical, but is neutral with respect to the physical theory that describes the systems used for its implementation. (Duwell 2003, p. 480).…”

Section: -Quantum States or Non-orthogonal States?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…is still far from having an answer on which the whole quantum information community agrees. In fact, the positions about the matter range from those who seem to deny the existence of quantum information (Duwell 2003), those who consider that it refers to information when it is encoded in quantum systems , and those who conceive it as a new kind of information absolutely different than Shannon information (Jozsa 1998;Brukner and Zeilinger 2001).…”

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confidence: 99%

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What is quantum information?

Lombardi

Holik

Vanni

2016

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in

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The word 'information' refers to a polysemantic concept associated with very different phenomena, such as communication, knowledge, reference and meaning (Floridi 2010(Floridi , 2011. In the discussions about this matter, the first distinction to be introduced is that between a semantic view, according to which information carries semantic content and, thus, is related to notions as reference and meaning, However, the problems of interpretation do not disappear even when the attention is restricted to a single formal concept (see Lombardi, Holik and Vanni 2014).During the last decades, new interpretive problems have arisen with the advent of quantum information, which combine the difficulties in the understanding of the concept of information with the well-known foundational puzzles derived from quantum mechanics itself. This situation contrasts with the huge development of the research field named 'quantum information', where new formal results multiply rapidly. In this context, the question 'What is quantum information?' is still far from having an answer on which the whole quantum information community agrees. In fact, the positions about the matter range from those who seem to deny the existence of quantum information (Duwell 2003), those who consider that it refers to information when it is encoded in quantum systems , and those who conceive it as a new kind of information absolutely different than Shannon information (Jozsa 1998;Brukner and Zeilinger 2001).In the present article we will address the question 'What is quantum information?' from a conceptual viewpoint. For this purpose, in Section 2 Schumacher's formalism is introduced by contrast with Shannon's theory. In Section 3 the definition of quantum information in terms of a quantum source is discussed. Section 4 is devoted to analyze the definition of information in terms of coding theorems. These tasks lead us to focus on the relationship between Shannon entropy and von Neumann entropy in Section 5, and to discuss the differences between the concepts of bit and

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“…This accords quite nicely with intuitions with respect to the email example that has been discussed. One can think of this as a qualitative concept of information associated with Shannon's theory, as described in Timpson (, , ) and Duwell (). Timpson () refers to messages produced by an information source as pieces of information.…”

Section: Shannon Information Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

What is quantum information?

Duwell

2019

Philosophy Compass

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Since the early 90s, philosophers and physicists have been asking the question, “What is quantum information?” In this paper, I will present Shannon and quantum information theories and a minimal interpretation of them which has come to be known as the deflationary view of information. I will present several criticisms that have been leveled at the deflationary view of quantum information and offer responses. This will provide the reader an up‐to‐date view of the debate over the nature of quantum information.

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Quantum information does not exist

Cited by 20 publications

References 4 publications

Quantum information theory and the foundations of quantum mechanics

Quantum information theory and the foundations of quantum mechanics

What is quantum information?

What is quantum information?

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