Re-conceiving quantum theories in terms of information-theoretic constraints

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

“…Then I investigate the legitimate role of ARQIT in the foundations of QT. The literature abounds with thorough analyses about the role of quantum information theory and ARQIT in the foundations of QT and the conclusions I reach (spoiler: while ARQIT can contribute to some traditional issues in the foundations of QT, it fails to address others; also, ARQIT does not rule out the possibility or necessity of a traditional interpretation of QT to explain such other unsolved issues) are not new in the literature – they converge, for instance, with the analysis put forward in Timpson () and partially with Duwell (). What I take to be the novelty of the approach I propose, however, is that it is specifically carried out within the domain of the theory of scientific explanation.…”

“…Bub devoted much of his subsequent work to the attempt to deepen and strengthen the claim that the CBH theorem made any constructive interpretation of QT empirically underdetermined; however, many philosophers criticize this claim. Besides the already mentioned (Timpson 2013), here it is worth mentioning that Duwell (2007) provides a careful survey and analysis of different arguments made by Bub to the conclusion that the CBH theorem makes information a physical primitive and rejects them. In another notable paper, Hagar and Hemmo (2006) argue that quantum information theory is an essentially incomplete theory of quantum phenomena, requiring a further account in terms of a constructive QT with a clear solution of the measurement problem.…”

Quantum Probabilities: An Information‐Theoretic Interpretation

“…Hilbert space as a projective geometry (i.e., the subspace structure of Hilbert space) represents a non-Boolean event space, in which there are built-in, structural probabilistic constraints on correlations between events (associated with the angles between events)-just as in special relativity the geometry of Minkowski space represents spatio-temporal constraints on events. These are kinematic, i.e., pre-dynamic, 14 objective probabilistic or information-theoretic constraints on events to which a quantum dynamics of matter and fields conforms, through its symmetries, just as the structure of Minkowski space imposes spatio-temporal kinematic constraints on events to which a relativistic dynamics conforms. In this sense, Hilbert space provides the kinematic framework for the physics of an indeterministic universe, just as Minkowski space provides the kinematic framework for the physics of a non-Newtonian, relativistic universe.…”

“…Similarly, in quantum mechanics, the possibility of a dynamical analysis of the measurement process conforming to the kinematic structure of Hilbert space provides a consistency proof that the familiar objects of our macroworld behave dynamically in accordance with the kinematic probabilistic constraints on correlations between events. (For an opposing view, see [7], [14]. )…”