Logical Aspects of Probability and Quantum Computation

Most of the work presented in this document can be read as a sequel to previous work of the author and collaborators, which has been published and appears in [DSZ16, DSZ17, ABdSZ17]. In [ABdSZ17], the mathematical description of quantum homomorphisms of graphs and more generally of relational structures, using the language of category theory is given. In particular, we introduced the concept of ‘quantum’ monad. In this thesis we show that the quantum monad fits nicely into the categorical framework of effectus theory, developed by Jacobs et al. [Jac15, CJWW15]. Effectus theory is an emergent field in categorical logic aiming to describe logic and probability, from the point of view of classical and quantum computation. The main contribution in the first part of this document prove that the Kleisli category of the quantum monad on relational structures is an effectus. The second part is rather different. There, distinct facets of the equivalence relation on graphs called cospectrality are described: algebraic, combinatorial and logical relations are presented as sufficient conditions on graphs for having the same spectrum (i.e. being ‘cospectral’). Other equivalence of graphs (called fractional isomorphism) is also related using some ‘game’ comonads from Abramsky et al. [ADW17, Sha17, AS18]. We also describe a sufficient condition for a pair of graphs to be cospectral using the quantum monad: two Kleisli morphisms (going in opposite directions) between them satisfying certain compatibility requirement

Categorical Operational Physics

Many insights into the quantum world can be found by studying it from amongst more general operational theories of physics. In this thesis, we develop an approach to the study of such theories purely in terms of the behaviour of their processes, as described mathematically through the language of category theory. This extends a framework for quantum processes known as categorical quantum mechanics (CQM) due to Abramsky and Coecke. We first consider categorical frameworks for operational theories. We introduce a notion of such theory, based on those of Chiribella, D'Ariano and Perinotti (CDP), but more general than the probabilistic ones typically considered. We establish a correspondence between these and what we call "operational categories", using features introduced by Jacobs et al. in effectus theory, an area of categorical logic to which we provide an operational interpretation. We then see how to pass to a broader category of "super-causal" processes, allowing for the powerful diagrammatic features of CQM. Next we study operational theories themselves. We survey numerous principles that a theory may satisfy, treating them in a basic diagrammatic setting, and relating notions from probabilistic theories, CQM and effectus theory. We provide a new description of superpositions in the category of pure quantum processes, using this to give an abstract construction of the category of Hilbert spaces and linear maps. Finally, we reconstruct finite-dimensional quantum theory itself. More broadly, we give a recipe for recovering a class of generalised quantum theories, before instantiating it with operational principles inspired by an earlier reconstruction due to CDP. This reconstruction is fully categorical, not requiring the usual technical assumptions of probabilistic theories. Specialising to such theories recovers both standard quantum theory and that over real Hilbert spaces.Comment: DPhil Thesis, University of Oxfor

Healthiness from Duality

Healthiness is a good old question in program logics that dates back to Dijkstra. It asks for an intrinsic characterization of those predicate transformers which arise as the (backward) interpretation of a certain class of programs. There are several results known for healthiness conditions: for deterministic programs, nondeterministic ones, probabilistic ones, etc. Building upon our previous works on so-called state-and-effect triangles, we contribute a unified categorical framework for investigating healthiness conditions. We find the framework to be centered around a dual adjunction induced by a dualizing object, together with our notion of relative Eilenberg-Moore algebra playing fundamental roles too. The latter notion seems interesting in its own right in the context of monads, Lawvere theories and enriched categories.Comment: 13 pages, Extended version with appendices of a paper accepted to LICS 201

The Post‐Modern Transcendental of Language in Science and Philosophy

In this chapter I discuss the deep mutations occurring today in our society and in our culture, the natural and mathematical sciences included, from the standpoint of the “transcendental of language”, and of the primacy of language over knowledge. That is, from the standpoint of the “completion of the linguistic turn” in the foundations of logic and mathematics using Peirce’s algebra of relations. This evolved during the last century till the development of the Category Theory as universal language for mathematics, in many senses wider than set theory. Therefore, starting from the fundamental M. Stone’s representation theorem for Boolean algebras, computer scientists developed a coalgebraic first-order semantics defined on Stone’s spaces, for Boolean algebras, till arriving to the definition of a non-Turing paradigm of coalgebraic universality in computation. Independently, theoretical physicists developed a coalgebraic modelling of dissipative quantum systems in quantum field theory, interpreted as a thermo-field dynamics. The deep connection between these two coalgebraic constructions is the fact that the topologies of Stone spaces in computer science are the same of the C*-algebras of quantum physics. This allows the development of a new class of quantum computers based on coalgebras. This suggests also an intriguing explanation of why one of the most successful experimental applications of this coalgebraic modelling of dissipative quantum systems is just in cognitive neuroscience

Categorical Quantum Dynamics

We use strong complementarity to introduce dynamics and symmetries within the framework of CQM, which we also extend to infinite-dimensional separable Hilbert spaces: these were long-missing features, which open the way to a wealth of new applications. The coherent treatment presented in this work also provides a variety of novel insights into the dynamics and symmetries of quantum systems: examples include the extremely simple characterisation of symmetry-observable duality, the connection of strong complementarity with the Weyl Canonical Commutation Relations, the generalisations of Feynman's clock construction, the existence of time observables and the emergence of quantum clocks. Furthermore, we show that strong complementarity is a key resource for quantum algorithms and protocols. We provide the first fully diagrammatic, theory-independent proof of correctness for the quantum algorithm solving the Hidden Subgroup Problem, and show that strong complementarity is the feature providing the quantum advantage. In quantum foundations, we use strong complementarity to derive the exact conditions relating non-locality to the structure of phase groups, within the context of Mermin-type non-locality arguments. Our non-locality results find further application to quantum cryptography, where we use them to define a quantum-classical secret sharing scheme with provable device-independent security guarantees. All in all, we argue that strong complementarity is a truly powerful and versatile building block for quantum theory and its applications, and one that should draw a lot more attention in the future.Comment: Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Oxford University, Michaelmas Term 2016 (273 pages

Aquinas and the realist dispute in science an Aristotelio-Thomistic contribution to current discussions in language, logic and science

Part I is entirely devoted to current issues in the philosophy of language, logic and science. The burden of the Introduction is to familiarise ourselves with the strengths and weaknesses of scientific realism and scientific anti-realism, and to show that a synthesis of realist and anti-realist tendencies is desirable. Chapters Two and Three deal with a challenge stemming from semantic anti-realists concerning the proper understanding of the nature of truth. The remainder of Part I is devoted to the problem of demarcation. In Chapter 6, which deals with Quine's thesis concerning the indeterminacy of radical translation, I offer a method of distinguishing areas of discourse capable of bearing a realist interpretation from those demanding treatment along anti-realistic lines. Part II beings our study of Aquinas' philosophy of science. Aquinas is presented as offering an intellectual system consistent with conclusions drawn in Part I. Moreover, his attempt to make theology a science on the Aristotelian model is seen to be analogous to our attempt to reconcile realist and anti-realist tendencies in the realist dispute in science

Thomism and mathematical physics

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