Dynamics and Hidden Variables

We study the way the unitary evolution of spin 1/2 particules can be represented in a counterfactual definiteness setting. More precisely, by representing the state of such a particule by a triplet of values corresponding to the supposedly pre-existing outcomes of some measurements (those corresponding to the three Pauli matrices), we analyse the evolution of our representation when some unitary gates (namely, the Hadamard gate, the \pi/2 phase shifter and the controlled-not) are applied. Then, we describe in terms of triplets the creation of an EPR pair and discuss the possibility of having this representation comply with the predictions of quantum mechanics. Finally, we show that this is not possible unless one of the assumptions used to build our model is dropped

Learning with hidden variables

Learning and inferring features that generate sensory input is a task continuously performed by cortex. In recent years, novel algorithms and learning rules have been proposed that allow neural network models to learn such features from natural images, written text, audio signals, etc. These networks usually involve deep architectures with many layers of hidden neurons. Here we review recent advancements in this area emphasizing, amongst other things, the processing of dynamical inputs by networks with hidden nodes and the role of single neuron models. These points and the questions they arise can provide conceptual advancements in understanding of learning in the cortex and the relationship between machine learning approaches to learning with hidden nodes and those in cortical circuits.Comment: revised version accepted in Current Opinion in Neurobiolog

Non-Contextual Hidden Variables and Physical Measurements

For a hidden variable theory to be indistinguishable from quantum theory for finite precision measurements, it is enough that its predictions agree for some measurement within the range of precision. Meyer has recently pointed out that the Kochen-Specker theorem, which demonstrates the impossibility of a deterministic hidden variable description of ideal spin measurements on a spin 1 particle, can thus be effectively nullified if only finite precision measurements are considered. We generalise this result: it is possible to ascribe consistent outcomes to a dense subset of the set of projection valued measurements, or to a dense subset of the set of positive operator valued measurements, on any finite dimensional system. Hence no Kochen-Specker like contradiction can rule out hidden variable theories indistinguishable from quantum theory by finite precision measurements in either class.Comment: Typo corrected. Final version: to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Conditional measurement in noncontextual hidden variables models

The noncontextual hidden variables models in $d=2$, such as the ones constructed by Bell and by Kochen and Specker, have difficulties in accounting for the conditional measurement of two non-orthogonal projectors. An idea of branching in the hidden variables space, which provides a means to realize the notion of reduction effectively and describe the state preparation, is suggested as a way to resolve the difficulties associated with the conditional measurement.Comment: 11 pages. Progress of Theoretical Physics (in press). arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1201.442

Hidden variables with nonlocal time

To relax the apparent tension between nonlocal hidden variables and relativity, we propose that the observable proper time is not the same quantity as the usual proper-time parameter appearing in local relativistic equations. Instead, the two proper times are related by a nonlocal rescaling parameter proportional to |psi|^2, so that they coincide in the classical limit. In this way particle trajectories may obey local relativistic equations of motion in a manner consistent with the appearance of nonlocal quantum correlations. To illustrate the main idea, we first present two simple toy models of local particle trajectories with nonlocal time, which reproduce some nonlocal quantum phenomena. After that, we present a realistic theory with a capacity to reproduce all predictions of quantum theory.Comment: 16 pages, accepted for publication in Found. Phys., misprints corrected, references update