Scott Continuity in Generalized Probabilistic Theories

Scott continuity is a concept from domain theory that had an unexpected previous life in the theory of von Neumann algebras. Scott-continuous states are known as normal states, and normal states are exactly the states coming from density matrices. Given this, and the usefulness of Scott continuity in domain theory, it is natural to ask whether this carries over to generalized probabilistic theories. We show that the answer is no - there are infinite-dimensional convex sets for which the set of Scott-continuous states on the corresponding set of 2-valued POVMs does not recover the original convex set, but is strictly larger. This shows the necessity of the use of topologies for state-effect duality in the general case, rather than purely order theoretic notions.Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2019, arXiv:2004.1475

Quantum state cloning using Deutschian closed timelike curves

We show that it is possible to clone quantum states to arbitrary accuracy in the presence of a Deutschian closed timelike curve (D-CTC), with a fidelity converging to one in the limit as the dimension of the CTC system becomes large---thus resolving an open conjecture from [Brun et al., Physical Review Letters 102, 210402 (2009)]. This result follows from a D-CTC-assisted scheme for producing perfect clones of a quantum state prepared in a known eigenbasis, and the fact that one can reconstruct an approximation of a quantum state from empirical estimates of the probabilities of an informationally-complete measurement. Our results imply more generally that every continuous, but otherwise arbitrarily non-linear map from states to states can be implemented to arbitrary accuracy with D-CTCs. Furthermore, our results show that Deutsch's model for CTCs is in fact a classical model, in the sense that two arbitrary, distinct density operators are perfectly distinguishable (in the limit of a large CTC system); hence, in this model quantum mechanics becomes a classical theory in which each density operator is a distinct point in a classical phase space.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure; v2: modifications to the interpretation of our results based on the insightful comments of the referees; v3: minor change, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Nuclear and Trace Ideals in Tensored *-Categories

We generalize the notion of nuclear maps from functional analysis by defining nuclear ideals in tensored *-categories. The motivation for this study came from attempts to generalize the structure of the category of relations to handle what might be called ``probabilistic relations''. The compact closed structure associated with the category of relations does not generalize directly, instead one obtains nuclear ideals. We introduce the notion of nuclear ideal to analyze these classes of morphisms. In compact closed categories, we see that all morphisms are nuclear, and in the category of Hilbert spaces, the nuclear morphisms are the Hilbert-Schmidt maps. We also introduce two new examples of tensored *-categories, in which integration plays the role of composition. In the first, morphisms are a special class of distributions, which we call tame distributions. We also introduce a category of probabilistic relations which was the original motivating example. Finally, we extend the recent work of Joyal, Street and Verity on traced monoidal categories to this setting by introducing the notion of a trace ideal. For a given symmetric monoidal category, it is not generally the case that arbitrary endomorphisms can be assigned a trace. However, we can find ideals in the category on which a trace can be defined satisfying equations analogous to those of Joyal, Street and Verity. We establish a close correspondence between nuclear ideals and trace ideals in a tensored *-category, suggested by the correspondence between Hilbert-Schmidt operators and trace operators on a Hilbert space.Comment: 43 pages, Revised versio

Convergence and quantale-enriched categories

Generalising Nachbin's theory of "topology and order", in this paper we continue the study of quantale-enriched categories equipped with a compact Hausdorff topology. We compare these $\mathcal{V}$-categorical compact Hausdorff spaces with ultrafilter-quantale-enriched categories, and show that the presence of a compact Hausdorff topology guarantees Cauchy completeness and (suitably defined) codirected completeness of the underlying quantale enriched category

ASSESSING FARMERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD RISK USING THE "CLOSING-IN" METHOD

The 1996 Farm Bill and low commodity prices have regenerated interest in the impact of risk and farmers' risk attitudes on production agriculture. Previous research has used expected utility theory (EUT) and direct elicitation of utility functions (DEU) for eliciting risk attitudes. To overcome the criticism of EUT and DEU, a recently developed technique called the "closing in" method is adapted for eliciting farmers' risk attitudes. This method is applied to Illinois farmers by using a computerized decision procedure, and is validated by comparing the results to the farmers' self-assessment of their risk attitudes and score to a risk attitudinal scale.Risk and Uncertainty,

Approximation in quantale-enriched categories

Our work is a fundamental study of the notion of approximation in V-categories and in (U,V)-categories, for a quantale V and the ultrafilter monad U. We introduce auxiliary, approximating and Scott-continuous distributors, the way-below distributor, and continuity of V- and (U,V)-categories. We fully characterize continuous V-categories (resp. (U,V)-categories) among all cocomplete V-categories (resp. (U,V)-categories) in the same ways as continuous domains are characterized among all dcpos. By varying the choice of the quantale V and the notion of ideals, and by further allowing the ultrafilter monad to act on the quantale, we obtain a flexible theory of continuity that applies to partial orders and to metric and topological spaces. We demonstrate on examples that our theory unifies some major approaches to quantitative domain theory.Comment: 17 page

A categorical approach to the maximum theorem

Berge's maximum theorem gives conditions ensuring the continuity of an optimised function as a parameter changes. In this paper we state and prove the maximum theorem in terms of the theory of monoidal topology and the theory of double categories. This approach allows us to generalise (the main assertion of) the maximum theorem, which is classically stated for topological spaces, to pseudotopological spaces and pretopological spaces, as well as to closure spaces, approach spaces and probabilistic approach spaces, amongst others. As a part of this we prove a generalisation of the extreme value theorem.Comment: 45 pages. Minor changes in v2: this is the final preprint for publication in JPA