Symmetry and Self-Duality in Categories of Probabilistic Models

This note adds to the recent spate of derivations of the probabilistic apparatus of finite-dimensional quantum theory from various axiomatic packages. We offer two different axiomatic packages that lead easily to the Jordan algebraic structure of finite-dimensional quantum theory. The derivation relies on the Koecher-Vinberg Theorem, which sets up an equivalence between order-unit spaces having homogeneous, self-dual cones, and formally real Jordan algebras.Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2011, arXiv:1210.029

On quantum vs. classical probability

Quantum theory shares with classical probability theory many important properties. I show that this common core regards at least the following six areas, and I provide details on each of these: the logic of propositions, symmetry, probabilities, composition of systems, state preparation and reductionism. The essential distinction between classical and quantum theory, on the other hand, is shown to be joint decidability versus smoothness; for the latter in particular I supply ample explanation and motivation. Finally, I argue that beyond quantum theory there are no other generalisations of classical probability theory that are relevant to physics.Comment: Major revision: key results unchanged, but derivation and discussion completely rewritten; 33 pages, no figure

A Royal Road to Quantum Theory (or Thereabouts)

This paper fails to derive quantum mechanics from a few simple postulates. But it gets very close --- and it does so without much exertion. More exactly, I obtain a representation of finite-dimensional probabilistic systems in terms of euclidean Jordan algebras, in a strikingly easy way, from simple assumptions. This provides a framework within which real, complex and quaternionic QM can play happily together, and allows some --- but not too much --- room for more exotic alternatives. (This is a leisurely summary, based on recent lectures, of material from the papers arXiv:1206:2897 and arXiv:1507.06278, the latter joint work with Howard Barnum and Matthew Graydon. Some further ideas are also explored.)Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures. An expanded and somewhat informal account of material from arXiv:1206:2897, plus some new results. A number of typos and other minor errors are corrected in version

A no-go theorem on the nature of the gravitational field beyond quantum theory

Recently, table-top experiments involving massive quantum systems have been proposed to test the interface of quantum theory and gravity. In particular, the crucial point of the debate is whether it is possible to conclude anything on the quantum nature of the gravitational field, provided that two quantum systems become entangled due to solely the gravitational interaction. Typically, this question has been addressed by assuming an underlying physical theory to describe the gravitational interaction, but no systematic approach to characterise the set of possible gravitational theories which are compatible with the observation of entanglement has been proposed. Here, we introduce the framework of Generalised Probabilistic Theories (GPTs) to the study of the nature of the gravitational field. This framework has the advantage that it only relies on the set of operationally accessible states, transformations, and measurements, without presupposing an underlying theory. Hence, it provides a framework to systematically study all theories compatible with the detection of entanglement generated via the gravitational interaction between two non-classical systems. Assuming that such entanglement is observed we prove a no-go theorem stating that the following statements are incompatible: i) the two non-classical systems are independent subsystems, ii) the gravitational field is a physical degree of freedom which mediates the interaction and iii) the gravitational field is classical. Moreover we argue that conditions i) and ii) should be met, and hence that the gravitational field is non-classical. Non-classicality does not imply that the gravitational field is quantum, and to illustrate this we provide examples of non-classical and non-quantum theories which are logically consistent with the other conditions.Comment: 12 pages main text; 23 pages Appendices; many diagrams. Improved presentation compared to the first versio

A process theoretic triptych: two roads to the emergence of classicality, reconstructing quantum theory from diagrams, looking for post-quantum theories

This thesis asks what can be learnt about quantum theory by investigating it from the perspective of process theories. This is based on the diagrammatic compositional structure of Categorical Quantum Mechanics, leading to a very general framework to describe alternate theories of nature. In particular this framework is well suited to understanding the relationship between different theories. In the first part of the thesis we investigate the relationship between quantum and classical theory, showing how an abstract description of decoherence in terms of leaking information leads to emergent classicality. Moreover, this process theoretic notion of a `leak' allows us to capture the distinction between quantum and classical theory in a particularly simple way, highlighting how the quantum and classical worlds diverge. In the second part we look at how to reconstruct quantum theory from diagrammatic principles showing that i) the existence of a classical interface with the theory plus ii) standard notions of composition and iii) a time symmetric form of purification are sufficient to reconstruct the standard quantum formalism. Thereby demonstrating that the standard tools of Categorical Quantum Mechanics come very close to capturing the essence of quantum theory. In the third part we abstract the key features of this emergence of classicality to define a notion of `hyperdecoherence' whereby some post-quantum theory might appear quantum due to an uncontrolled interaction with an environment. We prove a no-go theorem which states that any operational post-quantum theory must violate the purification principle, and so must radically challenge our understanding of how information behaves. To summarise, we use the framework of process theories to gain a better understanding of quantum theory, its sub-theories, and its potential super-theories.Open Acces

Perspectives on the Formalism of Quantum Theory

Quantum theory has the distinction among physical theories of currently underpinning most of modern physics, while remaining essentially mysterious, with no general agreement about the nature of its principles or the underlying reality. Recently, the rise of quantum information science has shown that thinking in operational or information-theoretic terms can be extremely enlightening, and that a fruitful direction for understanding quantum theory is to study it in the context of more general probabilistic theories. The framework for such theories will be reviewed in the Chapter Two. In Chapter Three we will study a property of quantum theory called self-duality, which is a correspondence between states and observables. In particular, we will show that self-duality follows from a computational primitive called bit symmetry, which states that every logical bit can be mapped to any other logical bit by a reversible transformation. In Chapter Four we will study a notion of probabilistic interference based on a hierarchy of interference-type experiments involving multiple slits. We characterize theories which do not exhibit interference in experiments with k slits, and give a simple operational interpretation. We also prove a connection between bit symmetric theories which possess certain natural transformations, and those which exhibit at most two-slit interference. In Chapter Five we will focus on reconstructing the algebraic structures of quantum theory. We will show that the closest cousins to standard quantum theory, namely the finite-dimensional Jordan-algebraic theories, can be characterized by three simple principles: (1) a generalized spectral decomposition, (2) a high degree of symmetry, and (3) a generalization of the von Neumann-Luders projection postulate. Finally, we also show that the absence of three-slit interference may be used as an alternative to the third principle. In Chapter Six, we focus on quantum statistical mechanics and the problem of understanding how its characteristic features can be derived from an exact treatment of the underlying quantum system. Our central assumptions are sufficiently complex dynamics encoded as a condition on the complexity of the eigenvectors of the Hamiltonian, and an information theoretic restriction on measurement resources. We show that for almost all Hamiltonian systems measurement outcome probabilities are indistinguishable from the uniform distribution