Typical local measurements in generalised probabilistic theories: emergence of quantum bipartite correlations

What singles out quantum mechanics as the fundamental theory of Nature? Here we study local measurements in generalised probabilistic theories (GPTs) and investigate how observational limitations affect the production of correlations. We find that if only a subset of typical local measurements can be made then all the bipartite correlations produced in a GPT can be simulated to a high degree of accuracy by quantum mechanics. Our result makes use of a generalisation of Dvoretzky's theorem for GPTs. The tripartite correlations can go beyond those exhibited by quantum mechanics, however.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure v2: more details in the proof of the main resul

The structure of the quantum mechanical state space and induced superselection rules

The role of superselection rules for the derivation of classical probability within quantum mechanics is investigated and examples of superselection rules induced by the environment are discussed.Comment: 11 pages, Standard Latex 2.0

Generalized compactness in linear spaces and its applications

The class of subsets of locally convex spaces called $\mu$-compact sets is considered. This class contains all compact sets as well as several noncompact sets widely used in applications. It is shown that many results well known for compact sets can be generalized to $\mu$-compact sets. Several examples are considered. The main result of the paper is a generalization to $\mu$-compact convex sets of the Vesterstrom-O'Brien theorem showing equivalence of the particular properties of a compact convex set (s.t. openness of the mixture map, openness of the barycenter map and of its restriction to maximal measures, continuity of a convex hull of any continuous function, continuity of a convex hull of any concave continuous function). It is shown that the Vesterstrom-O'Brien theorem does not hold for pointwise $\mu$-compact convex sets defined by the slight relaxing of the $\mu$-compactness condition. Applications of the obtained results to quantum information theory are considered.Comment: 27 pages, the minor corrections have been mad

Characterizing Operations Preserving Separability Measures via Linear Preserver Problems

We use classical results from the theory of linear preserver problems to characterize operators that send the set of pure states with Schmidt rank no greater than k back into itself, extending known results characterizing operators that send separable pure states to separable pure states. We also provide a new proof of an analogous statement in the multipartite setting. We use these results to develop a bipartite version of a classical result about the structure of maps that preserve rank-1 operators and then characterize the isometries for two families of norms that have recently been studied in quantum information theory. We see in particular that for k at least 2 the operator norms induced by states with Schmidt rank k are invariant only under local unitaries, the swap operator and the transpose map. However, in the k = 1 case there is an additional isometry: the partial transpose map.Comment: 16 pages, typos corrected, references added, proof of Theorem 4.3 simplified and clarifie

Is there a Jordan geometry underlying quantum physics?

There have been several propositions for a geometric and essentially non-linear formulation of quantum mechanics. From a purely mathematical point of view, the point of view of Jordan algebra theory might give new strength to such approaches: there is a ``Jordan geometry'' belonging to the Jordan part of the algebra of observables, in the same way as Lie groups belong to the Lie part. Both the Lie geometry and the Jordan geometry are well-adapted to describe certain features of quantum theory. We concentrate here on the mathematical description of the Jordan geometry and raise some questions concerning possible relations with foundational issues of quantum theory.Comment: 30 page

The Expectation Monad in Quantum Foundations

The expectation monad is introduced abstractly via two composable adjunctions, but concretely captures measures. It turns out to sit in between known monads: on the one hand the distribution and ultrafilter monad, and on the other hand the continuation monad. This expectation monad is used in two probabilistic analogues of fundamental results of Manes and Gelfand for the ultrafilter monad: algebras of the expectation monad are convex compact Hausdorff spaces, and are dually equivalent to so-called Banach effect algebras. These structures capture states and effects in quantum foundations, and also the duality between them. Moreover, the approach leads to a new re-formulation of Gleason's theorem, expressing that effects on a Hilbert space are free effect modules on projections, obtained via tensoring with the unit interval.Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2011, arXiv:1210.029

Continuity of the Maximum-Entropy Inference

We study the inverse problem of inferring the state of a finite-level quantum system from expected values of a fixed set of observables, by maximizing a continuous ranking function. We have proved earlier that the maximum-entropy inference can be a discontinuous map from the convex set of expected values to the convex set of states because the image contains states of reduced support, while this map restricts to a smooth parametrization of a Gibbsian family of fully supported states. Here we prove for arbitrary ranking functions that the inference is continuous up to boundary points. This follows from a continuity condition in terms of the openness of the restricted linear map from states to their expected values. The openness condition shows also that ranking functions with a discontinuous inference are typical. Moreover it shows that the inference is continuous in the restriction to any polytope which implies that a discontinuity belongs to the quantum domain of non-commutative observables and that a geodesic closure of a Gibbsian family equals the set of maximum-entropy states. We discuss eight descriptions of the set of maximum-entropy states with proofs of accuracy and an analysis of deviations.Comment: 34 pages, 1 figur

On properties of the space of quantum states and their application to construction of entanglement monotones

We consider two properties of the set of quantum states as a convex topological space and some their implications concerning the notions of a convex hull and of a convex roof of a function defined on a subset of quantum states. By using these results we analyze two infinite-dimensional versions (discrete and continuous) of the convex roof construction of entanglement monotones, which is widely used in finite dimensions. It is shown that the discrete version may be 'false' in the sense that the resulting functions may not possess the main property of entanglement monotones while the continuous version can be considered as a 'true' generalized convex roof construction. We give several examples of entanglement monotones produced by this construction. In particular, we consider an infinite-dimensional generalization of the notion of Entanglement of Formation and study its properties.Comment: 34 pages, the minor corrections have been mad

Climate policy and ancillary benefits : a survey and integration into the modelling of international negotiations on climate change

Currently informal and formal international negotiations on climate change take place in an intensive way since the Kyoto Protocol expires already in 2012. A post-Kyoto regulation to combat global warming is not yet stipulated. Due to rapidly increasing greenhouse gas emission levels, industrialized countries urge major polluters from the developing world like China and India to participate in a future agreement. Whether these developing countries will do so, depends on the prevailing incentives to participate in international climate protection efforts. This paper identifies ancillary benefits of climate policy to provide important incentives to attend a new international protocol and to positively affect the likelihood of accomplishing a post-Kyoto agreement which includes commitments of developing countries