We consider possible non-signaling composites of probabilistic models based
on euclidean Jordan algebras (EJAs), satisfying some reasonable additional
constraints motivated by the desire to construct dagger-compact categories of
such models. We show that no such composite has the exceptional Jordan algebra
as a direct summand, nor does any such composite exist if one factor has an
exceptional summand, unless the other factor is a direct sum of one-dimensional
Jordan algebras (representing essentially a classical system). Moreover, we
show that any composite of simple, non-exceptional EJAs is a direct summand of
their universal tensor product, sharply limiting the possibilities.
These results warrant our focussing on concrete Jordan algebras of hermitian
matrices, i.e., euclidean Jordan algebras with a preferred embedding in a
complex matrix algebra}. We show that these can be organized in a natural way
as a symmetric monoidal category, albeit one that is not compact closed. We
then construct a related category InvQM of embedded euclidean Jordan algebras,
having fewer objects but more morphisms, that is not only compact closed but
dagger-compact. This category unifies finite-dimensional real, complex and
quaternionic mixed-state quantum mechanics, except that the composite of two
complex quantum systems comes with an extra classical bit.
Our notion of composite requires neither tomographic locality, nor
preservation of purity under tensor product. The categories we construct
include examples in which both of these conditions fail. In such cases, the
information capacity (the maximum number of mutually distinguishable states) of
a composite is greater than the product of the capacities of its constituents.Comment: 60 pages, 3 tables. Substantially revised, with some new result
