Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2312.12790

Depolarizing Reference Devices in Generalized Probabilistic Theories

Matthew B. Weiss
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

QBism is an interpretation of quantum theory which views quantum mechanics as standard probability theory supplemented with a few extra normative constraints. The fundamental gambit is to represent states and measurements, as well as time evolution, with respect to an informationally complete reference device. From this point of view, the Born rule appears as a coherence condition on probability assignments across several different experiments which manifests as a deformation of the law of total probability (LTP). In this work, we fully characterize those reference devices for which this deformation takes a "simplest possible" (term-wise affine) form. Working in the framework of generalized probability theories (GPTs), we show that, given any reference measurement, a set of post-measurement reference states can always be chosen to give its probability rule this very form. The essential condition is that the corresponding measure-and-prepare channel be depolarizing. We also relate our construction to Szymusiak and Słomczyński's recently introduced notion of morphophoricity and re-examine critically a matrix-norm-based measure of LTP deformation in light of our results. What stands out for the QBist project from this analysis is that it is not only the pure form of the Born rule that must be understood normatively, but the constants within it as well. It is they that carry the details of quantum theory.

Explore related subjects

quant-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Matthew B. Weiss. 2024-01-28. Depolarizing Reference Devices in Generalized Probabilistic Theories. https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.12790

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Quantum Mechanics as a Reversible Diffusion Theory

This paper proposes an interpretation of quantum mechanics, relying on the time-symmetric stochastic dynamics of quantum particles and on non-classical probability theory. Our main purpose is to demonstrate that the wave function and its complex conjugate can be interpreted as complex probability distributions in two complex diffusion equations related to non-real forward and backward in time stochastic motions respectively. We say non-real because Schroedinger forward and backward diffusions describe both reversible (real trajectories) and irreversible trajectories (non-real trajectories). The reversible trajectories are the only real trajectories and are given by the intersection of those forward and backward processes. It turns out that if we translate this intersection using set-theoretic language, we are led to a reversible diffusion described by Born rule probabilities. This proposal is useful also for explaining more about the role of complex numbers in quantum mechanics that produces this so-called "wave-like" nature of quantum reality. Our perspective also challenges the notion of physical superposition and aims at a derivation of superposition principle not based on the linearity of Schroedinger's equation but relying on pure probability theory. Moreover, it is suggested that, embracing the idea of stochastic processes in quantum theory, explains the reasons for the appearance of classical behavior in large objects, in contrast to the quantum behavior of small ones. In other words, we claim that a combination of a probabilistic and no-ontic view (neither epistemic though) of the wave function with a stochastic hidden-variables approach, may provide some insight into the quantum physical reality and potentially establish the groundwork for a novel interpretation of quantum mechanics.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Flexible Qubit Allocation of Network Resource States

The Quantum Internet is still in its infancy, yet identifying scalable and resilient quantum network resource states is an essential task for realizing it. We explore the use of graph states with flexible, non-trivial qubit-to-node assignments. This flexibility enables adaptable engineering of the entanglement topology of an arbitrary quantum network. In particular, we focus on cluster states with arbitrary allocation as network resource states and as a promising candidate for a \textit{network core}-level entangled resource, due to its intrinsic flexible connectivity properties and resilience to particle losses. We introduce a modeling framework for overlaying entanglement topologies on physical networks and demonstrate how optimized and even random qubit assignment creates shortcuts and improves robustness and memory savings, while reducing the worst-case hop distance between remote network nodes, when compared to conventional approaches.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2026

Convergence of the Cumulant Expansion and Polynomial-Time Algorithm for Weakly Interacting Fermions

We propose a randomized algorithm to compute the log-partition function of weakly interacting fermions with polynomial runtime in both the system size and precision. Although weakly interacting fermionic systems are considered tractable for many computational methods such as the diagrammatic quantum Monte Carlo, a mathematically rigorous proof of polynomial runtime has been lacking. In this work we first extend the proof techniques developed in previous works for proving the convergence of the cumulant expansion in periodic systems to the non-periodic case. A key equation used to analyze the sum of connected Feynman diagrams, which we call the tree-determinant expansion, reveals an underlying tree structure in the summation. This enables us to design a new randomized algorithm to compute the log-partition function through importance sampling augmented by belief propagation. This approach differs from the traditional method based on Markov chain Monte Carlo, whose efficiency is hard to guarantee, and enables us to obtain a algorithm with provable polynomial runtime.

quant-ph↗