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Contextuality for preparations, transformations, and unsharp measurements

R. W. Spekkens
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Abstract

An operational definition of contextuality is introduced which generalizes the standard notion in three ways: (1) it applies to arbitrary operational theories rather than just quantum theory, (2) it applies to arbitrary experimental procedures, rather than just sharp measurements, and (3) it applies to a broad class of ontological models of quantum theory, rather than just deterministic hidden variable models. We derive three no-go theorems for ontological models, each based on an assumption of noncontextuality for a different sort of experimental procedure; one for preparation procedures, another for unsharp measurement procedures (that is, measurement procedures associated with positive-operator valued measures), and a third for transformation procedures. All three proofs apply to two-dimensional Hilbert spaces, and are therefore stronger than traditional proofs of contextuality.

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R. W. Spekkens. 2004-06-23. Contextuality for preparations, transformations, and unsharp measurements. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.71.052108

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