We give a constructive and exhaustive definition of Kochen-Specker (KS) vectors in a Hilbert space of any dimension as well as of all the remaining vectors of the space. KS vectors are elements of any set of orthonormal states, i.e., vectors in n-dim Hilbert space, H n , n ≥ 3 to which it is impossible to assign 1s and 0s in such a way that no two mutually orthogonal vectors from the set are both assigned 1 and that not all mutually orthogonal vectors are assigned 0. Our constructive definition of such KS vectors is based on algorithms that generate MMP diagrams corresponding to blocks of orthogonal vectors in R n , on algorithms that single out those diagrams on which algebraic 0-1 states cannot be defined, and on algorithms that solve nonlinear equations describing the orthogonalities of the vectors by means of statistically polynomially complex interval analysis and self-teaching programs. The algorithms are limited neither by the number of dimensions nor by the number of vectors. To demonstrate the power of the algorithms, all 4-dim KS vector systems containing up to 24 vectors were generated and described, all 3-dim vector systems containing up to 30 vectors were scanned, and several general properties of KS vectors were found.

We show that all possible 388 4-dim Kochen-Specker (KS) (vector) sets (of yes-no questions) with 18 through 23 vectors and 844 sets with 24 vectors all with component values from {-1,0,1} can be obtained by stripping vectors off a single system provided by Peres 20 years ago. In addition to them, we have found a number of other KS sets with 22 through 24 vectors. We present the algorithms we used and features we found, such as, for instance, that Peres' 24-24 KS set has altogether six critical KS subsets.

The set of 60 real rays in four dimensions derived from the vertices of a 600-cell is shown to possess numerous subsets of rays and bases that provide basiscritical parity proofs of the Bell-Kochen-Specker (BKS) theorem (a basis-critical proof is one that fails if even a single basis is deleted from it). The proofs vary considerably in size, with the smallest having 26 rays and 13 bases and the largest 60 rays and 41 bases. There are at least 90 basic types of proofs, with each coming in a number of geometrically distinct varieties. The replicas of all the proofs under the symmetries of the 600-cell yield a total of almost a hundred million parity proofs of the BKS theorem. The proofs are all very transparent and take no more than simple counting to verify. A few of the proofs are exhibited, both in tabular form as well as in the form of MMP hypergraphs that assist in their visualization. A survey of the proofs is given, simple procedures for generating some of them are described and their applications are discussed. It is shown that all four-dimensional parity proofs of the BKS theorem can be turned into experimental disproofs of noncontextuality.

Using a graph approach to quantum systems, we show that descriptions of 3-dim Kochen-Specker (KS) setups as well as descriptions of 3-dim spin systems by means of Greechie diagrams (a kind of lattice) that we find in the literature are wrong. Correct lattices generated by McKay-Megill-Pavicic (MMP) hypergraphs and Hilbert subspace equations are given. To enable future exhaustive generation of 3-dim KS setups by means of our recently found stripping technique, bipartite graph generation is used to provide us with lattices with equal numbers of elements and blocks (orthogonal triples of elements)-up to 41 of them. We obtain several new results on such lattices and hypergraphs, in particular on properties such as superposition and orthoraguesian equations.

Recently, quantum contextuality has been proved to be the source of quantum computation's power. That, together with multiple recent contextual experiments, prompts improving the methods of generation of contextual sets and finding their features. The most elaborated contextual sets, which offer blueprints for contextual experiments and computational gates, are the Kochen-Specker (KS) sets. In this paper, we show a method of vector generation that supersedes previous methods. It is implemented by means of algorithms and programs that generate hypergraphs embodying the Kochen-Specker property and that are designed to be carried out on supercomputers. We show that vector component generation of KS hypergraphs exhausts all possible vectors that can be constructed from chosen vector components, in contrast to previous studies that used incomplete lists of vectors and therefore missed a majority of hypergraphs. Consequently, this unified method is far more efficient for generations of KS sets and their implementation in quantum computation and quantum communication. Several new KS classes and their features have been found and are elaborated on in the paper. Greechie diagrams are discussed. A detailed and complete blueprint of a particular 21-11 KS set with a complex coordinatization is presented in Appendix A, in contrast to the one from the published version of this paper where only a few of its states were given.