Testing quantum theory with thought experiments

Nurgalieva, Nuriya; Renner, Renato

doi:10.1080/00107514.2021.1880075

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Alice and Wigner turn out to have descriptions of the same setting which are vastly different from each other. We will not discuss numerous conceptual implications of the original thought experiment here-a review can be found in [21]. However, we would still like to see how we can model this setting in the toy theory (here we will do so in the original epirestricted picture).…”

Section: 4mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The contradiction is found for a specific choice of initial state and measurement bases, which are described in appendix C.2. 5 For a pedagogical discussion of the original paradox and the assumptions behind it, we refer to our previous work [23]; for discussions of broader implications for abstract logic and interpretations of quantum theory see for example [5,21,24,25]. The paradox has also been shown to arise in other physical theories, namely box world [7].…”

Section: Example Of Multi-agent Paradoxes: the Frauchiger-renner Scen...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Toys can’t play: physical agents in Spekkens’ theory

2023

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Information is physical, and for a physical theory to be universal, it should model observers as physical systems, with concrete memories where they store the information acquired through experiments and reasoning. Here we address these issues in Spekkens’ toy theory, a non-contextual epistemically restricted model that partially mimics the behaviour of quantum mechanics. We propose a way to model physical implementations of agents, memories, measurements, conditional actions and information processing. We find that the actions of toy agents are severely limited: although there are non-orthogonal states in the theory, there is no way for physical agents to consciously prepare them. Their memories are also constrained: agents cannot forget in which of two arbitrary states a system is. Finally, we formalize the process of making inferences about other agents’ experiments and model multi-agent experiments like Wigner’s friend. Unlike quantum theory or box world, in the toy theory there are no inconsistencies when physical agents reason about each other’s knowledge.

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Section: 4mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Example Of Multi-agent Paradoxes: the Frauchiger-renner Scen...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toys can’t play: physical agents in Spekkens’ theory

2023

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“…Formal quantum experiments In investigations by [2,44], programming languages have served as tools in providing outcomes to thought experiments about physical theories. We envision using (an extension of) QuantumΠ for similar purposes-e.g.…”

Section: Quantum Algorithms: Simon and Grovermentioning

confidence: 99%

The Quantum Effect: A Recipe for QuantumPi

Carette¹,

Heunen²,

Kaarsgaard³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Free categorical constructions characterise quantum computing as the combination of two copies of a reversible classical model, glued by the complementarity equations of classical structures. This recipe effectively constructs a computationally universal quantum programming language from two copies of Π, the internal language of rig groupoids. The construction consists of Hughes' arrows. Thus answer positively the question whether a computational effect exists that turns reversible classical computation into quantum computation: the quantum effect. Measurements can be added by layering a further effect on top. Our construction also enables some reasoning about quantum programs (with or without measurement) through a combination of classical reasoning and reasoning about complementarity.

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“…In the "extended Wigner's friend" thought experiment of FR there are two friends ostensibly making measurements and two outside observers. Here we follow the naming convention and notation of [14], where the friends are named Alice and Bob, and the corresponding outside observers Ursula and Wigner. In the thought experiment, Alice is meant to measure a qubit system R in the computational basis, Bob a qubit system S, also in the computational basis.…”

Section: A Resolution To the Fr Paradoxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consistency in the description of quantum measurement: Quantum theory can consistently describe the use of itself

Renes

2021

Preprint

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Recent extended formulations of the Wigner's friend thought experiment throw the measurement problem of quantum mechanics into sharper relief. Here I respond to an invitation by Renner to provide a consistent and concrete set of rules for quantum mechanics which can avoid the apparent paradox formulated by Frauchiger and Renner [Nat. Comm. 9, 3711 (2018)]. I propose a slight addition to standard textbook quantum mechanics, in the form of two rules, which avoids the paradox. The first specifies when a given quantum dynamics can be interpreted as a measurement. Potentially any dynamics can, but doing so depends on the context of other performed operations. The second requires that a joint context be used to determine whether several different dynamical evolutions can all be interpreted as measurement. The paradox is then avoided because not every participant in the Frauchiger-Renner thought experiment regards the stated dynamical descriptions of the experiment as measurements.

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Testing quantum theory with thought experiments

Abstract: Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

Cited by 14 publications

References 74 publications

Toys can’t play: physical agents in Spekkens’ theory

Toys can’t play: physical agents in Spekkens’ theory

The Quantum Effect: A Recipe for QuantumPi

Consistency in the description of quantum measurement: Quantum theory can consistently describe the use of itself

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