Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1302.2266 · Physical Review A

Bounding the quantum dimension with contextuality

Otfried Gühne, Costantino Budroni, Adán Cabello, Matthias Kleinmann, Jan-Åke Larsson

Published Jun 10, 2014• 98 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We show that the phenomenon of quantum contextuality can be used to certify lower bounds on the dimension accessed by the measurement devices. To prove this, we derive bounds for different dimensions and scenarios of the simplest noncontextuality inequalities. Some of the resulting dimension witnesses work independently of the prepared quantum state. Our constructions are robust against noise and imperfections, and we show that a recent experiment can be viewed as an implementation of a state-independent quantum dimension witness.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.89.062107

Related papers

Non-contextual inequalities and dimensionality

Johan Ahrens

This PhD-thesis is based on the five experiments I have performed during mytime as a PhD-student. Three experiments are implementations of non-contextualinequalities and two are implementations of witness functions for classical- andquantum dimensions of sets of states. A dimension witness is an operator function that produce a value whenapplied to a set of states. This value has different upper bounds depending onthe dimension of the set of states and also depending on if the states are classicalor quantum. Therefore a dimension witness can only give a lower bound on thedimension of the set of states.The first dimension witness is based on the CHSH-inequality and has theability of discriminating between classical and quantum sets of states of two andthree dimensions, it can also indicate if a set of states must be of dimension fouror higher.The second dimension witness is based on a set theoretical representationof the possible combinations of states and measurements and grows with thedimension of the set of states you want to be able to identify, on the other handthere is a formula for expanding it to arbitrary dimension.Non-contextual hidden variable models is a family of hidden variable modelswhich include local hidden variable models, so in a sence non-contextual inequal-ities are a generalisation of Bell-inequalities. The experiments presented in this thesis all use single particle quantum systems.The first experiment is a violation of the KCBS-inequality, this is the simplest correlation inequality which is violated by quantum mechanics.The second experiment is a violation of the Wright-inequality which is the simplest inequality violated by quantum mechanics, it contains only projectors and not correlations.The final experiment of the thesis is an implementation of a Hardy-like equality for non-contextuality, this means that the operators in the KCBS-inequality have been rotated so that one term in the sum will be zero for all non-contextual hidden variable models and we get a contradiction since quantum mechanicsgives a non-zero value for all terms.

•Jan 1, 2015•0 citations

Are we witnessing non-classical phenomena when noncontextuality inequalities are violated?.

Alisson Tezzin

The view that non-classical phenomena are witnessed when noncontextuality inequalities are violated by quantum correlations has become widespread over the last decades, and many authors describe contextuality as a counter-intuitive and non-classical feature of quantum systems. In this paper we show that a classical input/output device generating contextual data (i.e., data violating noncontextuality inequalities) can easily be found if the following conditions are satisfied: (1) We only have access to a specific collection of epistemic measurements, namely measurements which do not necessarily reveal properties possessed by the system to the agent, and (2) not all these measurements can be jointly performed. The conclusion we draw from this example is twofold. Firstly, regarding model-independent contextuality, it suggests that, unlike Bell inequalities (whose violation allegedly implies non-locality), noncontextuality inequalities have no phenomenological significance per se: we cannot treat experiments as black-boxes and draw conclusions about the phenomenological status of their underlying structure based only on contextuality analysis of the data they generate. Secondly, regarding quantum theory, it indicates that one who accepts, as many interpretations suggest, that quantum theory satisfies both these conditions should not take for granted that quantum contextuality is a signature of non-classicality.

•Nov 1, 2021•0 citations

Certifying the Dimension of Classical and Quantum Systems in a Prepare-and-Measure Scenario with Independent Devices

Joseph Bowles, Marco Túlio Quintino, Nicolas Brunner

We consider the problem of testing the dimension of uncharacterized classical and quantum systems in a prepare-and-measure setup. Here we assume the preparation and measurement devices to be independent, thereby making the problem nonconvex. We present a simple method for generating nonlinear dimension witnesses for systems of arbitrary dimension. The simplest of our witnesses is highly robust to technical imperfections, and can certify the use of qubits in the presence of arbitrary noise and arbitrarily low detection efficiency. Finally, we show that this witness can be used to certify the presence of randomness, suggesting applications in quantum information processing.

arXiv:1311.1525•Physical Review Letters•Apr 11, 2014•116 citations

Robustness of device-independent dimension witnesses

Michele Dall’Arno, Elsa Passaro, Rodrigo Gallego +1 more

Device-independent dimension witnesses provide a lower bound on the dimensionality of classical and quantum systems in a ``black box''scenario where only correlations between preparations, measurements, and outcomes are considered. We address the problem of the robustness of dimension witnesses, namely that to witness the dimension of a system or to discriminate between its quantum or classical nature, even in the presence of loss. We consider the case when shared randomness is allowed between preparations and measurements and provide a threshold in the detection efficiency such that dimension witnessing can still be performed.

arXiv:1207.2574•Physical Review A•Oct 11, 2012•38 citations

Experimental Implementation of Dimension-Dependent Contextuality Inequality

Emil Håkansson, Amélie Piveteau, Alban Seguinard +4 more

We present a derivation and experimental implementation of a dimension-dependent contextuality inequality to certify both the quantumness and dimensionality of a given system. Existing methods for certification of the dimension of a quantum system can be cheated by using larger classical systems, creating a potential loophole in these benchmarks, or can in practice only be evaluated assuming pure quantum states. Our approach uses contextuality inequalities that cannot be violated by classical systems thus closing the previous loopholes. We validate this framework experimentally with photons, observing violations of a CHSH-based contextuality inequality and surpassing the qutrit bound of the CGLMP_{4}-based contextuality inequality. These show that contextuality can be used for noise-robust tests of the number of qubits.

Physical Review Letters•May 22, 2025•2 citations

Experimental implementation of dimension-dependent contextuality inequality

Emil Håkansson, Amélie Piveteau, Alban Seguinard +4 more

We present a derivation and experimental implementation of a dimension-dependent contextuality inequality to certify both the quantumness and dimensionality of a given system. Existing methods for certification of the dimension of quantum system can be cheated by using larger classical systems, creating a potential loophole in these benchmarks. Our approach uses contextuality inequalities that cannot be violated by classical systems thus closing the previous loophole. We validate this framework experimentally with photons, observing violations of a CHSH-based contextuality inequality and surpassing the qutrit bound of the CGLMP4-based contextuality inequality. These show that contextuality can be used for noise-robust tests of the number of qubits.

arXiv:2412.09659•Dec 12, 2024•0 citations
We show that the phenomenon of quantum contextuality can be used to certify lower bounds on the dimension accessed by the measurement devices. To prove this, we derive bounds for different dimensions and scenarios of the simplest noncontextuality inequalities. Some of the resulting dimension witnesses work independently of the prepared quantum state. Our constructions are robust against noise and imperfections, and we show that a recent experiment can be viewed as an implementation of a state-independent quantum dimension witness.
This PhD-thesis is based on the five experiments I have performed during mytime as a PhD-student. Three experiments are implementations of non-contextualinequalities and two are implementations of witness functions for classical- andquantum dimensions of sets of states. A dimension witness is an operator function that produce a value whenapplied to a set of states. This value has different upper bounds depending onthe dimension of the set of states and also depending on if the states are classicalor quantum. Therefore a dimension witness can only give a lower bound on thedimension of the set of states.The first dimension witness is based on the CHSH-inequality and has theability of discriminating between classical and quantum sets of states of two andthree dimensions, it can also indicate if a set of states must be of dimension fouror higher.The second dimension witness is based on a set theoretical representationof the possible combinations of states and measurements and grows with thedimension of the set of states you want to be able to identify, on the other handthere is a formula for expanding it to arbitrary dimension.Non-contextual hidden variable models is a family of hidden variable modelswhich include local hidden variable models, so in a sence non-contextual inequal-ities are a generalisation of Bell-inequalities. The experiments presented in this thesis all use single particle quantum systems.The first experiment is a violation of the KCBS-inequality, this is the simplest correlation inequality which is violated by quantum mechanics.The second experiment is a violation of the Wright-inequality which is the simplest inequality violated by quantum mechanics, it contains only projectors and not correlations.The final experiment of the thesis is an implementation of a Hardy-like equality for non-contextuality, this means that the operators in the KCBS-inequality have been rotated so that one term in the sum will be zero for all non-contextual hidden variable models and we get a contradiction since quantum mechanicsgives a non-zero value for all terms.
The view that non-classical phenomena are witnessed when noncontextuality inequalities are violated by quantum correlations has become widespread over the last decades, and many authors describe contextuality as a counter-intuitive and non-classical feature of quantum systems. In this paper we show that a classical input/output device generating contextual data (i.e., data violating noncontextuality inequalities) can easily be found if the following conditions are satisfied: (1) We only have access to a specific collection of epistemic measurements, namely measurements which do not necessarily reveal properties possessed by the system to the agent, and (2) not all these measurements can be jointly performed. The conclusion we draw from this example is twofold. Firstly, regarding model-independent contextuality, it suggests that, unlike Bell inequalities (whose violation allegedly implies non-locality), noncontextuality inequalities have no phenomenological significance per se: we cannot treat experiments as black-boxes and draw conclusions about the phenomenological status of their underlying structure based only on contextuality analysis of the data they generate. Secondly, regarding quantum theory, it indicates that one who accepts, as many interpretations suggest, that quantum theory satisfies both these conditions should not take for granted that quantum contextuality is a signature of non-classicality.
We consider the problem of testing the dimension of uncharacterized classical and quantum systems in a prepare-and-measure setup. Here we assume the preparation and measurement devices to be independent, thereby making the problem nonconvex. We present a simple method for generating nonlinear dimension witnesses for systems of arbitrary dimension. The simplest of our witnesses is highly robust to technical imperfections, and can certify the use of qubits in the presence of arbitrary noise and arbitrarily low detection efficiency. Finally, we show that this witness can be used to certify the presence of randomness, suggesting applications in quantum information processing.
Device-independent dimension witnesses provide a lower bound on the dimensionality of classical and quantum systems in a ``black box''scenario where only correlations between preparations, measurements, and outcomes are considered. We address the problem of the robustness of dimension witnesses, namely that to witness the dimension of a system or to discriminate between its quantum or classical nature, even in the presence of loss. We consider the case when shared randomness is allowed between preparations and measurements and provide a threshold in the detection efficiency such that dimension witnessing can still be performed.
We present a derivation and experimental implementation of a dimension-dependent contextuality inequality to certify both the quantumness and dimensionality of a given system. Existing methods for certification of the dimension of a quantum system can be cheated by using larger classical systems, creating a potential loophole in these benchmarks, or can in practice only be evaluated assuming pure quantum states. Our approach uses contextuality inequalities that cannot be violated by classical systems thus closing the previous loopholes. We validate this framework experimentally with photons, observing violations of a CHSH-based contextuality inequality and surpassing the qutrit bound of the CGLMP_{4}-based contextuality inequality. These show that contextuality can be used for noise-robust tests of the number of qubits.
We present a derivation and experimental implementation of a dimension-dependent contextuality inequality to certify both the quantumness and dimensionality of a given system. Existing methods for certification of the dimension of quantum system can be cheated by using larger classical systems, creating a potential loophole in these benchmarks. Our approach uses contextuality inequalities that cannot be violated by classical systems thus closing the previous loophole. We validate this framework experimentally with photons, observing violations of a CHSH-based contextuality inequality and surpassing the qutrit bound of the CGLMP4-based contextuality inequality. These show that contextuality can be used for noise-robust tests of the number of qubits.