Can quantum theory be seen as a special case of a more general probabilistic theory, as classical theory is a special case of the quantum one? We study here the class of generalized probabilistic theories defined by the order of interference they exhibit as proposed by Sorkin. A simple operational argument shows that the theories require higher-order tensors as a representation of physical states. For the third-order interference we derive an explicit theory of 'density cubes' and show that quantum theory, i.e. theory of density matrices, is naturally embedded in it. We derive the genuine non-quantum class of states and non-trivial dynamics for the case of a three-level system and show how one can construct the states of higher dimensions. Additionally to genuine third-order interference, the density cubes are shown to violate the Leggett–Garg inequality beyond the quantum Tsirelson bound for temporal correlations.
Can quantum theory be seen as a special case of a more general probabilistic theory, as classical theory is a special case of the quantum one? We study here the class of generalized probabilistic theories defined by the order of interference they exhibit as proposed by Sorkin. A simple operational argument shows that the theories require higher-order tensors as a representation of physical states. For the third-order interference we derive an explicit theory of 'density cubes' and show that quantum theory, i.e. theory of density matrices, is naturally embedded in it. We derive the genuine non-quantum class of states and non-trivial dynamics for the case of a three-level system and show how one can construct the states of higher dimensions. Additionally to genuine third-order interference, the density cubes are shown to violate the Leggett–Garg inequality beyond the quantum Tsirelson bound for temporal correlations.
Quantum interference, manifest in the two slit experiment, lies at the heart of several quantum computational speed-ups and provides a striking example of a quantum phenomenon with no classical counterpart. An intriguing feature of quantum interference arises in a variant of the standard two slit experiment, in which there are three, rather than two, slits. The interference pattern in this set-up can be written in terms of the two and one slit patterns obtained by blocking one, or more, of the slits. This is in stark contrast with the standard two slit experiment, where the interference pattern cannot be written as a sum of the one slit patterns. This was first noted by Rafael Sorkin, who raised the question of why quantum theory only exhibits irreducible interference in the two slit experiment. One approach to this problem is to compare the predictions of quantum theory to those of operationally-defined ‘foil’ theories, in the hope of determining whether theories that do exhibit higher-order interference suffer from pathological—or at least undesirable—features. In this paper two proposed extensions of quantum theory are considered: the theory of Density Cubes proposed by Dakić, Paterek and Brukner, which has been shown to exhibit irreducible interference in the three slit set-up, and the Quartic Quantum Theory of Życzkowski. The theory of Density Cubes will be shown to provide an advantage over quantum theory in a certain computational task and to posses a well-defined mechanism which leads to the emergence of quantum theory—analogous to the emergence of classical physics from quantum theory via decoherence. Despite this, the axioms used to define Density Cubes will be shown to be insufficient to uniquely characterise the theory. In comparison, Quartic Quantum Theory is a well-defined theory and we demonstrate that it exhibits irreducible interference to all orders. This feature of Życzkowski’s theory is argued not to be a genuine phenomenon, but to arise from an ambiguity in the current definition of higher-order interference in operationally-defined theories. Thus, to begin to understand why quantum theory is limited to a certain kind of interference, a new definition of higher-order interference is needed that is applicable to, and makes good operational sense in, arbitrary operationally-defined theories.
Are there physical, probabilistic or information-theoretic principles which characterize the quantum probabilities and distinguish them from the classical case as well as from other probability theories, or which reveal why quantum mechanics requires its very special mathematical formalism? The paper identifies the fundamental absence of third-order interference as such a principle of `quantumness'. Considering three-slit experiments, the concept of third-order interference was originally introduced by Sorkin in 1994.
Quantum probabilities differ from classical ones in many ways, e.g. by violating the well-known Bell and Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt inequalities or another simple inequality due to R Wright. The latter has recently regained attention because of its equivalence to a novel noncontextual inequality by Klyachko et al . On the other hand, quantum probabilities still obey many limitations which need not hold in more general probabilistic theories (super quantum probabilities). Wright, Popescu and Rohrlich identified states which are included in such theories, but impossible in quantum mechanics, and they showed this using the Hilbert space formalism. Recently, Fritz et al and Cabello detected that the impossibility of these states can be derived from very general principles (local orthogonality and global exclusive disjunction, respectively) without using Hilbert space techniques. In the paper, an alternative derivation from rather different physical principles will be presented. These are a reasonable calculus of conditional probability (i.e. a model for the quantum measurement process) and the absence of third-order interference. The concept of third-order interference was introduced by Sorkin, who also recognized its impossibility in quantum mechanics.
As first noted by Rafael Sorkin, there is a limit to quantum interference. The interference pattern formed in a multi-slit experiment is a function of the interference patterns formed between pairs of slits; there are no genuinely new features resulting from considering three slits instead of two. Sorkin has introduced a hierarchy of mathematically conceivable higher-order interference behaviours, where classical theory lies at the first level of this hierarchy and quantum theory theory at the second. Informally, the order in this hierarchy corresponds to the number of slits on which the interference pattern has an irreducible dependence. Many authors have wondered why quantum interference is limited to the second level of this hierarchy. Does the existence of higher-order interference violate some natural physical principle that we believe should be fundamental? In the current work we show that such principles can be found which limit interference behaviour to second-order, or “quantum-like”, interference, but that do not restrict us to the entire quantum formalism. We work within the operational framework of generalised probabilistic theories, and prove that any theory satisfying Causality, Purity Preservation, Pure Sharpness, and Purification—four principles that formalise the fundamental character of purity in nature—exhibits at most second-order interference. Hence these theories are, at least conceptually, very “close” to quantum theory. Along the way we show that systems in such theories correspond to Euclidean Jordan algebras. Hence, they are self-dual and, moreover, multi-slit experiments in such theories are described by pure projectors.
These lecture notes provide a basic introduction to the framework of generalized probabilistic theories (GPTs) and a sketch of a reconstruction of quantum theory (QT) from simple operational principles. To build some intuition for how physics could be even more general than quantum, I present two conceivable phenomena beyond QT: superstrong nonlocality and higher-order interference. Then I introduce the framework of GPTs, generalizing both quantum and classical probability theory. Finally, I summarize a reconstruction of QT from the principles of Tomographic Locality, Continuous Reversibility, and the Subspace Axiom. In particular, I show why a quantum bit is described by a Bloch ball, why it is three-dimensional, and how one obtains the complex numbers and operators of the usual representation of QT.
More general probability sum-rules for describing interference found in quantum mechanics (QM) were formulated by Sorkin in a hierarchy of such rules. The additivity of classical measure theory corresponds to the second sum-rule. QM violates this rule, but satisfies the third and higher sum-rules. This evokes the question of whether there are physical principles that forbid their violation. We show that in a theory that is indistinguishable from quantum mechanics in first and second-order interferences, the violation of higher sum-rules allows for superluminal signaling, essentially because probability measures can be contextual in such theories.