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arXiv:1408.6857 · Physical Review Letters

Applying the Simplest Kochen-Specker Set for Quantum Information Processing

Gustavo Cañas, Mauricio Arias, S. Etcheverry, Esteban S. Gómez, Adán Cabello, GUILHERME BARRETO XAVIER, G. Lima

Published Aug 28, 2014• 73 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Kochen-Specker (KS) sets are key tools for proving some fundamental results in quantum theory and also have potential applications in quantum information processing. However, so far, their intrinsic complexity has prevented experimentalists from using them for any application. The KS set requiring the smallest number of contexts has been recently found. Relying on this simple KS set, here we report an input state-independent experimental technique to certify whether a set of measurements is actually accessing a preestablished quantum six-dimensional space encoded in the transverse momentum of single photons.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.113.090404

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•Jan 1, 2008•0 citations
Kochen-Specker (KS) sets are key tools for proving some fundamental results in quantum theory and also have potential applications in quantum information processing. However, so far, their intrinsic complexity has prevented experimentalists from using them for any application. The KS set requiring the smallest number of contexts has been recently found. Relying on this simple KS set, here we report an input state-independent experimental technique to certify whether a set of measurements is actually accessing a preestablished quantum six-dimensional space encoded in the transverse momentum of single photons.
The Kochen-Specker (KS) theorem is a central result in quantum theory and has applications in quantum information. Its proof requires several yes-no tests that can be grouped in contexts or subsets of jointly measurable tests. Arguably, the best measure of simplicity of a KS set is the number of contexts. The smaller this number is, the smaller the number of experiments needed to reveal the conflict between quantum theory and noncontextual theories and to get a quantum vs classical outperformance. The original KS set had 132 contexts. Here we introduce a KS set with seven contexts and prove that this is the simplest KS set that admits a symmetric parity proof.
A Kochen-Specker (KS) set is a specific set of projectors and measurement contexts that prove the Bell-Kochen-Specker contextuality theorem. The simplest known KS sets in Hilbert space dimensions d=3,4,5,6,8d=3,4,5,6,8d=3,4,5,6,8 are reproduced, and several methods by which a new KS set can be constructed using one or more known KS sets in lower dimensions are reviewed and improved. These KS sets and improved methods enable the construction of explicitly critical new KS sets in all dimensions, where critical refers to the irreducibility of the set of contexts. The simplest known critical KS sets are derived in all even dimensions $d\ensuremath{\ge}10$ with at most nine contexts and 30 projectors, and in all odd dimensions $d\ensuremath{\ge}7$ with at most 13 contexts and 39 projectors. These results show that neither the number of contexts nor the number of projectors in a minimal KS set scales with dimension ddd.
For eight-dimensional quantum systems there is a Kochen-Specker (KS) set of 40 quantum yes-no tests that is related to the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) proof of Bell's theorem. Here we experimentally implement this KS set using an eight-dimensional Hilbert space spanned by the transverse momentum of single photons. We show that the experimental results of these tests violate a state-independent noncontextuality inequality. In addition, we show that, if the system is prepared in states that are formally equivalent to a three-qubit GHZ and W states, then the results of a subset of 16 tests violate a noncontextuality inequality that is formally equivalent to the three-party Mermin's Bell inequality, but for single eight-dimensional quantum systems. These experimental results highlight the connection between quantum contextuality and nonlocality for eight-dimensional quantum systems.
In Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 190203 (2025) a discovery of the simplest 3D contextual set with 33 vertices, 50 bases, and 14 complete bases is claimed. In this paper, we show that it was previously generated in Quantum 7, 953 (2023) and analyze the meaning, origin, and significance of the simplest contextual sets in any dimension. In particular, we prove that there is no ground to consider the aforementioned set as fundamental since there are many 3D contextual sets with a smaller number of complete bases. We also show that automatic generation of contextual sets from basic vector components automatically yields all known minimal contextual sets of any kind in any dimension and therefore also the aforementioned set in no CPU-time. In the end, we discuss varieties of contextual sets, in particular Kochen-Specker (KS), extended KS, and non-KS sets as well as ambiguities in their definitions.
Kochen-Specker (KS) sets are fundamental in physics. Every time nature produces bipartite correlations attaining the nonsignaling limit, or two parties always win a nonlocal game impossible to always win classically, it is because the parties are measuring a KS set. The simplest quantum system in which all these phenomena occur is a pair of three-level systems. However, the simplest KS sets known in dimension three are asymmetrical and require a large number of bases (the current minimum is 16, set by Peres and Penrose). Here, we present a KS set that is much more symmetrical and easier to prove than any previous example. It sets a new record for minimum number of bases, 14, and enables us to refute Conjecture 2 in Cabello Simplest bipartite perfect quantum strategies, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 010201 (2025)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.134.010201, setting a new record for qutrit-qutrit perfect strategies with a minimum number of inputs: 5-9. We establish the fundamental nature of this set in quantum theory.
One of the main theorems on the impossibility of hidden variables in quantum mechanics is Kochen-Specker theorem (KS). This theorem says that any hidden variable theory that satisfies quantum mechanics must be contextual. More specifically, it asserts that, in Hilbert space of dimension ≥ 3, it is impossible to associate definite numerical values, 1 or 0, with every projection operator Pm, in such a way that, if a set of commuting Pm satisfies 1=ΣmP, the corresponding values will also satisfy . Since the first proof of Kochen and Specker using 117 vectors in R3, there were many attempts to reduce the number of vector either via conceiving ingenious models or extending the system being considered to higher dimension. By considering eight dimensional three qubits system, we found a state dependent proof that requires only five vectors. The state that we assign value of 1 is the ray that arises from intersection of two planes. The recent advancements show that the KS theorem proof can be extended to two dimensional quantum system through generalized measurement represented by positive operator-valued measured (POVM). In POVMs the number of available outcomes of a measurement may be higher than the dimensionality of the Hilbert space and N-outcome generalized measurement is represented by N-element POVM which consists of N positive semidefinite operators {}dE that sum to identity. Each pair of elements is not mutually orthogonal if the number of outcome of measurements is bigger than the dimensionality. In terms of POVM, Kochen-Specker theorem asserts that and could not be satisfied for . We developed a general model that enables us to generate different sizes of the POVM for the proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem. We show that the current simplest Nakamura model is in fact a special case of our model. W also provide another model which is as simple as the Nakamura’s but consists of different sets of POVM.