Abstract Non-signalling quantum channels—relevant in, e.g., the study of Bell and Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen scenarios—may be decomposed as an affine combinations of local operations in bipartite scenarios. Moreover, when these channels correspond to stochastic maps between classical variables, such a decomposition is possible even in multipartite scenarios. These two results have proven useful when studying the properties of these channels, such as their communication and information processing power, and even when defining measures of the non-classicality of physical phenomena (such as Bell non-classicality and steering). In this paper we show that such useful quasi-stochastic characterizations of channels may be unified and applied to the broader class of multipartite non-signalling channels. Moreover, we show that this holds for non-signalling channels in quantum theory, as well as in a larger family of generalised probabilistic theories. More precisely, we prove that channels are non-signalling if and only if they can be decomposed as an affine combinations of corresponding local operations, provided that the underlying physical theory is locally tomographic—a property that quantum theory satisfies. Our results then can be viewed as a generalisation of references (Phys. Rev. Lett. 111 170403) and (2013 Phys. Rev. A 88 022318) to the multipartite scenario for arbitrary tomographically local generalised probabilistic theories (including quantum theory). Our proof technique leverages Hardy’s duotensor formalism, highlighting its utility in this line of research.
Abstract Non-signalling quantum channels—relevant in, e.g., the study of Bell and Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen scenarios—may be decomposed as an affine combinations of local operations in bipartite scenarios. Moreover, when these channels correspond to stochastic maps between classical variables, such a decomposition is possible even in multipartite scenarios. These two results have proven useful when studying the properties of these channels, such as their communication and information processing power, and even when defining measures of the non-classicality of physical phenomena (such as Bell non-classicality and steering). In this paper we show that such useful quasi-stochastic characterizations of channels may be unified and applied to the broader class of multipartite non-signalling channels. Moreover, we show that this holds for non-signalling channels in quantum theory, as well as in a larger family of generalised probabilistic theories. More precisely, we prove that channels are non-signalling if and only if they can be decomposed as an affine combinations of corresponding local operations, provided that the underlying physical theory is locally tomographic—a property that quantum theory satisfies. Our results then can be viewed as a generalisation of references (Phys. Rev. Lett. 111 170403) and (2013 Phys. Rev. A 88 022318) to the multipartite scenario for arbitrary tomographically local generalised probabilistic theories (including quantum theory). Our proof technique leverages Hardy’s duotensor formalism, highlighting its utility in this line of research.
This thesis explores various perspectives on quantum phenomena, and how our understanding of these phenomena is informed by the study of general probabilistic theories. Particular attention is given to quantum nonlocality, and its interaction with areas of physical and mathematical interest such as entropy, reversible dynamics, information-based games and the idea of negative probability. We begin with a review of non-signaling distributions and convex operational theories, including “black box” descriptions of experiments and the mathematics of convex vector spaces. In Chapter 3 we derive various classical and quantum-like quasiprobabilistic representations of arbitrary non-signaling distributions. Previously, results in which the density operator is allowed to become non-positive [1] have proved useful in derivations of quantum theory from physical requirements [2]; we derive a dual result in which the measurement operators instead are allowed to become non-positive, and show that the generation of any non-signaling distribution is possible using a fixed separable state with negligible correlation. We also derive two distinct “quasi-local” models of non-signaling correlations. Chapter 4 investigates non-local games, in particular the game known as Information Causality. By analysing the probability of success in this game, we prove the conjectured tightness of a bound given in [3] concerning how well entanglement allows us to perform the task of random access coding, and introduce a quadratic bias bound which seems to capture a great deal of information about the set of quantum-achievable correlations. By reformulating Information Causality in terms of entropies, we find that a sensible measure of entropy precludes many general probabilistic theories whose non-locality is stronger than that of quantum theory. Chapter 5 explores the role that reversible transitivity (the principle that any two pure states are joined by a reversible transformation) plays as a characteristic feature of quantum theory. It has previously been shown that in Boxworld, the theory allowing for the full set of non-signaling correlations, any reversible transformation on a restricted class of composite systems is merely a composition of relabellings of measurement choices and outcomes, and permutations of subsystems [4]. We develop a tabular description of Boxworld states and effects first introduced in [5], and use this to extend this reversibility result to any composite Boxworld system in which none of the subsystems are classical.
Abstract The investigation of separable states in quantum theory has been driven by the notion that they are highly classical, in that they do not demonstrate nonlocality, and are in some contexts unable to support non-classical computation. The converse question, the extent to which entangled states do or do not support non-classical information processing, is less well understood. Motivated by this question we extend the notion of quantum separability into the entangled quantum states, by constructing separable decompositions that describe them with the ‘smallest’ possible sets of non-physical local operators. We consider a few ways to define the word ‘smallest’ and present techniques for obtaining them. The methods involve calculating certain forms of cross norm. The results generalise significantly the results obtained in our previous work on this topic (2015 New J. Phys. 17 093047), and can be be used to construct classical simulation methods and local hidden variable models for subsets of local measurements on entangled quantum states.
Bell non-locality is a powerful framework to distinguish classical, quantum and post-quantum resources, which relies on non-communicating players. Under which restriction can we have the same separations, if we allow for communication? Non-signalling state assemblages, and the fact that they can always be simultaneously purified, turned out to be the key element to restrict the simplest bipartite communication scenario, the prepare-and-measure, to the standard bipartite Bell scenario. Yet, many distinctive features of quantum theory are genuinely multipartite and cannot be reduced to two-party behaviour. In this work we are interested in extending this simultaneous purification inspired result to all multipartite communication schemes. As a first step, we unify and extend the simultaneous purification result from states to instruments and super-instruments, which are composable structures, and open up the possibility to explore more complex communication scenarios. Our main contribution is to establish that arbitrary compositions of non-signalling assemblages cannot escape the standard spatial quantum Bell correlations set. As a consequence, any interactive quantum realization of correlations outside of this set must involve at least one signalling assemblage of quantum operations, even when the resulting correlations are non-signalling.
In recent years, the investigation of causal relations in quantum theory has attracted a lot of interest. In particular, it has been found that it is possible to conceive of scenarios where some parties perform operations that are compatible with quantum theory locally, but that cannot be embedded into a global background causal structure. Such indefinite causal structures are of interest from a fundamental point of view, but also from the perspective of quantum information processing, since they do not fit into the usual paradigm of quantum circuits, which assumes a definite causal order. The main aim of this thesis is to study indefinite quantum causal relations involving more than two parties. Compared to the bipartite case, there are many new aspects and complications that arise in multipartite situations, which need to be clarified in order to fundamentally understand quantum causal structures, and to shed light on their implications and potential usefulness for quantum information processing.A suitable mathematical framework for the investigation of quantum causal relations is the process matrix formalism. In this framework, the notion of causal nonseparability was introduced in order to qualify scenarios that are incompatible with a definite causal order. In Chapter 2, we study how to generalise this concept to the multipartite case, how to characterise multipartite causally (non)separable quantum processes, and how to certify multipartite causal nonseparability. Another important topic is to determine which quantum scenarios with indefinite causal order are physically implementable, and how they can be realised concretely. In Chapter 3, we introduce two new classes of physically realisable multipartite quantum processes, and characterise them in terms of their process matrix descriptions. In particular, we define the class of quantum circuits with quantum control of causal order. The simplest example of such a circuit is the quantum switch, a protocol in which the order between two operations is controlled by a qubit in a superposition state, and which defines a causally nonseparable process. The class we introduce also contains more general examples of causally nonseparable processes with new features. We then show how the process matrix characterisation of this class allows us to search for new quantum information processing applications of causal nonseparability. In Chapter 4, we investigate a particular quantum communication effect in a scenario involving coherent control between two quantum channels. This leads us to a more general analysis of the notion of a coherently controlled channel, which involves certain subtilities. In Chapter 5, we turn to another problem that arises in multipartite scenarios, namely whether a given phenomenon is genuinely multipartite or not. More particularly, we study genuinely multipartite (non)causal correlations. In Chapter 6, we show that anomalous weak values are possible without post-selection. In Chapter 7, we show that certain tripartite process matrices, namely those that are unitarily extensible, have a realisation on so-called time-delocalised subsystems, i.e., quantum subsystems that are not associated with a definite time. The class of unitarily extensible tripartite process matrices is larger than the class of quantum circuits with quantum control, and in particular contains processes that violate so-called causal inequalities.
Historically, quantum mechanics has relied on the assumption of non-communicating parties, enforced via space-like separation, to witness the gap between classical and quantum descriptions. This thesis explores the boundaries of the standard Bell non-local scenario, investigating how to preserve this gap when communication is allowed. In particular, this work focuses on restricted communication, multipartite settings, and operator-algebraic formulations. Key contributions of this work include: • Dimensional Constraints: Establishing mathematical maps from standard Bell scenarios to prepare-and-measure scenarios with dimensionally bounded channels, proving that quantum bounds and self-testing properties are preserved. • Cryptographic Constraints: Analyzing compiled non-local games using quantum homomorphic encryption. The research proves asymptotic quantum soundness for all multipartite compiled games and introduces a quantitative hierarchy, similar to the NPA hierarchy, to characterize sequential correlations. • Operational Equivalences: Demonstrating that correlations arising from arbitrary compositions of non-signalling assemblages in multipartite communication schemes always reduce to standard spatial quantum Bell correlations. • Operator-Algebraic Tools: Introducing a novel chain rule for the Radon-Nikodym derivative to dilate chains of completely-positive maps, alongside the construction of a universal C*-algebra for sequential measurements. Overall, the manuscript unifies concepts from quantum foundations, complexity theory, and operator algebras to provide a rigorous mathematical framework for characterizing and certifying multipartite sequential quantum correlations.
In the past century, experimental discoveries have witnessed phenomena in Nature which challenge our everyday classical intuition. In order to explain these facts, quantum theory was developed, which so far has been able to reproduce the observed results. However, I believe that our understanding of quantum mechanics can be significantly improved by the search for an operational meaning behind its mathematical formulation, which would help to identify the limitations and possibilities of the theory for information processing. An intriguing property of quantum theory is its intrinsic randomness. Indeed, Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen in 1935 questioned the completeness of quantum theory. They argued the possibility of the existence of a complete theory where variables to which we have not access determine the behaviour of physical systems, and the randomness observed in quantum mechanics is then due to our ignorance of these variables. These hidden variables theories, however, were proved not to be enough for explaining the predictions of quantum theory, as shown in the no-go theorems by Bell on quantum-nonlocality and by Kochen and Specker on quantum-contextuality. In the past decades, many experiments have corroborated the nonlocal and contextual character of Nature. However, no intuition behind these phenomena has been found, in particular about what limits their strength. In fact, special relativity alone would allow for phenomena which are more nonlocal than what quantum theory allows. Hence, much effort has been devoted to find the physical properties of quantum theory that restricts these phenomena. In this thesis, we study the constraints that arise on nonlocal and contextual phenomena when a certain exclusiveness structure compatible with quantum theory is imposed in the space of events. Here, an event denotes the situation where an outcome is obtained given that a measurement is performed on the physical system. Regarding nonlocality, we introduce a notion of orthogonality that states that events involving different outcomes of the same local measurement are exclusive, and construct constraints that the correlations among observers should satisfy. We denote this by Local Orthogonality principle (LO), which is the first intrinsically multipartite principle for bounding quantum correlations. We prove that LO identifies the supra-quantum character of some bipartite and multipartite correlations, and gets close to the quantum boundary. When studying contextuality, the same abstract event may correspond to outcomes of different measurements, which introduces a non-trivial structure in the space of events. For its study, we develop a general formalism for contextuality scenarios in the spirit of the recent approach by Cabello, Severini and Winter. In our framework, nonlocality arises as a particular case of contextuality, which allows us to study a generalization of LO. Both in nonlocality and contextuality, we find close connections to problems in combinatorics and hence use graph-theoretical tools for studying correlations. Finally, this thesis also studies the detection of nonlocal correlations. Most results on quantum nonlocality focus on few particles' experiments, while less is known about the detection of quantum nonlocality in many-body systems. Standard many-body observables involve correlations among few particles, while there is still no multipartite Bell inequality to test nonlocality merely from these data. In this thesis, we provide the first proposal for nonlocality detection in many-body systems using two-body correlations. We construct families of Bell inequalities from two-body correlators, which can detect nonlocality for systems with large number of constituents. In addition, we prove violations by systems which are relevant in nuclear and atomic physics, and show how to test these inequalities by measuring global spin components, hence opening the problem to experimental realizations.