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arXiv:2304.13561

A no-broadcasting theorem for modal quantum theory

Diamond, Phillip, Benjamin W. Schumacher, Michael D. Westmoreland

Published Apr 26, 2023• 0 citations
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Abstract

The quantum no-broadcasting theorem has an analogue in modal quantum theory (MQT), a toy model based on finite fields. The failure of broadcasting in MQT is related to the failure of distributivity of the lattice of subspaces of the state space.
DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2304.13561

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We examine the toy model of modal quantum theory (MQT), an analogue of actual quantum theory based on finite fields. In particular, we investigate how several essential ``no-go'' results (for cloning, deleting and hiding processes) work in MQT. Cloning and deleting are still forbidden in MQT, though the details of these results are somewhat different in the new context. However, the information of a modal qubit can be completely hidden in the correlations between two entangled modal qubits.
Modal quantum theory (MQT) is a simplified cousin of ordinary Hilbert space quantum theory. We show that two important theorems of actual quantum theory, the Kochen-Specker theorem excluding non-contextual hidden variables and the Conway-Kochen "free will theorem" about entangled systems, have direct analogues in MQT. The proofs of these analogue theorems are similar to, but much simpler than, the originals. We also show that the structure of possible measurement results for an entangled system in MQT cannot be represented by probability assignments satisfying the no-signaling principle, such as those given by ordinary quantum theory.
Modal quantum theory (MQT) is a simplified cousin of ordinary Hilbert space quantum theory. We show that two important theorems of actual quantum theory, the Kochen-Specker theorem excluding non-contextual hidden variables and the Conway-Kochen "free will theorem" about entangled systems, have direct analogues in MQT. The structure of possible measurement results for an entangled system in MQT cannot be represented by probability assignments satisfying the no-signaling principle, such as those given by ordinary quantum theory.
In the tradition of toy models of quantum mechanics in vector spaces over finite fields (e.g., Schumacher and Westmoreland's "modal quantum theory"), one finite field stands out, 2, since vectors over 2 have an interpretation as natural mathematical objects, i.e., sets. This engages a sets-to-vector-spaces bridge that is part of the mathematical folklore to translate both ways between set concepts and vector space concepts. Using that bridge, the mathematical framework of (finite-dimensional) quantum mechanics can be transported down to sets resulting in quantum mechanics over sets or QM/sets. This approach leads to a different treatment of Dirac's brackets than in "modal quantum theory" (MQT), and that gives a full probability calculus (unlike MQT that only has zero-one modalities of impossible and possible). That, in turn, leads to a rather fulsome theory of QM over sets that includes "logical" models of the double-slit experiment, Bell's Theorem, quantum information theory, quantum computing, and much else. Indeed, QM/sets is proposed as the "logic" of QM in the old-fashioned sense of "logic" as giving the simplified essentials of a theory. QM/sets is also a key part of a broader research program to provide an interpretation of QM based on the notion of "objective indefiniteness," a program that grew out the recent development of the logic of partitions mathematically dual to the usual Boolean logic of subsets.