The $n$-qubit Pauli group is an essential ingredient to most quantum applications, from computing and error correction to benchmarking and simulation. Despite comprising merely a discrete set of operators, it exhibits many quintessential features of quantum theory, including contextuality, which has been identified as a key resource to quantum advantage in a variety of different flavours. Here, we extend this analysis, introducing the notion of a `noncontextual property' whose nonexistence proves the Kochen-Specker theorem, similarly to and generalising common arguments based on the nonexistence of valuations. We relate this notion formally to the existence of Boolean-valued frame functions, and characterise all such frame functions in the case of the $n$-qubit Pauli group.
For two qubits, we show that the Pauli group admits noncontextual properties, despite admitting no valuations. We then establish this as the only nontrivial such case with $n\geq 2$, by proving that any Boolean-valued frame function on stabiliser states is constant for more than two qubits. We also perform a similar analysis for the symplectic theory underlying the $n$-qubit Pauli group, for which nonconstant Boolean-valued frame functions exist for all $n$, yet only in restricted form. By comparison, this shows that contextuality in the $n$-qubit Pauli group is not only a consequence of the projective nature of the Pauli group as a representation of its underlying symplectic vector space, but of the geometry of symplectic polar spaces itself. In geometric terms, our result determines all Cameron-Liebler sets of maximal totally isotropic flats in the binary affine-symplectic space.
The n-qubit Pauli group is an essential ingredient to most quantum applications, from computing and error correction to benchmarking and simulation. Despite comprising merely a discrete set of operators, it exhibits many quintessential features of quantum theory, including contextuality, which has been identified as a key resource to quantum advantage in a variety of different flavours. Here, we extend this analysis, introducing the notion of a `noncontextual property' whose nonexistence proves the Kochen-Specker theorem, similarly to and generalising common arguments based on the nonexistence of valuations. We relate this notion formally to the existence of Boolean-valued frame functions, and characterise all such frame functions in the case of the n-qubit Pauli group.
For two qubits, we show that the Pauli group admits noncontextual properties, despite admitting no valuations. We then establish this as the only nontrivial such case with n≥2, by proving that any Boolean-valued frame function on stabiliser states is constant for more than two qubits. We also perform a similar analysis for the symplectic theory underlying the n-qubit Pauli group, for which nonconstant Boolean-valued frame functions exist for all n, yet only in restricted form. By comparison, this shows that contextuality in the n-qubit Pauli group is not only a consequence of the projective nature of the Pauli group as a representation of its underlying symplectic vector space, but of the geometry of symplectic polar spaces itself. In geometric terms, our result determines all Cameron-Liebler sets of maximal totally isotropic flats in the binary affine-symplectic space.
Contextuality is a key distinguishing feature between classical and quantum physics. It expresses a fundamental obstruction to describing quantum theory using classical concepts. In turn, understood as a resource for quantum computation, it is expected to hold the key to quantum advantage. Yet, despite its long recognised importance in quantum foundations and, more recently, in quantum computation, the structural essence of contextuality has remained somewhat elusive - different frameworks address different aspects of the phenomenon, yet their precise relationship often remains unclear. This issue already looms large at the level of the Bell-Kochen-Specker theorem: while traditional proofs proceed by showing the nonexistence of valuations, the notion of state-independent contextuality in the marginal approach allows to prove contextuality from seemingly weaker assumptions. In the light of this, and at the absence of a unified mathematical framework for Kochen-Specker contextuality, the original algebraic approach has been widely abandoned, in favour of the study of contextual correlations. Here, we reinstate the algebraic perspective on contextuality. Concretely, by building on the novel concept of context connections, we reformulate the algebraic relations between observables originally postulated by Kochen and Specker, and we explicitly demonstrate their consistency with the notion of state-independent contextuality. In the present paper, we focus on the new conceptual ideas and discuss them in the concrete setting of spin-1 observables, specifically those in the example of [S. Yu and C.H. Oh, Phys. Rev. Lett., 108, 030402 (2012)]; in a companion paper, we generalise these ideas, obtain a complete characterisation of Kochen-Specker contextuality and provide a detailed comparison with the related notions of contextuality in the marginal and graph-theoretic approach.
Strong O-valued contextuality: ruling out discrete nondeterministic alternatives to quantum theory
Gleason's theorem identifies the Born rule via non-contextuality over an infinite continuous lattice of projectors, while its corollary the Kochen-Specker (KS) theorem rules out the specific class of deterministic ({0,1}-valued) noncontextual models using finite sets of projectors. Gleason's theorem also indicates the existence of KS-type finite vector constructions to rule out other discrete nondeterministic alternatives to quantum theory beyond the {0,1} case. Here, we construct finite measurement configurations to rule out noncontextual empirical models with outcome probabilities drawn from an arbitrary finite subset O⊂[0,1]. We do this by two means: (i) constructing a family of experimentally feasible state-dependent Hardy-type tests, and (ii) proving a generalized KS theorem for a broad class of O that includes prior results as special cases. In the sheaf-theoretic framework of Abramsky and Brandenburger, a hierarchy of probabilistic-possibilistic-strong contextuality has been established quantifying contextuality as a resource. We extend this framework by introducing strong O-valued contextuality, showing that quantum theory evades global sections of all finite-valued presheaves. We also discuss the implications of the result on finite many-valued logics as viable ontological models for quantum theory and for contextuality-based (semi)-device-independent protocols.
Structures that demonstrate nonclassicality are of foundational interest in quantum mechanics, and can also be seen as resources for numerous applications in quantum information processing - particularly in the Hilbert space of N qubits. The theory of entanglement, quantum contextuality, and quantum nonlocality within the N-qubit Pauli group is further developed in this thesis. The Strong Kochen-Specker theorem and the structures that prove it are introduced and explored in detail. The pattern of connections between structures that show entanglement, contextuality, and nonlocality is explained. Computational search algorithms and related tools were developed and used to perform complete searches for minimal nonclassical structures within the N-qubit Pauli group up to values of N limited by our computational resources. Our results are surveyed and prescriptions are given for using the elementary nonclassical structures we have found to construct more complex types of such structures. Families of nonclassical structures are presented for all values of N, including the most compact family of projector-based parity proofs of the Kochen-Specker theorem yet discovered in all dimensions of the form 2N, where N≥2. The applications of our results and their connection with other work is also discussed.
We study the set of n-qubit pure quantum states. Specifically, we consider their incarnation as density matrices in Bloch representation. Building on prior work, we define a family of quadratic functions in Pauli expectation values, and fully characterise all instances that result in state-independent purity constraints. The resulting family of pure-state invariants is surprisingly rich in structure, with strong ties to the geometry of symplectic polar spaces. After charting the general landscape, we define a sub-family of pure-state invariants that satisfies the dynamical constraint of being stable under state update. We prove that it corresponds with (different embeddings of) symplectic Lie algebras sp(2n−1)⊂su(2n), which admit a generating set of Pauli operators. We carefully distinguish the symplectic case from its orthogonal counterpart, using the Arf invariant of quadratic refinements of the symplectic form on the projective Pauli group, which we further identify with quaternionic structures on C2n that are both generated by and restricted to Pauli operators. As a consequence of this analysis, we reveal previously largely overlooked structure in the n-qubit Pauli group. We highlight this in a number of examples. We characterise all state-independent uncertainty relations in variance for Pauli observables, as well as all Pauli channels for which the output fidelity and output purity are state-independent. We further show that the orbits of the projective stabiliser groups of pure-state invariants, which for n≥2 are proper subgroups of the Clifford group, form complex projective state 2-designs, while their unitary lifts form symplectic 2-designs.
Abstract Quantum contextuality takes an important place amongst the concepts of quantum computing that bring an advantage over its classical counterpart. For a large class of contextuality proofs, aka. observable-based proofs of the Kochen-Specker Theorem, we formulate the contextuality property as the absence of solutions to a linear system and define for a contextual configuration its degree of contextuality. Then we explain why subgeometries of binary symplectic polar spaces are candidates for contextuality proofs. We report the results of a software that generates these subgeometries, decides their contextuality and computes their contextuality degree for some small symplectic polar spaces. We show that quadrics in the symplectic polar space W n are contextual for n = 3 , 4 , 5 . The proofs we consider involve more contexts and observables than the smallest known proofs. This intermediate size property of those proofs is interesting for experimental tests, but could also be interesting in quantum game theory.
We present a number of observables-based proofs of the Kochen-Specker (KS) theorem based on the N-qubit Pauli group for $N\ensuremath{\ge}4$, thus adding to the proofs that have been presented earlier for the 2- and 3-qubit groups. These proofs have the attractive feature that they can be presented in the form of diagrams from which they are obvious by inspection. They are also irreducible in the sense that they cannot be reduced to smaller proofs by ignoring some subset of qubits and/or observables in them. A simple algorithm is given for transforming any observables-based KS proof into a large number of projectors-based KS proofs; if the observables-based proof has O observables, with each observable occurring in exactly two commuting sets and any two commuting sets having at most one observable in common, the number of associated projectors-based parity proofs is 2O. We introduce symbols for the observables- and projectors-based KS proofs that capture their important features and also convey a feeling for the enormous variety of both these types of proofs within the N-qubit Pauli group. We discuss an infinite family of observables-based proofs, whose members include all numbers of qubits from 2 up, and show how it can be used to generate projectors-based KS proofs involving only 9 bases (or experimental contexts) in any dimension of the form 2N for $N\ensuremath{\ge}2$. Some implications of our results are discussed.