IS RANDOM EVENT THE CORE QUESTION? SOME REMARKS AND A PROPOSAL

H. G. Dosch, J.H.D. Jansen, V.F. Mueller

Vincenzo Manca, Vincenzo Bonnici

Gonzalo de la Torre, Chirag Dhara, Antonio Acín

Contrary to classical physics, the predictions of quantum theory for measurement outcomes are of a probabilistic nature. Questions about the completeness of such predictions lie at the core of quantum physics and can be traced back to the foundations of the field. Recently, the completeness of quantum probabilistic predictions could be established based on the assumption of freedom of choice. Here we ask when can events be established to be as unpredictable as we observe them to be relying only on minimal assumptions, ie. distrusting even the free choice assumption but assuming the existence of an arbitrarily weak (but non-zero) source of randomness. We answer the latter by identifying a sufficient condition weaker than the monogamy of correlations which allow us to provide a family of finite scenarios based on GHZ paradoxes where quantum probabilistic predictions are as accurate as they can possibly be. Our results can be used for a protocol of full randomness amplification, without the need of privacy amplification, in which the final bit approaches a perfect random bit exponentially fast on the number of parties.

Nicolas Gisin

It is argued that realism and true randomness are fully compatible. Realistic true random events are acts of pure creation that obey strict laws, but do not necessarily satisfy Kolmogorov's axioms of probabilities. Realistic true randomness is some sort of nondeterministic force, or propensity of physical systems to manifest such and such properties under such and such conditions. Realistic random events reflect preexisting properties, as required by realism, simply the reflection is not deterministic; still, the preexisting properties determine the propensities of the different possible events. It is argued that deterministic extensions of quantum physics are necessarily incompatible with special relativity. Hence, from today's violations of Bell's inequalities one can conclude that all future physics theories will display true randomness as does quantum physics. It is argued that accepting true randomness and realism leads to new questions with interesting answers, allowing one 1) to study nonlocality in configurations with many independent sources and 2) to bound how much free will is needed for a proper violation of Bell's inequality.

Brian Hayes

Brian Hayes