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Contrasting classical and quantum theory in the context of quasi-probability

Christopher Ferrie

Published Aug 22, 2008• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Several finite dimensional quasi-probability representations of \nquantum states have been proposed to study various problems in \nquantum information theory and quantum foundations. These \nrepresentations are often defined only on restricted dimensions and \ntheir physical significance in contexts such as drawing \nquantum-classical comparisons is limited by the non-uniqueness of \nthe particular representation. In this thesis it is shown how the mathematical \ntheory of frames provides a unified formalism which accommodates all \nknown quasi-probability representations of finite dimensional \nquantum systems. \n \nIt is also shown that any quasi-probability \nrepresentation is equivalent to a frame representation and it is \nproven that any such representation of quantum mechanics must exhibit \neither negativity or a deformed probability calculus. \n \nAlong the way, the connection between negativity and two other famous notions of non-classicality, namely contextuality and nonlocality, is clarified.

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Several finite dimensional quasi-probability representations of \nquantum states have been proposed to study various problems in \nquantum information theory and quantum foundations. These \nrepresentations are often defined only on restricted dimensions and \ntheir physical significance in contexts such as drawing \nquantum-classical comparisons is limited by the non-uniqueness of \nthe particular representation. In this thesis it is shown how the mathematical \ntheory of frames provides a unified formalism which accommodates all \nknown quasi-probability representations of finite dimensional \nquantum systems. \n \nIt is also shown that any quasi-probability \nrepresentation is equivalent to a frame representation and it is \nproven that any such representation of quantum mechanics must exhibit \neither negativity or a deformed probability calculus. \n \nAlong the way, the connection between negativity and two other famous notions of non-classicality, namely contextuality and nonlocality, is clarified.
Several finite-dimensional quasi-probability representations of quantum states have been proposed to study various problems in quantum information theory and quantum foundations. These representations are often defined only on restricted dimensions and their physical significance in contexts such as drawing quantum-classical comparisons is limited by the non-uniqueness of the particular representation. Here we show how the mathematical theory of frames provides a unified formalism which accommodates all known quasi-probability representations of finite-dimensional quantum systems. Moreover, we show that any quasi-probability representation is equivalent to a frame representation and then prove that any such representation of quantum mechanics must exhibit either negativity or a deformed probability calculus.
Building on earlier work, we further develop a formalism based on the mathematical theory of frames that defines a set of possible phase-space or quasi-probability representations of finite-dimensional quantum systems. We prove that an alternate approach to defining a set of quasi-probability representations, based on a more natural generalization of a classical representation, is equivalent to our earlier approach based on frames, and therefore is also subject to our no-go theorem for a non-negative representation. Furthermore, we clarify the relationship between the contextuality of quantum theory and the necessity of negativity in quasi-probability representations and discuss their relevance as criteria for non-classicality. We also provide a comprehensive overview of known quasi-probability representations and their expression within the frame formalism.
This paper comprises a review of both the quasi-probability representations of infinite-dimensional quantum theory (including the Wigner function) and the more recently defined quasi-probability representations of finite-dimensional quantum theory. We focus on both the characteristics and applications of these representations with an emphasis toward quantum information theory. We discuss the recently proposed unification of the set of possible quasi-probability representations via frame theory and then discuss the practical relevance of negativity in such representations as a criteria for quantumness.
A classical simulation scheme of quantum computation given a restricted set of states and measurements may be---occasionally, but only occasionally---interpreted naturally as a statistical simulation of positive quasi-probability distributions on a phase space. In this dissertation, we explore phase space representations for finite-dimensional quantum systems and their negativities beyond the usual analogues of the Wigner function. The first line of study focuses on a characterization tool for valid quasi-probability distributions of (possibly mixed) quantum states. A quantum generalization of Bochner's theorem from classical probability theory simultaneously characterizes both the set of valid Wigner functions and the subset of positive ones. We extend this theorem to discrete phase spaces based on projective representations of abelian groups, including the discrete Wigner functions of Gross (J. Math. Phys. 47, 122107 (2006)) and Gibbons et al. (Phys. Rev. A 70, 062101 (2004)). The rest of the dissertation is then dedicated to phase space representations covariant with respect to a general Lie group. This means, in particular, that operators that lie in the same orbit of the group have the same amount of negativity in their quasi-probabilities---a natural requirement if one would like to interpret negativity as non-classicality, and the group action as a classical dynamics. We show that the construction due to Brif and Mann (Phys. Rev. A 59, 971 (1999)) of group covariant phase space representations satisfying the so-called Stratonovich-Weyl correspondence is essentially unique, given the group and an input state in the relevant representation. As an application, we construct quasi-probability representations on a compact phase space of fermionic Gaussian states tailored to a classically simulatable problem of fermionic linear optics and find that, in the first non-trivial case of four fermionic modes, the quasi-probabilities of the Gaussian states exhibit a considerable amount of negativity.
A unification of the set of quasiprobability representations using the mathematical theory of frames was recently developed for quantum systems with finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces, in which it was proven that such representations require negative probability in either the states or the effects. In this article we extend those results to Hilbert spaces of infinite dimension, for which the celebrated Wigner function is a special case. Hence, this article presents a unified framework for describing the set of possible quasiprobability representations of quantum theory, and a proof that the presence of negativity is a necessary feature of such representations.
The physical content of a theory is not intrinsically tied to any single mathematical formalism. Both classical and quantum mechanics admit equivalent representations, notably in phase space and in Hilbert space, related by the Wigner-Weyl correspondence. While this correspondence has long been studied in mathematical physics, its foundational and operational implications are often left implicit. Here we give a systematic account of what changes, and what does not, when classical and quantum theories are expressed in each other's native language. This representational viewpoint separates artifacts (such as the appearance of non-positivity or negativity under certain maps) from robust structural distinctions that persist across representations, in particular noncommutativity and its ℏ\hbarℏ-dependent ⋆\star⋆-deformation of the classical algebra. We develop the comparison at the level of states, kinematics, and dynamics, and extend it to measurement by formulating both outcome statistics and state-update rules within the same framework.