Classical Correlated Games

Adam M. Brandenburger

Şahin Kaya Özdemir, Junichi Shimamura, Fumiaki Morikoshi +1 more

Simon J. D. Phoenix, Faisal Shah Khan

We use the example of playing a 2-player game with entangled quantum objects to investigate the effect of quantum correlation. We find that for simple game scenarios it is classical correlation that is the central feature and that these simple quantum games are not sensitive to the quantum part of the correlation. In these games played with quantum objects it is possible to transform a game such as Prisoner's Dilemma into the game of Chicken. We show that this behaviour, and the associated enhanced equilibrium payoff over playing the game with quantum objects in non-entangled states, is entirely due to the classical part of the correlation. Generalizing these games to the pure strategy 2-player quantum game where the players have finite strategy sets and a projective joint measurement is made on the output state produced by the players, we show that a given quantum game of this form can always be reproduced by a classical model, such as a communication channel. Where entanglement is a feature of the these 2-player quantum games the matrix of expected outcomes for the players can be reproduced by a classical channel with correlated noise.

Piotr Frąckiewicz

Yaqing Xy Wang, Giannicola Scarpa, Andreas Winter

Bayesian games, also known as games of incomplete information, are a fruitful arena for exploring the impact of correlations on a set of independent agents (players) via the game equilibria to which they give rise. It was realised some time ago that quantum states shared between the players can lead to new and beneficial equilibria, compared to classical correlation. While until now examples of this effect required an entangled state, here we show that even separable states can create new, genuinely quantum equilibria in games, that are advantageous with respect to all classically correlated equilibria. This shows that non-classical correlations beyond entanglement are indeed a resource, even in otherwise entirely classical situations. Our result brings quantum advantage in games significantly closer to possible realisation.

Azhar Iqbal, Stefan Weigert

A new approach to play games quantum mechanically is proposed. We consider two players who perform measurements in an EPR-type setting. The payoff relations are defined as functions of correlations, i.e. without reference to classical or quantum mechanics. Classical bi-matrix games are reproduced if the input states are classical and perfectly anti-correlated, that is, for a classical correlation game. However, for a quantum correlation game, with an entangled singlet state as input, qualitatively different solutions are obtained. For example, the Prisoners' Dilemma acquires a Nash equilibrium if both players apply a mixed strategy. It appears to be conceptually impossible to reproduce the properties of quantum correlation games within the framework of classical games.