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Springer eBooks

Categorical Quantum Theory

Peter Nonnenmann

Published Jan 1, 2021• 0 citations
Publisher
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-78829-2_13

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Interest has grown in recent years in the construction of ‘quantum-like’ theories, toy theories which exhibit some but not all features of quantum mechanics. Such theories are expressed in diverse mathematical terms which may impede comparison of their properties. In this thesis we present a unifying mathematical framework in which we can compare a variety of ‘quantum-like’ theories, based on Abramsky and Coecke’s work on applying category theory to quantum mechanics. By doing so we hope to gain a clearer insight into the precise ways in which these theories differ mathematically, and whether this relates to the differences in phenomena which they predict. As an example of this kind of approach, we express Spekkens’s toy bit theory within the categorical framework, in the process proving its consistency. The toy bit theory reproduces many features of quantum mechanics, and this is reflected in the fact that within the categorical framework it shares many structural features with quantum mechanics. It differs however, in that it is, by construction, a local hidden variable theory. We develop a categorical treatment of hidden variables, and then demonstrate that the categorical structures which differ between quantummechanics and the toy theory are exactly those which relate to the question of hidden variables. We extend this to a general result applying to a wider range of theories.

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Categories for Quantum Theory: An Introduction

Chris Heunen, Jamie Vicary

•Jan 14, 2020•32 citations
We present a simple categorical framework for the treatment of probabilistic theories, with the aim of reconciling the fields of Categorical Quantum Mechanics (CQM) and Operational Probabilistic Theories (OPTs). In recent years, both CQM and OPTs have found successful application to a number of areas in quantum foundations and information theory: they present many similarities, both in spirit and in formalism, but they remain separated by a number of subtle yet important differences. We attempt to bridge this gap, by adopting a minimal number of operationally motivated axioms which provide clean categorical foundations, in the style of CQM, for the treatment of the problems that OPTs are concerned with.
Categorical supermaps generalise higher-order quantum operations from finite-dimensional quantum theory to arbitrary circuit theories. In this paper, we establish the Yoneda lemma for categorical supermaps, which states that whenever a physical theory has a suitable notion of channel-state duality, then categorical supermaps on that theory can be concretely represented in terms of that duality. This lemma eliminates any guesswork or ambiguity when defining the appropriate notion of supermap for these theories. As a concrete application, we show that the categorical supermaps on Boxworld are in general characterised by a physically well-motivated weaking of the recently proposed NSWSE principle for higher-order processes on boxworld. Furthermore, via the same Yoneda lemma we put forward a stable definition for supermaps in real quantum theory.
Interest has grown in recent years in the construction of ‘quantum-like’ theories, toy theories which exhibit some but not all features of quantum mechanics. Such theories are expressed in diverse mathematical terms which may impede comparison of their properties. In this thesis we present a unifying mathematical framework in which we can compare a variety of ‘quantum-like’ theories, based on Abramsky and Coecke’s work on applying category theory to quantum mechanics. By doing so we hope to gain a clearer insight into the precise ways in which these theories differ mathematically, and whether this relates to the differences in phenomena which they predict. As an example of this kind of approach, we express Spekkens’s toy bit theory within the categorical framework, in the process proving its consistency. The toy bit theory reproduces many features of quantum mechanics, and this is reflected in the fact that within the categorical framework it shares many structural features with quantum mechanics. It differs however, in that it is, by construction, a local hidden variable theory. We develop a categorical treatment of hidden variables, and then demonstrate that the categorical structures which differ between quantummechanics and the toy theory are exactly those which relate to the question of hidden variables. We extend this to a general result applying to a wider range of theories.