The power of epistemic restrictions in reconstructing quantum theory
APA
Spekkens, R. (2009). The power of epistemic restrictions in reconstructing quantum theory. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/09080009
MLA
Spekkens, Robert. The power of epistemic restrictions in reconstructing quantum theory. Perimeter Institute, Aug. 10, 2009, https://pirsa.org/09080009
BibTex
@misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:09080009, doi = {10.48660/09080009}, url = {https://pirsa.org/09080009}, author = {Spekkens, Robert}, keywords = {Quantum Foundations}, language = {en}, title = {The power of epistemic restrictions in reconstructing quantum theory}, publisher = {Perimeter Institute}, year = {2009}, month = {aug}, note = {PIRSA:09080009 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}} }
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
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Abstract
A significant part of quantum theory can be obtained from a single innovation relative to classical theories, namely, that there is a fundamental restriction on the sorts of statistical distributions over classical states that can be prepared. (Such a restriction is termed “epistemic” because it implies a fundamental limit on the amount of knowledge that any observer can have about the classical state.) I will support this claim in the particular case of a theory of many classical 3-state systems (trits) where if a particular kind of epistemic restriction is assumed -- one that appeals to the symplectic structure of the classical state space -- it is possible to reproduce the operational predictions of the stabilizer formalism for qutrits. The latter is an interesting subset of the full quantum theory of qutrits, a discrete analogue of Gaussian quantum mechanics. This is joint work with Olaf Schreiber.