PIRSA:09080009

The power of epistemic restrictions in reconstructing quantum theory

Spekkens, R. (2009). The power of epistemic restrictions in reconstructing quantum theory. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/09080009

Spekkens, Robert. The power of epistemic restrictions in reconstructing quantum theory. Perimeter Institute, Aug. 10, 2009, https://pirsa.org/09080009 

          @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}}
          }

Robert Spekkens Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Talk numberPIRSA:09080009
DOI10.48660/09080009
Collection
Talk Type Conference
Subject

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.