On the Unpredictability of Individual Quantum Measurement Outcomes

DOI10.1007/978-3-319-23534-9_4zbMATH Open1465.81009arXiv1403.2738OpenAlexW3104645854WikidataQ58620581 ScholiaQ58620581MaRDI QIDQ2947166FDOQ2947166

Cristian S. Calude, Alastair A. Abbott, Karl Svozil

Publication date: 22 September 2015

Published in: Fields of Logic and Computation II (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We develop a general, non-probabilistic model of prediction which is suitable for assessing the (un)predictability of individual physical events. We use this model to provide, for the first time, a rigorous proof of the unpredictability of a class of individual quantum measurement outcomes, a well-known quantum attribute postulated or claimed for a long time. We prove that quantum indeterminism - formally modelled as value indefiniteness - is incompatible with the supposition of predictability: measurements of value indefinite observables are unpredictable. The proof makes essential use of a strengthened form of the Kochen-Specker theorem proven previously to identify value indefinite observables. This form of quantum unpredictability, like the Kochen-Specker theorem, relies on three assumptions: compatibility with quantum mechanical predictions, non-contextuality, and the value definiteness of observables corresponding to the preparation basis of a quantum state. We explore the relation between unpredictability and incomputability and show that the unpredictability of individual measurements of a value indefinite quantum observable complements, and is independent of, the global strong incomputability of any sequence of outcomes of this particular quantum experiment. Finally, we discuss a real model of hypercomputation whose computational power has yet to be determined, as well as further open problems.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.2738

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Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15)

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Cited In (9)

• Title not available (Why is that?)
• A new quantum random number generator certified by value indefiniteness
• Quantum randomness: from practice to theory and back
• Bi-immunity over different size alphabets
• Prefix-free quantum Kolmogorov complexity
• Typical unpreparability of quantum states with quantum circuit model
• Outcome determinism in measurement-based quantum computation with qudits
• Undecidability and the problem of outcomes in quantum measurements
• Classical, quantum and biological randomness as relative unpredictability

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