2005/07/12 by Howard Barnum, Barnum, Howard, Christopher A. Fuchs +5
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0507108
27 pages
arxiv created 2005/07/12 · openalex publication_date 2005/07/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Let Alice and Bob be able to make local quantum measurements and communicate classically. The set of mathematically consistent joint probability assignments (``states'') for such measurements is properly larger than the set of quantum-mechanical mixed states for the Alice-Bob system. It is canonically isomorphic to the set of positive (not necessarily completely positive) linear maps Phi from the bounded linear operators on Alice's space to those on Bob's, for which Tr Phi(I)=1. We review the fact that allowing classical communication is equivalent to enforcing ``no-instantaneous-signalling'' (``no--influence'') in the direction opposite the communication. We establish that in the subclass of ``decomposable'' states, i.e. convex combinations of positive states with "PTP" ones whose partial transpose is positive, the extremal states are just the extremal positive and extremal PTP states. We show that two such states, shared by the same pair of parties, cannot necessarily be combined as independent states (their tensor product) if the full set of quantum operations is allowed locally to each party. We use a framework of ``test spaces'' and states on these, suited for exhibiting the analogies and deviations of empirical probabilistic theories from classical probability theory. This leads to a deeper understanding of analogies between quantum mechanics and Bayesian probability theory. The existence of a ``most Bayesian'' quantum rule for updating states after measurement, and its association with the situation when information on one system is gained by measuring another, is a case of a general proposition holding for test spaces combined subject to the no-signalling requirement.