2025/06/07 by Stefan Trandafir, Trandafir, Stefan, Colm Kelleher +3
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #81P13 #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2506.06869
openalex publication_date 2025/06/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Classically simulating the quantum contextual correlations produced by sequences of ideal measurements of compatible observables requires the measured system to have an internal memory. Computing the minimum amount of memory needed is, in general, challenging. Here, building upon the work of Kleinmann et al. [New J. Phys. 13, 113011 (2011)], we prove that the memory cost for simulating the contextuality produced by the 10 three-qubit observables of Mermin's pentagram is only log2(5) ≈ 2.32 bits, but the memory cost for simulating the contextuality produced by all 15 two-qubit Pauli observables is, at least, log2(6) ≈ 2.58 bits, thus exceeding the classical capacity of the system on which the measurements are performed. We also add results on the memory for simulating some subsets of quantum predictions.