Christopher G. Timpson, Quantum Information Theory and the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2013), 293 pp., $85.00 (cloth).

Following the view of several leading quantum-information theorists, this paper argues that quantum phenomena, including those exhibiting quantum correlations (one of their most enigmatic features), and quantum mechanics may be best understood in quantum-informational terms. It also argues that this understanding is implicit already in the work of some among the founding figures of quantum mechanics, in particular W. Heisenberg and N. Bohr, half a century before quantum information theory emerged and confirmed, and gave a deeper meaning to, to their insights. These insights, I further argue, still help this understanding, which is the main reason for considering them here. My argument is grounded in a particular interpretation of quantum phenomena and quantum mechanics, in part arising from these insights as well. This interpretation is based on the concept of reality without realism, RWR (which places the reality considered beyond representation or even conception), introduced by this author previously, in turn, following Heisenberg and Bohr, and in response to quantum information theory.

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Quantum information theory

Quantum Information ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198527626.003.0011 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Stephen Barnett

Keyword(s):

Information Theory ◽

Quantum Mechanics ◽

Quantum Information ◽

Quantum Information Theory ◽

Quantum Circuits ◽

Classical Counterpart ◽

Theory Of Information ◽

The Many

The astute reader might have formed the impression that quantum in formation science is a rather qualitative discipline because we have not, as yet, explained how to quantify quantum information. There are three good reasons for leaving this important question until the final chapter. Firstly, quantum information theory is technically demanding and to treat it at an earlier stage might have suggested that our subject was more complicated than it is. Secondly, there is the fact that many of the ideas in the field, such as teleportation and quantum circuits, are unfamiliar and it was important to present these as simply as possible. Finally, and most importantly, the theory of quantum information is not yet fully developed. It has not yet reached, in particular, the level of completeness of its classical counterpart. For this reason we can answer only some of the many questions we would like a quantum theory of information to address. Having said this, we can say that however, there are beautiful and useful mathematical results and it seems certain that these will continue to form an important part of the theory as it develops. We noted in the introduction to Chapter 1 that ‘quantum mechanics is a probabilistic theory and so it was inevitable that a quantum information theory would be developed’. A presentation of at least the beginnings of a quantitative theory is the objective of this final chapter. The entropy or information derived from a given probability distribution is, as we have seen, a convenient measure of the uncertainty associated with the distribution. If many of the probabilities are large, so that many of the possible events are comparably likely, then the entropy will be large. If one probability is close to unity, however, then the entropy will be small. It is convenient to introduce entropy in quantum mechanics as a measure of the uncertainty, or lack of knowledge, of the form of the state vector. If we know that our system is in a particular pure state then the associated uncertainty or entropy should be zero. For mixed states, however, it will take a non-zero value.

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QUANTUM INFORMATION — WHAT PRICE REALISM?

International Journal of Quantum Information ◽

10.1142/s0219749905000694 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 03 (01) ◽

pp. 165-170

Author(s):

AMIT HAGAR

Keyword(s):

Information Theory ◽

Quantum Mechanics ◽

Quantum Information ◽

Measurement Problem ◽

Quantum Information Theory ◽

Conceptual Problem

Recent suggestions to supply quantum mechanics (QM) with realistic foundations by reformulating it in light of quantum information theory (QIT) are examined and are found wanting by pointing to a basic conceptual problem that QIT itself ignores, namely, the measurement problem. Since one cannot ignore the measurement problem and at the same time pretend to be a realist, as they stand, the suggestions to reformulate QM in light of QIT are nothing but instrumentalism in disguise.

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THE PHYSICS OF QUANTUM INFORMATION: COMPLEMENTARITY, UNCERTAINTY, AND ENTANGLEMENT

International Journal of Quantum Information ◽

10.1142/s0219749913300027 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 11 (08) ◽

pp. 1330002 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

JOSEPH M. RENES

Keyword(s):

Information Theory ◽

Quantum Mechanics ◽

Information Processing ◽

Quantum Information ◽

Quantum Information Processing ◽

Quantum Information Theory ◽

Wave Particle Duality ◽

Double Slit Experiment ◽

Slit Experiment ◽

Double Slit

Complementarity is one of the central mysteries of quantum mechanics, dramatically illustrated by the wave-particle duality in Young's double-slit experiment, and famously regarded by Feynman as "impossible, absolutely impossible to describe classically, [and] which has in it the heart of quantum mechanics" (emphasis original).1 The overarching goal of this thesis is to demonstrate that complementarity is also at the heart of quantum information theory, that it allows us to make (some) sense of just what information "quantum information" refers to, and that it is useful in understanding and constructing quantum information processing protocols.

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