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Some Negative Remarks on Operational Approaches to Quantum Theory

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Quantum Theory: Informational Foundations and Foils

Part of the book series: Fundamental Theories of Physics ((FTPH,volume 181))

Abstract

Over the last 10 years there has been an explosion of “operational reconstructions” of quantum theory. This is great stuff: For, through it, we come to see the myriad ways in which the quantum formalism can be chopped into primitives and, through clever toil, brought back together to form a smooth whole. An image of an IQ-Block puzzle comes to mind, http://www.prismenfernglas.de/iqblock_e.htm. There is no doubt that this is invaluable work, particularly for our understanding of the intricate connections between so many quantum information protocols. But to me, it seems to miss the mark for an ultimate understanding of quantum theory; I am left hungry. I still want to know what strange property of matter forces this formalism upon our information accounting. To play on something Einstein once wrote to Max Born, “The quantum reconstructions are certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that they are not yet the real thing. The reconstructions say a lot, but do not really bring us any closer to the secret of the ‘old one’.” In this talk, I hope to expand on these points and convey some sense of why I am fascinated with the problem of the symmetric informationally complete POVMs to an extent greater than axiomatic reconstructions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    David Mermin says it much better in the paper where he originated the phrase ‘shut up and calculate’ [33]: “I would rather celebrate the strangeness of quantum theory than deny it, because I believe it still has interesting things to teach us about how certain powerful but flawed verbal and mental tools we once took for granted continue to infect our thinking in subtly hidden ways .... [T]he problem with the second generation’s iron-fistedly soothing attitude is that by striving to make quantum mechanics appear so ordinary, so sedately practical, so benignly humdrum, they deprive us of the stimulus for exploring some very intriguing questions about the limitations in how we think and how we are capable of apprehending the world.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Raytheon BBN Technologies, 10 Moulton Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Christopher A. Fuchs

  2. Martin A. Fisher School of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, 02453, USA

    Blake C. Stacey

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  1. Christopher A. Fuchs
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  2. Blake C. Stacey
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Correspondence to Christopher A. Fuchs .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Giulio Chiribella

  2. Perimeter Inst Theoretical Physics , Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Robert W. Spekkens

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Fuchs, C.A., Stacey, B.C. (2016). Some Negative Remarks on Operational Approaches to Quantum Theory. In: Chiribella, G., Spekkens, R. (eds) Quantum Theory: Informational Foundations and Foils. Fundamental Theories of Physics, vol 181. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7303-4_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7303-4_9

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