Quantum Theory from Rules on Information Acquisition

• Main Author: Philipp Andres Höhn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-03-01
• Series: Entropy
• Subjects: reconstruction of quantum theory; entanglement; monogamy; quantum non-locality; conserved informational charges; limited information; complementarity; characterization of unitary group and state spaces
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/19/3/98

We summarize a recent reconstruction of the quantum theory of qubits from rules constraining an observer’s acquisition of information about physical systems. This review is accessible and fairly self-contained, focusing on the main ideas and results and not the technical details. The reconstruction offers an informational explanation for the architecture of the theory and specifically for its correlation structure. In particular, it explains entanglement, monogamy and non-locality compellingly from limited accessible information and complementarity. As a by-product, it also unravels new ‘conserved informational charges’ from complementarity relations that characterize the unitary group and the set of pure states.