Connecting classical finite exchangeability to quantum theory

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Benavoli, Alessio, Facchini, Alessandro, Zaffalon, Marco
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Benavoli, Alessio
Facchini, Alessandro
Zaffalon, Marco
author_facet Benavoli, Alessio
Facchini, Alessandro
Zaffalon, Marco
contents Exchangeability is a fundamental concept in probability theory and statistics. It allows to model situations where the order of observations does not matter. The classical de Finetti's theorem provides a representation of infinitely exchangeable sequences of random variables as mixtures of independent and identically distributed variables. The quantum de Finetti theorem extends this result to symmetric quantum states on tensor product Hilbert spaces. It is well known that both theorems do not hold for finitely exchangeable sequences. The aim of this work is to investigate two lesser-known representation theorems, which were developed in classical probability theory to extend de Finetti's theorem to finitely exchangeable sequences by using quasi-probabilities and quasi-expectations. With the aid of these theorems, we illustrate how a de Finetti-like representation theorem for finitely exchangeable sequences can be formulated through a mathematical representation which is formally equivalent to quantum theory (with boson-symmetric density matrices). We then show a promising application of this connection to the challenge of defining entanglement for indistinguishable bosons.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2306_03869
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Connecting classical finite exchangeability to quantum theory
Benavoli, Alessio
Facchini, Alessandro
Zaffalon, Marco
Quantum Physics
Probability
Exchangeability is a fundamental concept in probability theory and statistics. It allows to model situations where the order of observations does not matter. The classical de Finetti's theorem provides a representation of infinitely exchangeable sequences of random variables as mixtures of independent and identically distributed variables. The quantum de Finetti theorem extends this result to symmetric quantum states on tensor product Hilbert spaces. It is well known that both theorems do not hold for finitely exchangeable sequences. The aim of this work is to investigate two lesser-known representation theorems, which were developed in classical probability theory to extend de Finetti's theorem to finitely exchangeable sequences by using quasi-probabilities and quasi-expectations. With the aid of these theorems, we illustrate how a de Finetti-like representation theorem for finitely exchangeable sequences can be formulated through a mathematical representation which is formally equivalent to quantum theory (with boson-symmetric density matrices). We then show a promising application of this connection to the challenge of defining entanglement for indistinguishable bosons.
title Connecting classical finite exchangeability to quantum theory
topic Quantum Physics
Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.03869