Since Deutsch (1985), quantum computers have been modeled exclusively in the language of state vectors and the Schroedinger equation. We present a complementary view of quantum circuits inspired by the path integral formalism of quantum mechanics, and examine its application to some simple textbook problems.
Topos theory has been suggested by Doring and Isham as an alternative mathematical structure with which to formulate physical theories. In particular it has been used to reformulate standard quantum mechanics in such a way that a novel type of logic is used to represent propositions. In this paper we extend this formulation to include temporally-ordered collections of propositions as opposed to single-time propositions. That is to say, we have developed a quantum history formalism in the language of topos theory where truth values can be assigned to temporal propositions. We analyse the extent…
In the consistent histories formulation of quantum theory it was shown that it is possible to retrodict contrary properties. We show that this problem do not appear in our formalism of generalized contexts for quantum histories.
A formulation of the consistent histories approach to quantum mechanics in terms of generalized observables (POV measures) and effect operators is provided. The usual notion of `history' is generalized to the notion of `effect history'. The space of effect histories carries the structure of a D-poset. Recent results of J.D. Maitland Wright imply that every decoherence functional defined for ordinary histories can be uniquely extended to a bi-additive decoherence functional on the space of effect histories. Omnes' logical interpretation is generalized to the present context. The result of this …
Recent work with Dowker on the scientific status of the consistent histories approach to quantum theory is reviewed and summarised. The approach is compared with formulations of quantum theory, such as Bohmian mechanics and the Copenhagen interpretation a la Landau-Lifshitz, in which classical variables are explicitly appended. I try to explain why the consistent histories formulation is scientifically problematic, in that it is a very weak theory, but also scientifically interesting, shedding new light on quantum theory.
I briefly review the ''decohering histories'' or ''consistent histories'' formulation of quantum theory, due to Griffiths, Omnes, and Gell-Mann and Hartle (and the subject of my graduate work with George Sudarshan). I also sift through the many meanings that have been attached to decohering histories, with an emphasis on the most basic one: Decoherence of appropriate histories is needed to establish that quantum mechanics has the correct classical limit. Then I will describe efforts to find physical mechanisms that do this. Since most work has focused on density matrix versions of decoherence,…
In this work a generalization of the consistent histories approach to quantum mechanics is presented. We first critically review the consistent histories approach to nonrelativistic quantum mechanics in a mathematically rigorous way and give some general comments about it. We investigate to what extent the consistent histories scheme is compatible with the results of the operational formulation of quantum mechanics. According to the operational approach nonrelativistic quantum mechanics is most generally formulated in terms of effects, states and operations. We formulate a generalized consiste…
Within the decoherent histories formulation of quantum mechanics, we investigate necessary conditions for decoherence of arbitrarily long histories. We prove that fine-grained histories of arbitrary length decohere for all classical initial states if and only if the unitary evolution preserves classicality of states (using a natural formal definition of classicality). We give a counterexample showing that this equivalence does not hold for coarse-grained histories.
This paper shows that, if we could examine the entire history of a hidden variable, then we could efficiently solve problems that are believed to be intractable even for quantum computers. In particular, under any hidden-variable theory satisfying a reasonable axiom called "indifference to the identity," we could solve the Graph Isomorphism and Approximate Shortest Vector problems in polynomial time, as well as an oracle problem that is known to require quantum exponential time. We could also search an N-item database using O(N^{1/3}) queries, as opposed to O(N^{1/2}) queries with Grover's sea…
Understanding quantum theory has been a subject of debate from its birth. Many different formulations and interpretations have been proposed. Here we examine a recent novel formulation, namely the coevents formulation. It is a histories formulation and has as starting point the Feynman path integral and the decoherence functional. The new ontology turns out to be that of a coarse-grained history. We start with a quantum measure defined on the space of histories, and the existence of zero covers rules out single-history as potential reality (the Kochen Specker theorem casted in histories form i…
The predictions of the Bohmian and the decoherent (or consistent) histories formulations of the quantum mechanics of a closed system are compared for histories -- sequences of alternatives at a series of times. For certain kinds of histories, Bohmian mechanics and decoherent histories may both be formulated in the same mathematical framework within which they can be compared. In that framework, Bohmian mechanics and decoherent histories represent a given history by different operators. Their predictions for the probabilities of histories therefore generally differ. However, in an idealized mod…
Within the decoherent histories formulation of quantum mechanics, we consider arbitrarily long histories constructed from a fixed projective partition of a finite-dimensional Hilbert space. We review some of the decoherence properties of such histories including simple necessary decoherence conditions and the dependence of decoherence on the initial state. Here we make a first step towards generalization of our earlier results [Scherer and Soklakov, e-print: quant-ph/0405080, (2004) and Scherer et al., Phys. Lett. A, vol. 326, 307, (2004)] to the case of approximate decoherence.
Following the argument of Pusey, Barrett and Rudolph (Nature Phys. 8:476, 2012), new interest has been raised on whether one can interpret state-vectors (pure states) in a statistical way ($ψ$-epistemic theories), or if each of them corresponds to a different ontological entity. Each interpretation of quantum theory assumes different ontology and one could ask if the PBR argument carries over. Here we examine this question for histories formulations in general with particular attention to the co-event formulation. State-vectors appear as the initial state that enters into the quantum measure. …
In this article we reconstruct the Frauchiger and Renner argument, taking into account that the assertions of the argument are made at different times. To do this, we use a formalism of quantum histories, namely the Theory of Consistent Histories. We show that the supposedly contradictory conclusion of the argument requires computing probabilities in a family of histories that does not satisfy the consistency condition, i.e., an invalid family of histories for the theory.
We present a formulation of the decoherent (or consistent) histories quantum theory of closed systems starting with records of what histories happen. Alternative routes to a formulation of quantum theory like this one can be useful both for understanding quantum mechanics and for generalizing and extending it to new realms of application and experimental test.
The best developed formulation of closed system quantum theory that handles multiple-time statements, is the consistent (or decoherent) histories approach. The most important weaknesses of the approach is that it gives rise to many different consistent sets, and it has been argued that a complete interpretation should be accompanied with a natural mechanism leading to a (possibly) unique preferred consistent set. The existence of multiple consistent sets becomes more problematic because it allows the existence of contrary inferences (Kent 1997). We analyse the conceptual difficulties that aris…
Interpretational questions that arise in the Consistent Histories formulation of quantum mechanics are illustrated by the familiar example of a beam passing through multiple slits.
We review the application of the consistent (or decoherent) histories formulation of quantum theory to canonical loop quantum cosmology. Conventional quantum theory relies crucially on "measurements" to convert unrealized quantum potentialities into physical outcomes that can be assigned probabilities. In the early universe and other physical contexts in which there are no observers or measuring apparatus (or indeed, in any closed quantum system), what criteria determine which alternative outcomes may be realized and what their probabilities are? In the consistent histories formulation it is t…
The quantum Zeno effect arises due to frequent observation. That implies the existence of some experimenter and its interaction with the system. In this contribution, we examine what happens for a closed system if one considers a quantum Zeno type of question, namely: "what is the probability of a system, remaining always in a particular subspace". This has implications to the arrival time problem that is also discussed. We employ the decoherent histories approach to quantum theory, as this is the better developed formulation of closed system quantum mechanics, and in particular, dealing with …
The quantum mechanics of closed systems such as the universe is formulated using an extension of familiar probability theory that incorporates negative probabilities. Probabilities must be positive for sets of alternative histories that are the basis of fair settleable bets. However, in quantum mechanics there are sets of alternative histories that can be described but which cannot be the basis for fair settleable bets. Members of such sets can be assigned extended probabilities that are sometimes negative. A prescription for extended probabilities is introduced that assigns extended probabili…
An introduction is given to an algebraic formulation and generalisation of the consistent histories approach to quantum theory. The main technical tool in this theory is an orthoalgebra of history propositions that serves as a generalised temporal analogue of the lattice of propositions of standard quantum logic. Particular emphasis is placed on those cases in which the history propositions can be represented by projection operators in a Hilbert space, and on the associated concept of a `history group'.
This paper discusses the relation between the decoherent histories approach to quantum mechanics that is based on coarse-grained decoherent histories of a closed system, and the approximate quantum mechanics of measured subsystems, as in the Copenhagen interpretation. We show how the a classical world used in such formulations is not to something to be postulated but rather explained by suitable sets of alternative histories of quasiclassical variables. We discuss the general definition of measurement, the collapse of the wave function, and irreversibility from the perspective of decoherent hi…
Feynman's sum-over-histories formulation of quantum mechanics is reviewed as an independent statement of quantum theory in spacetime form. It is different from the usual Schrödinger-Heisenberg formulation that utilizes states on spacelike surfaces because it assigns probabilities to different sets of alternatives. Sum-over-histories quantum mechanics can be generalized to deal with spacetime alternatives that are not "at definite moments of time". An example in field theory is the set of alternative ranges of values of a field averaged over a spacetime region. An example in particle mechanics …
We introduce a framework for studying non-locality and contextuality inspired by the path integral formulation of quantum theory. We prove that the existence of a strongly positive joint quantum measure -- the quantum analogue of a joint probability measure -- on a set of experimental probabilities implies the Navascues-Pironio-Acin (NPA) condition $Q^1$ and is implied by the stronger NPA condition $Q^{1+AB}$. A related condition is shown to be equivalent to $Q^{1+AB}$.
Traditional interpretations of quantum theory in terms of wave function collapse are particularly unappealing when considering the universe as a whole, where there is no clean separation between classical observer and quantum system and where the description is inherently relativistic. As an alternative, the consistent histories approach provides an attractive "no collapse" interpretation of quantum physics. Consistent histories can also be linked to path-integral formulations that may be readily generalized to the relativistic case. A previous paper described how, in such a relativistic space…
Feynman's sum-over-histories formulation of quantum mechanics has been considered a useful calculational tool in which virtual Feynman histories entering into a coherent quantum superposition cannot be individually measured. Here we show that sequential weak values, inferred by consecutive weak measurements of projectors, allow direct experimental probing of individual virtual Feynman histories thereby revealing the exact nature of quantum interference of coherently superposed histories. Because the total sum of sequential weak values of multi-time projection operators for a complete set of or…
A dynamical quantum model assigns an eigenstate to a specified observable even when no measurement is made, and gives a stochastic evolution rule for that eigenstate. Such a model yields a distribution over classical histories of a quantum state. We study what can be computed by sampling from that distribution, i.e., by examining an observer's entire history. We show that, relative to an oracle, one can solve problems in polynomial time that are intractable even for quantum computers; and can search an N-element list in order N^{1/3} steps (though not fewer).
The foundations of quantum mechanics have been plagued by controversy throughout the 85 year history of the field. It is argued that lack of clarity in the formulation of basic philosophical questions leads to unnecessary obscurity and controversy and an attempt is made to identify the main forks in the road that separate the most important interpretations of quantum theory. The consistent histories formulation, also known as "consistent quantum theory", is described as one particular way (favored by the author) to answer the essential questions of interpretation. The theory is shown to be a r…
The theory of decoherent histories is an attempt to derive classical physics from positing only quantum laws at the fundamental level without notions of a classical apparatus or collapse of the wave-function. Searching for a marked target in a list of N items requires Ω(N) oracle queries when using a classical computer, while a quantum computer can accomplish the same task in O{\sqrt{N}} queries using Grover's quantum algorithm. We study a closed quantum system executing Grover algorithm in the framework of decoherent histories and find it to be an exactly solvable model, thus yielding an alte…
The Consistent Histories (CH) formalism aims at a quantum mechanical framework which could be applied even to the universe as a whole. CH stresses the importance of histories for quantum mechanics, as opposed to measurements, and maintains that a satisfactory formulation of quantum mechanics allows one to assign probabilities to alternative histories of a quantum system. It further proposes that each realm, that is, each set of histories to which probabilities can be assigned, provides a valid quantum-mechanical account, but that different realms can be mutually incompatible. Finally, some of …
This dissertation investigates questions arising in the consistent histories formulation of the quantum mechanics of closed systems. Various criteria for approximate consistency are analysed. The connection between the Dowker-Halliwell criterion and sphere packing problems is shown and used to prove several new bounds on the violation of probability sum rules. The quantum Zeno effect is also analysed within the consistent histories formalism and used to demonstrate some of the difficulties involved in discussing approximate consistency. The complications associated with null histories and infi…
With the advent of quantum computers, many quantum computing algorithms are being developed. Solving linear systems is one of the most fundamental problems in almost all science and engineering. The Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd algorithm, a monumental quantum algorithm for solving linear systems on gate model quantum computers, was invented and several advanced variations have been developed. For a given n by n matrix A and a vector b, we will find unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) models for a vector x that satisfies Ax=b. To formulate QUBO models for a linear system solving problem, we make …
The problem of time in canonical quantum gravity is related to the fact that the canonical description is based on the prior choice of a spacelike foliation, hence making a reference to a spacetime metric. However, the metric is expected to be a dynamical, fluctuating quantity in quantum gravity. We show how this problem can be solved in the histories formulation of general relativity. We implement the 3+1 decomposition using metric-dependent foliations which remain spacelike with respect to all possible Lorentzian metrics. This allows us to find an explicit relation of covariant and canonical…
A new formulation of quantum mechanics is developed which does not require the concept of the wave-particle duality. Rather than assigning probabilities to outcomes, probabilities are instead assigned to entire fine-grained histories. The formulation is fully relativistic and applicable to multi-particle systems. It shall be shown that this new formulation makes the same experimental predictions as quantum field theory, but without having to rely upon the notion of a system evolving in a superposition of quantum states until collapsed by an observation. It is thus free from the problem of deci…
Adiabatic limit is the presumption of the adiabatic geometric quantum computation and of the adiabatic quantum algorithm. But in reality, the variation speed of the Hamiltonian is finite. Here we develop a general formulation of adiabatic quantum computing, which accurately describes the evolution of the quantum state in a perturbative way, in which the adiabatic limit is the zeroth-order approximation. As an application of this formulation, non-adiabatic correction or error is estimated for several physical implementations of the adiabatic geometric gates. A quantum computing process consisti…
We review the consistent histories formulations of quantum mechanics developed by Griffiths, Omnès and Gell-Mann and Hartle, and describe the classification of consistent sets. We illustrate some general features of consistent sets by a few simple lemmas and examples. We consider various interpretations of the formalism, and examine the new problems which arise in reconstructing the past and predicting the future. It is shown that Omnès' characterisation of true statements --- statements which can be deduced unconditionally in his interpretation --- is incorrect. We examine critically Gell-Man…
Quantum measure theory can be introduced as a histories based reformulation (and generalisation) of Copenhagen quantum mechanics in the image of classical stochastic theories. These classical models lend themselves to a simple interpretation in which a single history (a single element of the sample space) is deemed to be 'real'; we require only that this real history should not be ruled out by the dynamics, the axioms of which ensure that not all histories are precluded. However, applying this interpretation naively to quantum measure theory we can find experimentally realisable systems (notab…
We extend previous work on the arrival time problem in quantum mechanics, in the framework of decoherent histories, to the case of a particle coupled to an environment. The usual arrival time probabilities are related to the probability current, so we explore the properties of the current for general open systems that can be written in terms of a master equation of Lindblad form. We specialise to the case of quantum Brownian motion, and show that after a time of order the localisation time the current becomes positive. We show that the arrival time probabilities can then be written in terms of…
A class of decoherence schemes is described for implementing the principles of generalized quantum theory in reparametrization-invariant `hyperbolic' models such as minisuperspace quantum cosmology. The connection with sum-over-histories constructions is exhibited and the physical equivalence or inequivalence of different such schemes is analyzed. The discussion focuses on comparing constructions based on the Klein-Gordon product with those based on the induced (a.k.a. Rieffel, Refined Algebraic, Group Averaging, or Spectral Analysis) inner product. It is shown that the Klein-Gordon and induce…
Quantum history states were recently formulated by extending the consistent histories approach of Griffiths to the entangled superposition of evolution paths and were then experimented with Greenberger--Horne--Zeilinger states. Tensor product structure of history-dependent correlations was also recently exploited as a quantum computing resource in simple linear optical setups performing multiplane diffraction (MPD) of fermionic and bosonic particles with remarkable promises. This significantly motivates the definition of quantum histories of MPD as entanglement resources with the inherent capa…
We aim to analytically arrive at a beam splitter formulation for electron waves. The electron beam splitter is an essential component of quantum logical devices. To arrive at the beam splitter structure, the electrons are treated as waves, i.e. we assume the transport to be ballistic. Ballistic electrons are electrons that travel over such short distances that their phase coherence is maintained. For mesoscopic devices with size smaller than the mean free path, the phase relaxation length and the Fermi wavelength of electrons in the medium, the transport can be considered to be coherent and he…
Using the subdynamical kinetic equation for an open quantum system, a formulation is presented for performing decoherence-free (DF) quantum computing in Rigged Liouville Space (RLS). Three types of interactions were considered, and in each case, stationary and evolutionary states were evaluated for DF behavior in both the total space and the projected subspace. Projected subspaces were found using the subdynamics kinetic equation. It was shown that although the total space may be decoherent, the subspace can be DF. In the projected subspace, the evolution of the density operator may be time as…
Anhomomorphic logic is a new interpretation of Quantum Theory (due to R. Sorkin). It is a histories formulation (c.f. consistent histories, quantum measure theory). In this approach, reality is a co-event, which is essentially an assignment of a truth value {True, False} to each question. The way this assignment is done mimics classical physics in as much as possible allowing however for sufficient flexibility to accommodate quantum 'paradoxes', as is shown by the analysis of Kochen-Specker theorem. In this contribution, after briefly reviewing the approach, we will examine how probabilistic p…
The interpretation of measurements of high-energy particle collisions relies heavily on the performance of full event generators. By far the largest amount of time to predict the kinematics of multi-particle final states is dedicated to the calculation of the hard process and the subsequent parton shower step. With the continuous improvement of quantum devices, dedicated algorithms are needed to exploit the potential quantum computers can provide. We propose general and extendable algorithms for quantum gate computers to facilitate calculations of helicity amplitudes and the parton shower proc…
Recent studies on quantum computing algorithms focus on excavating features of quantum computers which have potential for contributing to computational model enhancements. Among various approaches, quantum annealing methods effectively parallelize quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) formulations of systems of linear equations. In this paper, we simplify these formulations by exploiting congruence of real symmetric matrices to diagonal matrices. We further exhibit computational merits of the proposed QUBO models, which can outperform classical algorithms such as QR and SVD decomp…
General history quantum theories are quantum theories without a globally defined notion of time. Decoherence functionals represent the states in the history approach and are defined as certain bivariate complex-valued functionals on the space of all histories. However, in practical situations -- for instance in the history formulation of standard quantum mechanics -- there often is a global time direction and the homogeneous decoherence functionals are specified by their values on the subspace of homogeneous histories. In this work we study the analytic properties of (i) the standard decoheren…
The consistent histories formulation of the quantum theory of a closed system with pure initial state defines an infinite number of incompatible consistent sets, each of which gives a possible description of the physics. We investigate the possibility of using the properties of the Schmidt decomposition to define an algorithm which selects a single, physically natural, consistent set. We explain the problems which arise, set out some possible algorithms, and explain their properties with the aid of simple models. Though the discussion is framed in the language of the consistent histories appro…
A fundamental issue for any quantum cosmological theory is to specify how probabilities can be assigned to various quantum events or sequences of events such as the occurrence of singularities or bounces. In previous work, we have demonstrated how this issue can be successfully addressed within the consistent histories approach to quantum theory for Wheeler-DeWitt-quantized cosmological models. In this work, we generalize that analysis to the exactly solvable loop quantization of a spatially flat, homogeneous and isotropic cosmology sourced with a massless, minimally coupled scalar field known…
We study quantum computing algorithms for solving certain constrained resource allocation problems we coin as Mission Covering Optimization (MCO). We compare formulations of constrained optimization problems using Quantum Annealing techniques and the Quantum Alternating Operator Ansatz (Hadfield et al. arXiv:1709.03489v2, a generalized algorithm of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm, Farhi et al. arXiv:1411.4028v1) on D-Wave and IBM machines respectively using the following metrics: cost, timing, constraints held, and qubits used. We provide results from two different MCO scenarios…