Efficient Hidden-Variable Simulation of Measurements in Quantum Experiments

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to simulate quantum measurements using a polynomial number of hidden-variable states, achieving minimal models with linear scaling for large measurement sets, impacting quantum foundations and simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a polynomial-scaling simulation technique for quantum measurements with minimal hidden-variable states, advancing classical simulation capabilities.

Findings

Simulation uses polynomial number of hidden-variable states.

Models achieve minimal hidden-variable states in the infinite measurement limit.

Scaling is linear with the number of measurements.

Abstract

We prove that the results of a finite set of general quantum measurements on an arbitrary dimensional quantum system can be simulated using a polynomial (in measurements) number of hidden-variable states. In the limit of infinitely many measurements, our method gives models with the minimal number of hidden-variable states, which scales linearly with the number of measurements. These results can find applications in foundations of quantum theory, complexity studies and classical simulations of quantum systems.