Economical ontological models for discrete quantum systems

TL;DR

This paper develops simplified ontological models for finite-dimensional quantum systems, reducing the number of ontic states needed, exemplified by a model with 33 states for a qutrit, advancing the understanding of quantum representations.

Contribution

It introduces a procedure to simplify ontological models by decreasing ontic states and provides an explicit minimal model for a qutrit.

Findings

Explicit model with 33 ontic states for a qutrit

Procedure to reduce ontic states in ontological models

Enhanced understanding of quantum system representations

Abstract

I use the recently proposed framework of ontological models [Harrigan et al., arXiv:0709.1149v2] to obtain economical models for results of tomographically complete sets of measurements on finite-dimensional quantum systems. I describe a procedure that simplifies the models by decreasing the number of necessary ontic states, and present an explicit model with just 33 ontic states for a qutrit.