Kochen-Specker set with seven contexts

TL;DR

This paper introduces the simplest known Kochen-Specker set with only seven contexts, significantly reducing the complexity needed to demonstrate quantum contextuality and its divergence from classical theories.

Contribution

It presents a new Kochen-Specker set with seven contexts, the smallest known that supports a symmetric parity proof, advancing the understanding of quantum contextuality.

Findings

KS set with 7 contexts proven to be the simplest with symmetric parity proof

Reduced number of contexts facilitates fewer experiments to test quantum contextuality

Enhances the theoretical framework for quantum information applications

Abstract

The Kochen-Specker (KS) theorem is a central result in quantum theory and has applications in quantum information. Its proof requires several yes-no tests that can be grouped in contexts or subsets of jointly measurable tests. Arguably, the best measure of simplicity of a KS set is the number of contexts. The smaller this number is, the smaller the number of experiments needed to reveal the conflict between quantum theory and noncontextual theories and to get a quantum vs classical outperformance. The original KS set had 132 contexts. Here we introduce a KS set with seven contexts and prove that this is the simplest KS set that admits a symmetric parity proof.