Classification of all alternatives to the Born rule in terms of informational properties

TL;DR

This paper classifies all measurement probability rules in finite-dimensional quantum-like theories, revealing diverse properties and identifying features that distinguish the Born rule from alternatives.

Contribution

It characterizes all measurement rule alternatives in finite-dimensional theories and links them to unitary group representations, highlighting differences from standard quantum mechanics.

Findings

Some theories have three distinguishable states in two dimensions

Existence of theories lacking 'bit symmetry' and violating 'no simultaneous encoding'

Identification of properties that single out the Born rule

Abstract

The standard postulates of quantum theory can be divided into two groups: the first one characterizes the structure and dynamics of pure states, while the second one specifies the structure of measurements and the corresponding probabilities. In this work we keep the first group of postulates and characterize all alternatives to the second group that give rise to finite-dimensional sets of mixed states. We prove a correspondence between all these alternatives and a class of representations of the unitary group. Some features of these probabilistic theories are identical to quantum theory, but there are important differences in others. For example, some theories have three perfectly distinguishable states in a two-dimensional Hilbert space. Others have exotic properties such as lack of "bit symmetry", the violation of "no simultaneous encoding" (a property similar to information causality) and the existence of maximal measurements without phase groups. We also analyze which of these properties single out the Born rule.