Introducing the Qplex: A Novel Arena for Quantum Theory

TL;DR

This paper reconstructs quantum theory from the principle that unperformed experiments have no results, using SIC measurements to derive the formalism of quantum mechanics in finite dimensions.

Contribution

It introduces a new foundational approach to quantum theory based on SIC measurements and the principle that unperformed experiments yield no results.

Findings

Reconstruction of quantum formalism from informational constraints

Derivation of conditions for SIC existence in finite dimensions

Insight into the foundational role of measurement in quantum theory

Abstract

We reconstruct quantum theory starting from the premise that, as Asher Peres remarked, "Unperformed experiments have no results." The tools of modern quantum information theory, and in particular the symmetric informationally complete (SIC) measurements, provide a concise expression of how exactly Peres's dictum holds true. That expression is a constraint on how the probability distributions for outcomes of different, mutually exclusive experiments mesh together, a type of constraint not foreseen in classical thinking. Taking this as our foundational principle, we show how to reconstruct the formalism of quantum theory in finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. Along the way, we derive a condition for the existence of a d-dimensional SIC.