The problem of quantum correlations and the totalitarian principle

TL;DR

This paper derives quantum correlations from a set of assumptions and a version of the totalitarian principle, explaining what determines quantum correlations in contextuality scenarios.

Contribution

It shows that quantum correlations can be derived from assumptions and a principle, providing a new explanation for their selection in contextuality scenarios.

Findings

Quantum correlations follow from specific assumptions and a totalitarian principle.

The paper offers a short proof of the main result.

Implications of the derivation are discussed.

Abstract

The totalitarian principle establishes that `anything not forbidden is compulsory'. The problem of quantum correlations is explaining what selects the set of quantum correlations for a Bell and Kochen-Specker (KS) contextuality scenario. Here, we show that two assumptions and a version of the totalitarian principle lead to the quantum correlations. The assumptions are that there is a non-empty set of correlations for any KS contextuality scenario and a statistically independent realisation of any two KS experiments. The version of the totalitarian principle says that any correlation not forbidden by these assumptions can be produced. This paper contains a short version of the proof [presented in {\em Phys. Rev. A} \textbf{100}, 032120 (2019)] and explores some implications of the result. This article is part of the theme issue `Contextuality and probability in quantum mechanics and beyond'.