An Operational Quantum Information Framework for Experimental Studies on Color Perception

TL;DR

This paper develops an experimental framework based on quantum information theory to study color perception, extending previous theoretical models to practical testing using qubit representations.

Contribution

It demonstrates how to implement experimental protocols for testing quantum-based color perception models using qubits, bridging theory and practice.

Findings

Quantum perceptual attributes can be computed from qubit density matrices.

Experimental protocols for testing quantum color perception models are feasible.

The framework extends previous rebit-based models to qubit systems.

Abstract

Starting from the foundational axiomatization of the perceptual color space initiated by Schr\"odinger in 1920 and eventually refined by Resnikoff in 1974, Berthier, Provenzi and their collaborators have recently proposed a reformulation of perceptual color attributes within the framework of quantum information. Their work is based on the Jordan algebra formalism of quantum theories and, more specifically, on a quantum system described by a spin factor over the field of real numbers. This theoretical framework is not that of ordinary quantum mechanics, mainly because it requires dealing with rebits, whereas the latter uses qubits. The aim of this paper is to show that this difference in no way hinders the implementation of experimental protocols for testing the validity of the predictions of the color perception model. In particular, we show how to compute the quantum information based perceptual attributes of perceived colors in terms of qubit density matrices.