Are free choices absolute, when internalized in Wigner's friend?

TL;DR

This paper uses extended Wigner's friend scenarios and the Pusey--Barrett--Rudolph theorem to argue that free choices are not absolute when considering locality in quantum mechanics.

Contribution

It presents a novel argument against the absoluteness of free choices using extended Wigner's friend scenarios and the PBR theorem.

Findings

Challenges the notion of absolute free choices in quantum measurements

Uses extended Wigner's friend scenarios to incorporate locality considerations

Provides a new perspective on quantum contextuality and nonlocality

Abstract

Wigner's thought experiment illustrates quantum theory's measurement problem by considering an observer who measures a quantum system inside a sealed lab, modeled unitarily by an outsider. Recent extensions of this thought experiment, referred to as extended Wigner's friend arguments, question how different observers can reason consistently about each other in quantum setups, and challenge the absoluteness of the outcome value obtained by the friend under a notion of locality. In this work, we present an argument against the absoluteness of free choices under the same notion of locality, using an extended Wigner's friend scenario based on the Pusey--Barrett--Rudolph theorem. Similar arguments based on other contextuality or nonlocality models are possible.