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Andreas Blass

Publications and source records attributed to Andreas Blass.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2018

Witness Algebra and Anyon Braiding

Topological quantum computation employs two-dimensional quasiparticles called anyons. The generally accepted mathematical basis for the theory of anyons is the framework of modular tensor categories. That framework involves a substantial amount of category theory and is, as a result, considered rather difficult to understand. Is the complexity of the present framework necessary? The computations of associativity and braiding matrices can be based on a much simpler framework, which looks less like category theory and more like familiar algebra. We introduce that framework here.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2018

Negative probabilities, II: What they are and what they are for

A signed probability distribution may extend a given traditional probability from observable events to all events. We formalize and illustrate this approach. We also illustrate its limitation. We argue that the right question is not what negative probabilities are but what they are for.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2018

Common Denominator for Value and Expectation No-go Theorems: Extended Abstract

Hidden-variable (HV) theories allege that a quantum state describes an ensemble of systems distinguished by the values of hidden variables. No-go theorems assert that HV theories cannot match the predictions of quantum theory. The present work started with repairing flaws in the literature on no-go theorems asserting that HV theories cannot predict the expectation values of measurements. That literature gives one an impression that expectation no-go theorems subsume the time-honored no-go theorems asserting that HV theories cannot predict the possible values of measurements. But the two approaches speak about different kinds of measurement. This hinders comparing them to each other. Only projection measurements are common to both. Here, we sharpen the results of both approaches so that only projection measurements are used. This allows us to clarify the similarities and differences between the two approaches. Neither one dominates the other.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2017

Common Denominator for Value and Expectation No-Go Theorems

Hidden-variable (HV) theories allege that a quantum state describes an ensemble of systems distinguished by the values of hidden variables. No-go theorems assert that HV theories cannot match the predictions of quantum theory. The present work started with repairing flaws in the literature on no-go theorems asserting that HV theories cannot predict the expectation values of measurements. That literature gives one an impression that expectation no-go theorems subsume the time-honored no-go theorems asserting that HV theories cannot predict the possible values of measurements. But the two approaches speak about different kinds of measurement. This hinders comparing them to each other. Only projection measurements are common to both. Here, we sharpen the results of both approaches so that only projection measurements are used. This allows us to clarify the similarities and differences between the two approaches. Neither one dominates the other.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2015

Finite Embeddability of Sets and Ultrafilters

A set A of natural numbers is finitely embeddable in another such set B if every finite subset of A has a rightward translate that is a subset of B. This notion of finite embeddability arose in combinatorial number theory, but in this paper we study it in its own right. We also study a related notion of finite embeddability of ultrafilters on the natural numbers. Among other results, we obtain connections between finite embeddability and the algebraic and topological structure of the Stone-Cech compactification of the discrete space of natural numbers. We also obtain connections with nonstandard models of arithmetic.

math.LO↗
arXiv2015

On quantum computation, anyons, and categories

We explain the use of category theory in describing certain sorts of anyons. Yoneda's lemma leads to a simplification of that description. For the particular case of Fibonacci anyons, we also exhibit some calculations that seem to be known to the experts but not explicit in the literature.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2015

On Hidden Variables: Value and Expectation No-Go Theorems

No-go theorems assert that hidden-variable theories, subject to appropriate hypotheses, cannot reproduce the predictions of quantum theory. We examine two species of such theorems, value no-go theorems and expectation no-go theorems. The former assert that hidden-variables cannot match the predictions of quantum theory about the possible values resulting from measurements; the latter assert that hidden-variables cannot match the predictions of quantum theory about the expectation values of measurements. We sharpen the known results of both species, which allows us to clarify the similarities and differences between the two species. We also repair some flaws in existing definitions and proofs.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2015

Partitions and conservativity

We study the partition properties enjoyed by the "next best thing to a P-point'' ultrafilters introduced recently in joint work with Dobrinen and Raghavan. That work established some finite-exponent partition relations, and we now analyze the connections between these relations for different exponents and the notion of conservativity introduced much earlier by Phillips. In addition, we establish some infinite-exponent partition relations for these ultrafilters and also for sums of non-isomorphic selective ultrafilters indexed by selective ultrafilters.

math.LO↗
arXiv2015

Spekkens's Symmetric No-Go Theorem

In a 2008 paper, Spekkens improved the traditional notions of non-negativity of Wigner-style quasi-probability distributions and non-contextuality of observations. He showed that the two improved notions are equivalent to each other. Then he proved what he called an even-handed no-go theorem. The paper contains some minor inaccuracies and one false claim, in the proof of the no-go theorem. This claim, early in the proof, is used in an essential way in the rest of the argument. Here we analyze carefully Spekkens's proof of the no-go theorem, explain the inaccuracies, reduce the task of proving the no-go theorem to the special case of a single qubit, and then prove the special case. This gives us a complete proof of Spekkens's no-go theorem.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2015

Negative probability

This article was written for the Logic in Computer Science column in the February 2015 issue of the Bulletin of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science. The intended audience is general computer science audience. The uncertainty principle asserts a limit to the precision with which position x and momentum p of a particle can be known simultaneously. You may know the probability distributions of x and p individually but the joint distribution makes no physical sense. Yet Wigner exhibited such a joint distribution f(x,p). There was, however, a little trouble with it: some of its values were negative. Nevertheless Wigner's discovery attracted attention and found applications. There are other joint distribution, all with negative values, which produce the correct marginal distributions of x and p. But only Wigner's distribution produces the correct marginal distributions for all linear combinations of position and momentum. We offer a simple proof of the uniqueness and discuss related issues.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2014

Optimal Ancilla-free Pauli+V Circuits for Axial Rotations

Recently Neil Ross and Peter Selinger analyzed the problem of approximating z- rotations by means of single-qubit Clifford+T circuits. Their main contribution is a deterministic-search technique which allowed them to make approximating circuits shallower. We adapt the deterministic-search technique to the case of Pauli+V circuits and prove similar results. Because of the relative simplicity of the Pauli+V framework, we use much simpler geometric methods.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2014

Ancilla Approximable Quantum State Transformations

We consider the transformations of quantum states obtainable by a process of the following sort. Combine the given input state with a specially prepared initial state of an auxiliary system. Apply a unitary transformation to the combined system. Measure the state of the auxiliary subsystem. If (and only if) it is in a specified final state, consider the process successful, and take the resulting state of the original (principal) system as the result of the process. We review known information about exact realization of transformations by such a process. Then we present results about approximate realization of finite partial transformations. We consider primarily the issue of approximation to within a specified positive epsilon, but we also address the question of arbitrarily close approximation.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2013

The next best thing to a P-point

We study ultrafilters on $ω^2$ produced by forcing with the quotient of $\scr P(ω^2)$ by the Fubini square of the Fréchet filter on $ω$. We show that such an ultrafilter is a weak P-point but not a P-point and that the only non-principal ultrafilters strictly below it in the Rudin-Keisler order are a single isomorphism class of selective ultrafilters. We further show that it enjoys the strongest square-bracket partition relations that are possible for a non-P-point. We show that it is not basically generated but that it shares with basically generated ultrafilters the property of not being at the top of the Tukey ordering. In fact, it is not Tukey-above $[ω_1]^{<ω}$, and it has only continuum many ultrafilters Tukey-below it. A tool in our proofs is the analysis of similar (but not the same) properties for ultrafilters obtained as the sum, over a selective ultrafilter, of non-isomorphic selective ultrafilters.

math.LO↗
arXiv2011

Quasi-selective ultrafilters and asymptotic numerosities

We isolate a new class of ultrafilters on N, called "quasi-selective" because they are intermediate between selective ultrafilters and P-points. (Under the Continuum Hypothesis these three classes are distinct.) The existence of quasi-selective ultrafilters is equivalent to the existence of "asymptotic numerosities" for all sets of tuples of natural numbers. Such numerosities are hypernatural numbers that generalize finite cardinalities to countable point sets. Most notably, they maintain the structure of ordered semiring, and, in a precise sense, they allow for a natural extension of asymptotic density to all sequences of tuples of natural numbers.

math.LO↗
arXiv2008

One useful logic that defines its own truth

Existential fixed point logic (EFPL) is a natural fit for some applications, and the purpose of this talk is to attract attention to EFPL. The logic is also interesting in its own right as it has attractive properties. One of those properties is rather unusual: truth of formulas can be defined (given appropriate syntactic apparatus) in the logic. We mentioned that property elsewhere, and we use this opportunity to provide the proof.

cs.LO↗
arXiv2008

Modular difference logic is hard

In connection with machine arithmetic, we are interested in systems of constraints of the form x + k \leq y + k'. Over integers, the satisfiability problem for such systems is polynomial time. The problem becomes NP complete if we restrict attention to the residues for a fixed modulus N.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2008

When are two algorithms the same?

People usually regard algorithms as more abstract than the programs that implement them. The natural way to formalize this idea is that algorithms are equivalence classes of programs with respect to a suitable equivalence relation. We argue that no such equivalence relation exists.

cs.GL↗