arXiv subjects

David Ellerman

Publications and source records attributed to David Ellerman.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

On Classical and Quantum Logical Entropy: The analysis of measurement

The notion of a partition on a set is mathematically dual to the notion of a subset of a set, so there is a logic of partitions dual to Boole's logic of subsets (Boolean subset logic is usually mis-specified as the special case of "propositional" logic). The notion of an element of a subset has as its dual the notion of a distinction of a partition (a pair of elements in different blocks). Boole developed finite logical probability as the normalized counting measure on elements of subsets so there is a dual concept of logical entropy which is the normalized counting measure on distinctions of partitions. Thus the logical notion of information is a measure of distinctions. Classical logical entropy also extends naturally to the notion of quantum logical entropy which provides a more natural and informative alternative to the usual Von Neumann entropy in quantum information theory. The quantum logical entropy of a post-measurement density matrix has the simple interpretation as the probability that two independent measurements of the same state using the same observable will have different results. The main result of the paper is that this increase in quantum logical entropy due to a projective measurement of a pure state is the sum of the absolute squares of the off-diagonal entries (`coherences') of the pure state density matrix that are zeroed (decohered) by the measurement, i.e., the measure of the distinctions (`decoherences') created by the measurement. The Von Neumann entropy provides no such analysis of measurement. That result is also classically modelled using ordinary partitions and density matrices for such partitions in the pedagogical model of QM/Sets with point probabilities--which for a fixed basis is just sampling a real r.v. in classical finite probability theory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

New Logical Foundations for Quantum Information Theory: Introduction to Quantum Logical Information Theory

Logical information theory is the quantitative version of the logic of partitions just as logical probability theory is the quantitative version of the dual Boolean logic of subsets. The resulting notion of information is about distinctions, differences, and distinguishability, and is formalized using the distinctions (`dits') of a partition (a pair of points distinguished by the partition). All the definitions of simple, joint, conditional, and mutual entropy of Shannon information theory are derived by a uniform transformation from the corresponding definitions at the logical level. The purpose of this paper is to give the direct generalization to quantum logical information theory that similarly focuses on the pairs of eigenstates distinguished by an observable, i.e., qudits of an observable. The fundamental theorem for quantum logical entropy and measurement establishes a direct quantitative connection between the increase in quantum logical entropy due to a projective measurement and the eigenstates (cohered together in the pure superposition state being measured) that are distinguished by the measurement (decohered in the post-measurement mixed state). Both the classical and quantum versions of logical entropy have simple interpretations as "two-draw" probabilities for distinctions. The conclusion is that quantum logical entropy is the simple and natural notion of information for quantum information theory focusing on the distinguishing of quantum states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

What can (partition) logic contribute to information theory?

Logical probability theory was developed as a quantitative measure based on Boole's logic of subsets. But information theory was developed into a mature theory by Claude Shannon with no such connection to logic. A recent development in logic changes this situation. In category theory, the notion of a subset is dual to the notion of a quotient set or partition, and recently the logic of partitions has been developed in a parallel relationship to the Boolean logic of subsets (subset logic is usually mis-specified as the special case of propositional logic). What then is the quantitative measure based on partition logic in the same sense that logical probability theory is based on subset logic? It is a measure of information that is named "logical entropy" in view of that logical basis. This paper develops the notion of logical entropy and the basic notions of the resulting logical information theory. Then an extensive comparison is made with the corresponding notions based on Shannon entropy.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2017

From Abstract Entities in Mathematics to Superposition States in Quantum Mechanics

Given an equivalence relation ~ on a set U, there are two abstract notions of an element of the quotient set U/~. The #1 abstract notion is a set S=[u] of equivalent elements of U (an equivalence class); the #2 notion is an abstract entity u_{S} that is definite on what is common to the elements of the equivalence class S but is otherwise indefinite on the differences between those elements. For instance, the #1 interpretation of a homotopy type is an equivalence class of homotopic spaces, but the #2 interpretation, e.g., as developed in homotopy type theory, is an abstract space (without points) that has the properties that are in common to the spaces in the equivalence class but is otherwise indefinite. In philosophy, the #2 abstract entities might be called paradigm-universals, e.g., `the white thing' as opposed to the #1 abstract notion of "the set of white things" (out of some given collection U). The paper shows how this #2 notion of a paradigm may be mathematically modeled using incidence matrices in Boolean logic and density matrices in probability theory. Then we cross the bridge to the density matrix treatment of the indefinite superposition states in quantum mechanics (QM). This connection between the #2 abstracts in mathematics and ontic indefinite states in QM elucidates Abner Shimony's literal or objective indefiniteness interpretation of QM.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

The number of direct-sum decompositions of a finite vector space

The theory of q-analogs develops many combinatorial formulas for finite vector spaces over a finite field with q elements--all in analogy with formulas for finite sets (which are the special case of q=1). A direct-sum decomposition of a finite vector space is the vector space analogue of a set partition. This paper develops the formulas for the number of direct-sum decompositions that are the q-analogs of the formulas for: (1) the number of set partitions with a given number partition signature; (2) the number of set partitions of an n-element set with m blocks (the Stirling numbers of the second kind); and (3) for the total number of set partitions of an n-element set (the Bell numbers).

math.CO↗

arXiv2015

On Adjoint and Brain Functors

There is some consensus among orthodox category theorists that the concept of adjoint functors is the most important concept contributed to mathematics by category theory. We give a heterodox treatment of adjoints using heteromorphisms (object-to-object morphisms between objects of different categories) that parses an adjunction into two separate parts (left and right representations of heteromorphisms). Then these separate parts can be recombined in a new way to define a cognate concept, the brain functor, to abstractly model the functions of perception and action of a brain. The treatment uses relatively simple category theory and is focused on the interpretation and application of the mathematical concepts. The Mathematical Appendix is of general interest to category theorists as it is a defense of the use of heteromorphisms as a natural and necessary part of category theory.

math.CT↗

arXiv2015

On Self-Predicative Universals in Category Theory

1. This paper shows how the universals of category theory in mathematics provide a model (in the Platonic Heaven of mathematics) for the self-predicative strand of Plato's Theory of Forms as well as for the idea of a "concrete universal" in Hegel and similar ideas of paradigmatic exemplars in ordinary thought. 2. The paper also shows how the always-self-predicative universals of category theory provide the "opposite bookend" to the never-self-predicative universals of iterative set theory and thus that the paradoxes arose from having one theory (e.g., Frege's Paradise) where universals could be either self-predicative or non-self-predicative (instead of being always one or the other). 3. Moreover the paper considers one of the most important examples of self-predicative universals in pure mathematics, namely adjoint functors or adjunctions. It gives a parsing of adjunctions into two halves (left and right semi-adjunctions) using the heterodox notion of heteromorphisms, and then shows that the parts can be recombined in a new way to define the cognate-to-adjoints notion of a brain functor that provides an abstract conceptual model of a brain. 4. Finally the paper argues that at least one way category theory has foundational relevance is that it isolates the universal concepts and structures that are important throughout mathematics.

math.GM↗

arXiv2015

On classical finite probability theory as a quantum probability calculus

This paper shows how the classical finite probability theory (with equiprobable outcomes) can be reinterpreted and recast as the quantum probability calculus of a pedagogical or "toy" model of quantum mechanics over sets (QM/sets). There have been four previous attempts to develop a quantum-like model with the base field of $\mathbb{C}$ replaced by $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$, but they are all forced into a merely "modal" interpretation by requiring the brackets to take values in $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ (1 = possible, 0 = impossible). But the usual QM brackets <ψ|ϕ> give the "overlap" between states ψ and ϕ, so for subsets S,T of U, the natural definition is $ =|S{\cap}T|$. This allows QM/sets to be developed with a full probability calculus that turns out to be the perfectly classical Laplace-Boole finite probability theory. The point is not to clarify finite probability theory but to elucidate quantum mechanics itself by seeing some of its quantum features (e.g., two-slit experiment) in a classical setting.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Four Ways from Universal to Particular: How Chomsky's Language-Acquisition Faculty is Not Selectionist

Following the development of the selectionist theory of the immune system, there was an attempt to characterize many biological mechanisms as being "selectionist" as juxtaposed to "instructionist." But this broad definition would group Darwinian evolution, the immune system, embryonic development, and Chomsky's language-acquisition mechanism as all being "selectionist." Yet Chomsky's mechanism (and embryonic development) are significantly different from the selectionist mechanisms of biological evolution or the immune system. Surprisingly, there is an abstract way using two dual mathematical logics to make the distinction between genuinely selectionist mechanisms and what are better called "generative" mechanisms. This note outlines that distinction.

math.LO↗

arXiv2014

On Double-Entry Bookkeeping: The Mathematical Treatment

Double-entry bookkeeping (DEB) implicitly uses a specific mathematical construction, the group of differences using pairs of unsigned numbers ("T-accounts"). That construction was only formulated abstractly in mathematics in the 19th century--even though DEB had been used in the business world for over five centuries. Yet the connection between DEB and the group of differences (here called the "Pacioli group") is still largely unknown both in mathematics and accounting. The precise mathematical treatment of DEB allows clarity on certain conceptual questions and it immediately yields the generalization of the double-entry method to multi-dimensional vectors typically representing the different types of property involved in an enterprise or household.

math.HO↗

arXiv2014

Partitions and Objective Indefiniteness in Quantum Mechanics

Classical physics and quantum physics suggest two meta-physical types of reality: the classical notion of a objectively definite reality with properties "all the way down," and the quantum notion of an objectively indefinite type of reality. The problem of interpreting quantum mechanics (QM) is essentially the problem of making sense out of an objectively indefinite reality. These two types of reality can be respectively associated with the two mathematical concepts of subsets and quotient sets (or partitions) which are category-theoretically dual to one another and which are developed in two mathematical logics, the usual Boolean logic of subsets and the more recent logic of partitions. Our sense-making strategy is "follow the math" by showing how the logic and mathematics of set partitions can be transported in a natural way to Hilbert spaces where it yields the mathematical machinery of QM--which shows that the mathematical framework of QM is a type of logical system over the complex numbers. And then we show how the machinery of QM can be transported the other way down to the set-like vector spaces over Z_2 showing how the classical logical finite probability calculus (in a "non-commutative" version) is a type of "quantum mechanics" over Z_2, i.e., over sets. In this way, we try to make sense out of objective indefiniteness and thus to interpret quantum mechanics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Quantum mechanics over sets

In the tradition of toy models of quantum mechanics in vector spaces over finite fields (e.g., Schumacher and Westmoreland's "modal quantum theory"), one finite field stands out, 2, since vectors over 2 have an interpretation as natural mathematical objects, i.e., sets. This engages a sets-to-vector-spaces bridge that is part of the mathematical folklore to translate both ways between set concepts and vector space concepts. Using that bridge, the mathematical framework of (finite-dimensional) quantum mechanics can be transported down to sets resulting in quantum mechanics over sets or QM/sets. This approach leads to a different treatment of Dirac's brackets than in "modal quantum theory" (MQT), and that gives a full probability calculus (unlike MQT that only has zero-one modalities of impossible and possible). That, in turn, leads to a rather fulsome theory of QM over sets that includes "logical" models of the double-slit experiment, Bell's Theorem, quantum information theory, quantum computing, and much else. Indeed, QM/sets is proposed as the "logic" of QM in the old-fashioned sense of "logic" as giving the simplified essentials of a theory. QM/sets is also a key part of a broader research program to provide an interpretation of QM based on the notion of "objective indefiniteness," a program that grew out the recent development of the logic of partitions mathematically dual to the usual Boolean logic of subsets.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Determination through Universals: An Application of Category Theory in the Life Sciences

Category theory has foundational importance because it provides conceptual lenses to characterize what is important and universal in mathematics---with adjunctions being the primary lense. If adjunctions are so important in mathematics, then perhaps they will isolate concepts of some importance in the empirical sciences. But the applications of adjunctions have been hampered by an overly restrictive formulation that avoids heteromorphisms or hets. By reformulating an adjunction using hets, it is split into two parts, a left and a right semiadjunction (or half-adjunuction). Semiadjunctions (essentially a formulation of a universal mapping property using hets) turn out to be the appropriate concept for applications in the life sciences. The semiadjunctions characterize three principal schemes with applications: 1. determination through a receiving universal (e.g., natural selection, perception, language acquisition, recursion, and language understanding); 2. determination through a sending universal (e.g., intentional action, DNA mechanism to build amino acids, hierarchy of regulatory genes to build organs, stem cells, and language production), and 3. two-way determination with one universal as both receiving and sending (e.g., perception/action and language understanding/production).

math.CT↗

arXiv2013

Information as Distinctions: New Foundations for Information Theory

The logical basis for information theory is the newly developed logic of partitions that is dual to the usual Boolean logic of subsets. The key concept is a "distinction" of a partition, an ordered pair of elements in distinct blocks of the partition. The logical concept of entropy based on partition logic is the normalized counting measure of the set of distinctions of a partition on a finite set--just as the usual logical notion of probability based on the Boolean logic of subsets is the normalized counting measure of the subsets (events). Thus logical entropy is a measure on the set of ordered pairs, and all the compound notions of entropy (join entropy, conditional entropy, and mutual information) arise in the usual way from the measure (e.g., the inclusion-exclusion principle)--just like the corresponding notions of probability. The usual Shannon entropy of a partition is developed by replacing the normalized count of distinctions (dits) by the average number of binary partitions (bits) necessary to make all the distinctions of the partition.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2013

The Objective Indefiniteness Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

The common-sense view of reality is expressed logically in Boolean subset logic (each element is either definitely in or not in a subset, i.e., either definitely has or does not have a property). But quantum mechanics does not agree with this "properties all the way down" picture of micro-reality. Are there other coherent alternative views of reality? A logic of partitions, dual to the Boolean logic of subsets (partitions are dual to subsets), was recently developed along with a logical version of information theory. In view of the subset-partition duality, partition logic is the alternative to Boolean subset logic and thus it abstractly describes the alternative dual view of micro-reality. Perhaps QM is compatible with this dual view? Indeed, when the mathematics of partitions using sets is "lifted" from sets to vector spaces, then it yields the mathematics and relations of quantum mechanics. Thus the vision of micro-reality abstractly characterized by partition logic matches that described by quantum mechanics. The key concept explicated by partition logic is the old idea of "objective indefiniteness" (emphasized by Shimony). Thus partition logic, logical information theory, and the lifting program provide the back story so that the old idea then yields the objective indefiniteness interpretation of quantum mechanics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

A Very Common Fallacy in Quantum Mechanics: Superposition, Delayed Choice, Quantum Erasers, Retrocausality, and All That

There is a very common fallacy, here called the separation fallacy, that is involved in the interpretation of quantum experiments involving a certain type of separation such as the: double-slit experiments, which-way interferometer experiments, polarization analyzer experiments, Stern-Gerlach experiments, and quantum eraser experiments. It is the separation fallacy that leads not only to flawed textbook accounts of these experiments but to flawed inferences about retrocausality in the context of "delayed choice" versions of separation experiments.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

The Logic of Partitions: Introduction to the Dual of the Logic of Subsets

Modern categorical logic as well as the Kripke and topological models of intuitionistic logic suggest that the interpretation of ordinary "propositional" logic should in general be the logic of subsets of a given universe set. Partitions on a set are dual to subsets of a set in the sense of the category-theoretic duality of epimorphisms and monomorphisms--which is reflected in the duality between quotient objects and subobjects throughout algebra. If "propositional" logic is thus seen as the logic of subsets of a universe set, then the question naturally arises of a dual logic of partitions on a universe set. This paper is an introduction to that logic of partitions dual to classical subset logic. The paper goes from basic concepts up through the correctness and completeness theorems for a tableau system of partition logic.

math.LO↗

arXiv2009

Counting Distinctions: On the Conceptual Foundations of Shannon's Information Theory

Categorical logic has shown that modern logic is essentially the logic of subsets (or "subobjects"). Partitions are dual to subsets so there is a dual logic of partitions where a "distinction" [an ordered pair of distinct elements (u,u') from the universe U ] is dual to an "element". An element being in a subset is analogous to a partition p on U making a distinction, i.e., if u and u' were in different blocks of p. Subset logic leads to finite probability theory by taking the (Laplacian) probability as the normalized size of each subset-event of a finite universe. The analogous step in the logic of partitions is to assign to a partition the number of distinctions made by a partition normalized by the total number of ordered pairs |UxU| from the finite universe. That yields a notion of "logical entropy" for partitions and a "logical information theory." The logical theory directly counts the (normalized) number of distinctions in a partition while Shannon's theory gives the average number of binary partitions needed to make those same distinctions. Thus the logical theory is seen as providing a conceptual underpinning for Shannon's theory based on the logical notion of "distinctions." (forthcoming in Synthese)

cs.IT↗