arXiv subjects

Martti Karvonen

Publications and source records attributed to Martti Karvonen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Comment on 'The axiom of choice and the no-signalling principle'

The main claim of Baumeler et al. (Proc. R. Soc. A 481, 20240601; arXiv:2206.08467) is that "functional (deterministic) no-signalling resources can be stronger than probabilistic ones" in a certain nonlocal game on a Bell scenario with countably many parties. We disagree and argue that (i) under standard definitions, deterministic no-signalling resources are always probabilistic no-signalling resources; (ii) the deterministic strategy considered in Baumeler et al. can be promoted to a genuinely probabilistic strategy with similar properties; and (iii) a key step in a derivation in Baumeler et al., claimed to hold for all no-signalling strategies, implicitly assumes measurability, leaving a gap in the argument. We propose measurability assumptions which we conjecture would make this derivation rigorous. Taken together, the phenomenon highlighted by Baumeler et al. is best understood as a difference between measurable and non-measurable no-signalling resources.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

UC, Categorically: Rigorous Diagrammatic Proofs

Category theory is a mathematical theory of composition, widely used in logic, computing, and physics. Here we apply it to give a theory of secure composition. In particular, we provide a categorical treatment of Canetti's Universal Composability (UC) framework for systems with a static number of parties and sessions, often termed UC for static systems, yielding four benefits. First, we present our results graphically yet retain rigor by applying a standard categorical technique known as string diagrams. In particular, our formulation of the composition theorem can be graphically verified with a short sequence of diagrams, while remaining translatable to equations and amenable to formal verification. Second, categories let us generalize so that our results extend beyond interactive Turing machines to other forms of computation, such as quantum computation or domain-specific languages. Third, categories help us drop some unnecessary restrictions of UC (e.g., our adversary can be a computational network rather than a single Turing machine); we prove equivalence between our variant and the usual UC, showing no expressiveness is lost. Finally, the categorical perspective leads us to identify and correct some minor technical oversights in the standard formulation of simple UC.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2026

Algebraic paradoxes in adaptive quantum computation

Measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC) is a universal model of quantum computation whose full power requires adaptivity. Contextuality is known to power quantum advantage in MBQC, yet it has resisted algebraic analysis in the adaptive setting. We show that if an adaptive $\mathbb{Z}_2$-linear measurement-based quantum computing protocol deterministically computes a non-affine Boolean function, then the underlying quantum resource satisfies an inconsistent set of linear equations. This witnesses an algebraic form of strong contextuality generalising Mermin's All-versus-Nothing arguments. Such algebraic contextuality can be detected cohomologically, resolving an open question posed by Raussendorf, who had established cohomological witnesses of contextuality for non-adaptive protocols, but left the adaptive case open. We prove this result constructively: we model adaptive measurement protocols as ordinary measurements on a larger scenario of tree-like measurements, and explicitly build the inconsistent equations inductively.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Why quantum state verification cannot be both efficient and secure: a categorical approach

The advantage of quantum protocols lies in the inherent properties of the shared quantum states. These states are sometimes provided by sources that are not trusted, and therefore need to be verified. Finding secure and efficient quantum state verification protocols remains a big challenge, and recent works illustrate trade-offs between efficiency and security for different groups of states in restricted settings. However, whether a universal trade-off exists for all quantum states and all verification strategies remains unknown. In this work, we instantiate the categorical composable cryptography framework to show a fundamental limit for quantum state verification for all cut-and-choose approaches used to verify arbitrary quantum states. Our findings show that the prevailing cut-and-choose techniques cannot lead to quantum state verification protocols that are both efficient and secure.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Why cut-and-choose quantum state verification cannot be both efficient and secure

Quantum state verification plays a vital role in many quantum cryptographic protocols, as it allows the use of quantum states from untrusted sources. While some progress has been made in this direction, the question of whether the most prevalent type of quantum state verification, namely cut-and-choose verification, can be efficient and secure, is still not answered in full generality. In this work, we show a fundamental limit for quantum state verification for all cut-and-choose approaches used to verify arbitrary quantum states. We provide a no-go result showing that the cut-and-choose techniques cannot lead to quantum state verification protocols that are both efficient in the number of rounds and secure. We show this trade-off for stand-alone and composable security, where the scaling of the lower bound for the security parameters renders cut-and-choose quantum state verification effectively unusable.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Towards a Unified Theory of Time-Varying Data

What is a time-varying graph, a time-varying topological space, or, more generally, a mathematical structure that evolves over time? In this work, we lay the foundations for a general theory of temporal data by introducing categories of narratives. These are sheaves on posets of time intervals that encode snapshots of a temporal object along with the relationships between them. This theory satisfies five desiderata distilled from the burgeoning field of time-varying graphs: (D1) it defines both time-varying objects and their morphisms; (D2) it distinguishes between cumulative and persistent interpretations and provides principled methods for transitioning between them; (D3) it systematically lifts static notions to their temporal analogues; (D4) it is object agnostic; (D5) it integrates with theories of dynamical systems. To achieve this, we build upon existing categorical and sheaf-theoretic approaches to temporal graph theory, generalizing them to any category with limits and colimits. We also formalize tacit intuitions that, while present, often remain implicit in temporal graph theory. Beyond synthesizing and reformulating existing ideas in categorical language, we introduce sheaf-theoretic constructions and prove results that, to our knowledge, have not appeared in the temporal data literature - such as the adjunction between persistent and cumulative narratives. More importantly, we integrate these existing and novel elements into a consistent and coherent framework, setting the stage for a unified theory of time-varying data.

math.CT↗

arXiv2024

Categorical composable cryptography: extended version

We formalize the simulation paradigm of cryptography in terms of category theory and show that protocols secure against abstract attacks form a symmetric monoidal category, thus giving an abstract model of composable security definitions in cryptography. Our model is able to incorporate computational security, set-up assumptions and various attack models such as colluding or independently acting subsets of adversaries in a modular, flexible fashion. We conclude by using string diagrams to rederive the security of the one-time pad, correctness of Diffie-Hellman key exchange and no-go results concerning the limits of bipartite and tripartite cryptography, ruling out e.g., composable commitments and broadcasting. On the way, we exhibit two categorical constructions of resource theories that might be of independent interest: one capturing resources shared among multiple parties and one capturing resource conversions that succeed asymptotically. This is a corrected version of the paper arXiv:2208.13232 published originally on December 18, 2023.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2024

Inner automorphisms as 2-cells

Abstract inner automorphisms can be used to promote any category into a 2-category, and we study two-dimensional limits and colimits in the resulting 2-categories. Existing connected colimits and limits in the starting category become two-dimensional colimits and limits under fairly general conditions. Under the same conditions, colimits in the underlying category can be used to build many notable two-dimensional colimits such as coequifiers and coinserters. In contrast, disconnected colimits or genuinely 2-categorical limits such as inserters and equifiers and cotensors cannot exist unless no nontrivial abstract inner automorphisms exist and the resulting 2-category is locally discrete. We also study briefly when an ordinary functor can be extended to a 2-functor between the resulting 2-categories.

math.CT↗

arXiv2024

Inner autoequivalences in general and those of monoidal categories in particular

We develop a general theory of (extended) inner autoequivalences of objects of any 2-category, generalizing the theory of isotropy groups to the 2-categorical setting. We show how dense subcategories let one compute isotropy in the presence of binary coproducts, unifying various known one-dimensional results and providing tractable computational tools in the two-dimensional setting. In particular, we show that the isotropy 2-group of a monoidal category coincides with its Picard 2-group, i.e., the 2-group on its weakly invertible objects.

math.CT↗

arXiv2024

Closing Bell: Boxing black box simulations in the resource theory of contextuality

This chapter contains an exposition of the sheaf-theoretic framework for contextuality emphasising resource-theoretic aspects, as well as some original results on this topic. In particular, we consider functions that transform empirical models on a scenario S to empirical models on another scenario T, and characterise those that are induced by classical procedures between S and T corresponding to 'free' operations in the (non-adaptive) resource theory of contextuality. We construct a new 'hom' scenario built from S and T, whose empirical models induce such functions. Our characterisation then boils down to being induced by a non-contextual model. We also show that this construction on scenarios provides a closed structure on the category of measurement scenarios.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Uncloneable Quantum Advice

The famous no-cloning principle has been shown recently to enable a number of uncloneable functionalities. Here we address for the first time unkeyed quantum uncloneablity, via the study of a complexity-theoretic tool that enables a computation, but that is natively unkeyed: quantum advice. Remarkably, this is an application of the no-cloning principle in a context where the quantum states of interest are not chosen by a random process. We show the unconditional existence of promise problems admitting uncloneable quantum advice, and the existence of languages with uncloneable advice, assuming the feasibility of quantum copy-protecting certain functions. Along the way, we note that state complexity classes, introduced by Rosenthal and Yuen (ITCS 2022) - which concern the computational difficulty of synthesizing sequences of quantum states - can be naturally generalized to obtain state cloning complexity classes. We make initial observations on these classes, notably obtaining a result analogous to the existence of undecidable problems. Our proof technique establishes the existence of ingenerable sequences of finite bit strings - essentially meaning that they cannot be generated by any uniform circuit family. We then prove a generic result showing that the difficulty of accomplishing a computational task on uniformly random inputs implies its difficulty on any fixed, ingenerable sequence. We use this result to derandomize quantum cryptographic games that relate to cloning, and then incorporate a result of Kundu and Tan (arXiv 2022) to obtain uncloneable advice. Applying this two-step process to a monogamy-of-entanglement game yields a promise problem with uncloneable advice, and applying it to the quantum copy-protection of pseudorandom functions with super-logarithmic output lengths yields a language with uncloneable advice.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Categorical composable cryptography

cs.CR↗

arXiv2021

Neither Contextuality nor Nonlocality Admits Catalysts

We show that the resource theory of contextuality does not admit catalysts, i.e., there are no correlations that can enable an otherwise impossible resource conversion and still be recovered afterward. As a corollary, we observe that the same holds for nonlocality. As entanglement allows for catalysts, this adds a further example to the list of "anomalies of entanglement," showing that nonlocality and entanglement behave differently as resources. We also show that catalysis remains impossible even if, instead of classical randomness, we allow some more powerful behaviors to be used freely in the free transformations of the resource theory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Biproducts without pointedness

We show how to define biproducts up to isomorphism in an arbitrary category without assuming any enrichment. The resulting notion coincides with the usual definitions whenever all binary biproducts exist or the category is suitably enriched, resulting in a modest yet strict generalization otherwise. We also characterize when a category has all binary biproducts in terms of an ambidextrous adjunction. Finally, we give some new examples of biproducts that our definition recognizes.

math.CT↗

arXiv2019

Limits in dagger categories

We develop a notion of limit for dagger categories, that we show is suitable in the following ways: it subsumes special cases known from the literature; dagger limits are unique up to unitary isomorphism; a wide class of dagger limits can be built from a small selection of them; dagger limits of a fixed shape can be phrased as dagger adjoints to a diagonal functor; dagger limits can be built from ordinary limits in the presence of polar decomposition; dagger limits commute with dagger colimits in many cases.

math.CT↗

arXiv2019

The Way of the Dagger

A dagger category is a category equipped with a functorial way of reversing morphisms, i.e. a contravariant involutive identity-on-objects endofunctor. Dagger categories with additional structure have been studied under different names e.g. in categorical quantum mechanics and algebraic field theory. In this thesis we study the dagger in its own right and show how basic category theory adapts to dagger categories. We develop a notion of a dagger limit that we show is suitable in the following ways: it subsumes special cases known from the literature; dagger limits are unique up to unitary isomorphism; a wide class of dagger limits can be built from a small selection of them; dagger limits of a fixed shape can be phrased as dagger adjoints to a diagonal functor; dagger limits can be built from ordinary limits in the presence of polar decomposition; dagger limits commute with dagger colimits in many cases. Using cofree dagger categories, the theory of dagger limits can be leveraged to provide an enrichment-free understanding of limit-colimit coincidences in ordinary category theory. We formalize the concept of an ambilimit, and show that it captures known cases. As a special case, we show how to define biproducts up to isomorphism in an arbitrary category without assuming any enrichment. Moreover, the limit-colimit coincidence from domain theory can be generalized to the unenriched setting and we show that, under suitable assumptions, a wide class of endofunctors has canonical fixed points. The theory of monads on dagger categories works best when all structure respects the dagger: the monad and adjunctions should preserve the dagger, and the monad and its algebras should satisfy the so-called Frobenius law. Then any monad resolves as an adjunction, with extremal solutions given by the categories of Kleisli and Frobenius-Eilenberg-Moore algebras, which again have a dagger.

math.CT↗

arXiv2019

A comonadic view of simulation and quantum resources

We study simulation and quantum resources in the setting of the sheaf-theoretic approach to contextuality and non-locality. Resources are viewed behaviourally, as empirical models. In earlier work, a notion of morphism for these empirical models was proposed and studied. We generalize and simplify the earlier approach, by starting with a very simple notion of morphism, and then extending it to a more useful one by passing to a co-Kleisli category with respect to a comonad of measurement protocols. We show that these morphisms capture notions of simulation between empirical models obtained via `free' operations in a resource theory of contextuality, including the type of classical control used in measurement-based quantum computation schemes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Categories of Empirical Models

A notion of morphism that is suitable for the sheaf-theoretic approach to contextuality is developed, resulting in a resource theory for contextuality. The key features involve using an underlying relation rather than a function between measurement scenarios, and allowing for stochastic mappings of outcomes to outcomes. This formalizes an intuitive idea of using one empirical model to simulate another one with the help of pre-shared classical randomness. This allows one to reinterpret concepts and earlier results in terms of morphisms. Most notably: non-contextual models are precisely those allowing a morphism from the terminal object; contextual fraction is functorial; Graham-reductions induce morphisms, reinterpreting Vorob'evs theorem; contextual models cannot be cloned.

quant-ph↗