PHI 538, Philosophy of Physics

Quantum Information Theory and the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics

Main page

Schedule

Weeks 1-3 (BvF)

1. The concept of information
2. Intro to Probability
3. Intro to Classical Information
4. Intro to Basic QM: States and Entanglement
5. Intro to Quantum Information

Readings: Timpson, Chap 1; Rolf Landauer, "Information is Physical"; Barry Loewer, "Review of Dretske, Knowledge and the Flow of Information"

Weeks 4-6

First BvF will finish Sections 4 (QM: Entanglement) and 5 (Quantum Information), then HH begins: Dense Coding and Quantum Teleportation.

Main reading: Timpson, "The Grammar of Teleportation" philsci-archive

Additional readings:

• Timpson slides from Sep 2005 talk http://philosophy.elte.hu/esfbudapest/papers/Teleportationtellsus.ppt
• Deutsch and Hayden, "Information flow in entangled quantum systems" Journal | E-print
• Timpson, C. "Nonlocality and information flow: The approach of Deutsch and Hayden" Journal | E-print
• Griffiths, R. "The nature and location of quantum information" Journal | E-print
• Maroney, O. and Hiley, B. "Active information and teleportation" PDF
• Maroney, O. and Hiley, B. "Quantum state teleportation understood through the Bohm interpretation" Journal

Weeks 7-8 (BvF)

Week 9 (HH)

Deriving QM from information-theoretic axioms

Main readings:

• Clifton et al., "Characterizing quantum theory in terms of information theoretic constraints." Journal (This paper presupposes some knowledge of C*-algebras. See the handout below for some background.)
• Handout

Additional readings:

• Spekkens, R. "In defense of the epistemic view of quantum states." E-print
• Bub, J. "Why the quantum." E-print

Week 10 (HH)

Bayesianism and non-commutative probability

Guest lecture by Michael Mueger on type theory of von Neumann algebras

Main reading:

• Jones, V. "von Neumann algebras," Chapter 1 from Subfactors and Knots PDF (password restricted)
• Redei, M. "When can non-commutative statistical inference be Bayesian." PDF | PS

Week 11

Guest lecture by James Ladyman

Week 12

Guest lecture by Chris Timpson

---

Further Readings

• Quantum information and computation
  • Duwell, A. "Quantum information does not exist" Journal
  • Werner, R. Lecture notes on quantum information
  • Preskill, J. Lecture notes on quantum information and computation
• Mathematical background for quantum theory
  • Bub, J. Appendix to Interpreting the Quantum World. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • Clifton, Rob, Introductory Notes on the Mathematics Needed for Quantum Theory. 1996. philsci-archive
  • Ismael, Jenann, "Quantum Mechanics," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm/