papers

Publications (56)

quant-ph2025

Expanding bipartite Bell inequalities for maximum multi-partite randomness

Lewis Wooltorton, Peter Brown, Roger Colbeck

Nonlocal tests on multi-partite quantum correlations form the basis of protocols that certify randomness in a device-independent (DI) way. Such correlations admit a rich structure,…

quant-ph2025

Correlation Self-Testing of Quantum Theory against Generalised Probabilistic Theories with Restricted Relabelling Symmetry

Kuntal Sengupta, Mirjam Weilenmann, Roger Colbeck

Correlation self-testing of quantum theory involves identifying a task or set of tasks whose optimal performance can be achieved only by theories that can realise the same set of c…

quant-ph2026

Theories with no superluminal signaling have greater information-processing power than theories with no superluminal causation

V. Vilasini, Roger Colbeck

A central goal in the foundations of physics is to understand the structure of physical theories, such as quantum theory, from physical principles. This is often explored by consid…

quant-ph2018

Non-Shannon inequalities in the entropy vector approach to causal structures

Mirjam Weilenmann, Roger Colbeck

A causal structure is a relationship between observed variables that in general restricts the possible correlations between them. This relationship can be mediated by unobserved sy…

quant-ph2025

The standard no-signalling constraints in Bell scenarios are neither sufficient nor necessary for preventing superluminal signalling with general interventions

V. Vilasini, Roger Colbeck

Non-classical correlations resulting from entangled quantum systems have sparked debates about the compatibility of quantum theory and relativity, and about the right way to think…

quant-ph2011

Quantum And Relativistic Protocols For Secure Multi-Party Computation

Roger Colbeck

After a general introduction, the thesis is divided into four parts. In the first, we discuss the task of coin tossing, principally in order to highlight the effect different physi…

quant-ph2012

Unconditionally secure device-independent quantum key distribution with only two devices

Jonathan Barrett, Roger Colbeck, Adrian Kent

Device-independent quantum key distribution is the task of using uncharacterized quantum devices to establish a shared key between two users. If a protocol is secure regardless of…

quant-ph2017

A system's wave function is uniquely determined by its underlying physical state

Roger Colbeck, Renato Renner

We address the question of whether the quantum-mechanical wave function of a system is uniquely determined by any complete description of the system's physical state. We…

quant-ph2021

Introduction to UniversalQCompiler

Raban Iten, Oliver Reardon-Smith, Emanuel Malvetti +5

We introduce an open source software package UniversalQCompiler written in Mathematica that allows the decomposition of arbitrary quantum operations into a sequence of single-qubit…

quant-ph2013

Free randomness can be amplified

Roger Colbeck, Renato Renner

Are there fundamentally random processes in nature? Theoretical predictions, confirmed experimentally, such as the violation of Bell inequalities, point to an affirmative answer. H…

quant-ph2024

Self-testing of physical theories, or, is quantum theory optimal with respect to some information-processing task?

Mirjam Weilenmann, Roger Colbeck

Self-testing usually refers to the task of taking a given set of observed correlations that are assumed to arise via a process that is accurately described by quantum theory, and t…

quant-ph2005

Variable Bias Coin Tossing

Roger Colbeck, Adrian Kent

Alice is a charismatic quantum cryptographer who believes her parties are unmissable; Bob is a (relatively) glamorous string theorist who believes he is an indispensable guest. To…

quant-ph2024

Towards correlation self-testing of quantum theory in the adaptive Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt game

Mirjam Weilenmann, Roger Colbeck

Correlation self-testing of a theory addresses the question of whether we can identify the set of correlations realisable in a theory from its performance in a particular informati…

quant-ph2019

A framework for quantum-secure device-independent randomness expansion

Peter J. Brown, Sammy Ragy, Roger Colbeck

A device-independent randomness expansion protocol aims to take an initial random seed and generate a longer one without relying on details of how the devices operate for security.…

quant-ph2020

Quantum Circuits for Isometries

Raban Iten, Roger Colbeck, Ivan Kukuljan +2

We consider the decomposition of arbitrary isometries into a sequence of single-qubit and Controlled-NOT (C-NOT) gates. In many experimental architectures, the C-NOT gate is relati…

cs.IT2010

Simple Channel Coding Bounds

Ligong Wang, Roger Colbeck, Renato Renner

New channel coding converse and achievability bounds are derived for a single use of an arbitrary channel. Both bounds are expressed using a quantity called the "smooth 0-divergenc…

quant-ph2019

Bell Inequalities From No-Signalling Distributions

Thomas Cope, Roger Colbeck

A Bell inequality is a constraint on a set of correlations whose violation can be used to certify non-locality. They are instrumental for device-independent tasks such as key distr…

quant-ph2012

Is a system's wave function in one-to-one correspondence with its elements of reality?

Roger Colbeck, Renato Renner

Although quantum mechanics is one of our most successful physical theories, there has been a long-standing debate about the interpretation of the wave function---the central object…

math-ph2019

Smooth manifold structure for extreme channels

Raban Iten, Roger Colbeck

A quantum channel from a system of dimension to a system of dimension is a completely positive trace-preserving map from complex to $d_B\times d…

quant-ph2022

Tight analytic bound on the trade-off between device-independent randomness and nonlocality

Lewis Wooltorton, Peter Brown, Roger Colbeck

Two parties sharing entangled quantum systems can generate correlations that cannot be produced using only shared classical resources. These nonlocal correlations are a fundamental…

quant-ph2013

A short note on the concept of free choice

Roger Colbeck, Renato Renner

We argue that the concepts of "freedom of choice" and of "causal order" are intrinsically linked: a choice is considered "free" if it is correlated only to variables in its causal…

quant-ph2007

An Entanglement-Based Protocol For Strong Coin Tossing With Bias 1/4

Roger Colbeck

In the literature, strong coin tossing protocols based on bit commitment have been proposed. Here we examine a protocol that instead tries to achieve the task by sharing entangleme…

quant-ph2011

No extension of quantum theory can have improved predictive power

Roger Colbeck, Renato Renner

According to quantum theory, measurements generate random outcomes, in stark contrast with classical mechanics. This raises the question of whether there could exist an extension o…

quant-ph2008

Quantum Self-Correcting Stabilizer Codes

Alastair Kay, Roger Colbeck

In this paper, we explicitly construct (Abelian) anyonic excitations of arbitrary stabilizer Hamiltonians which are local on a 2D lattice of qubits. This leads directly to the conc…

quant-ph2020

Arbitrarily many independent observers can share the nonlocality of a single maximally entangled qubit pair

Peter J. Brown, Roger Colbeck

Alice and Bob each have half of a pair of entangled qubits. Bob measures his half and then passes his qubit to a second Bob who measures again and so on. The goal is to maximize th…

quant-ph2008

Hidden variable models for quantum theory cannot have any local part

Roger Colbeck, Renato Renner

It was shown by Bell that no local hidden variable model is compatible with quantum mechanics. If, instead, one permits the hidden variables to be entirely non-local, then any quan…

quant-ph2021

Analysing causal structures using Tsallis entropies

V. Vilasini, Roger Colbeck

Understanding cause-effect relationships is a crucial part of the scientific process. As Bell's theorem shows, within a given causal structure, classical and quantum physics impose…

quant-ph2013

The completeness of quantum theory for predicting measurement outcomes

Roger Colbeck, Renato Renner

The predictions that quantum theory makes about the outcomes of measurements are generally probabilistic. This has raised the question whether quantum theory can be considered comp…

quant-ph2011

An experimental test of all theories with predictive power beyond quantum theory

Terence E. Stuart, Joshua A. Slater, Roger Colbeck +2

According to quantum theory, the outcomes of future measurements cannot (in general) be predicted with certainty. In some cases, even with a complete physical description of the sy…

quant-ph2009

A Fully Quantum Asymptotic Equipartition Property

Marco Tomamichel, Roger Colbeck, Renato Renner

The classical asymptotic equipartition property is the statement that, in the limit of a large number of identical repetitions of a random experiment, the output sequence is virtua…

quant-ph2026

Higher rates for semi-device-independent randomness expansion by recycling input randomness

Rutvij Bhavsar, Hamid Tebyanian, Roger Colbeck

Although quantum random number generators rely on the inherent indeterminism of quantum mechanics, ensuring that the numbers produced are secure remains a significant challenge. We…

quant-ph2009

Duality Between Smooth Min- and Max-Entropies

Marco Tomamichel, Roger Colbeck, Renato Renner

In classical and quantum information theory, operational quantities such as the amount of randomness that can be extracted from a given source or the amount of space needed to stor…

quant-ph2011

Private Randomness Expansion With Untrusted Devices

Roger Colbeck, Adrian Kent

Randomness is an important resource for many applications, from gambling to secure communication. However, guaranteeing that the output from a candidate random source could not hav…

quant-ph2010

All reversible dynamics in maximally non-local theories are trivial

David Gross, Markus Mueller, Roger Colbeck +1

A remarkable feature of quantum theory is non-locality (i.e. the presence of correlations which violate Bell inequalities). However, quantum correlations are not maximally non-loca…

quant-ph2024

Device-independent quantum key distribution with arbitrarily small nonlocality

Lewis Wooltorton, Peter Brown, Roger Colbeck

Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) allows two users to set up shared cryptographic key without the need to trust the quantum devices used. Doing so requires nonloc…

quant-ph2023

Advantages of multi-copy nonlocality distillation and its application to minimizing communication complexity

Giorgos Eftaxias, Mirjam Weilenmann, Roger Colbeck

Nonlocal correlations are a central feature of quantum theory, and understanding why quantum theory has a limited amount of nonlocality is a fundamental problem. Since nonlocality…

quant-ph2024

Multi-system measurements in generalized probabilistic theories and their role in information processing

Giorgos Eftaxias, Mirjam Weilenmann, Roger Colbeck

Generalized probabilistic theories (GPTs) provide a framework in which a range of possible theories can be examined, including classical theory, quantum theory and those beyond. In…

quant-ph2016

Inability of the entropy vector method to certify nonclassicality in linelike causal structures

Mirjam Weilenmann, Roger Colbeck

Bell's theorem shows that our intuitive understanding of causation must be overturned in light of quantum correlations. Nevertheless, quantum mechanics does not permit signalling a…

quant-ph2021

Device-independent randomness expansion against quantum side information

Wen-Zhao Liu, Ming-Han Li, Sammy Ragy +9

The ability to produce random numbers that are unknown to any outside party is crucial for many applications. Device-independent randomness generation does not require trusted devi…

quant-ph2011

The Uncertainty Principle in the Presence of Quantum Memory

Mario Berta, Matthias Christandl, Roger Colbeck +2

The uncertainty principle, originally formulated by Heisenberg, dramatically illustrates the difference between classical and quantum mechanics. The principle bounds the uncertaint…

quant-ph2022

Impossibility of superluminal signalling in Minkowski space-time does not rule out causal loops

V. Vilasini, Roger Colbeck

Causality is fundamental to science, but it appears in several different forms. One is relativistic causality, which is tied to a space-time structure and forbids signalling outsid…

quant-ph2018

Keyring models: an approach to steerability

Carl A. Miller, Roger Colbeck, Yaoyun Shi

If a measurement is made on one half of a bipartite system, then, conditioned on the outcome, the other half has a new reduced state. If these reduced states defy classical explana…

quant-ph2017

Quantum Circuits for Quantum Channels

Raban Iten, Roger Colbeck, Matthias Christandl

We study the implementation of quantum channels with quantum computers while minimizing the experimental cost, measured in terms of the number of Controlled-NOT (C-NOT) gates requi…

quant-ph2013

Memory Attacks on Device-Independent Quantum Cryptography

Jonathan Barrett, Roger Colbeck, Adrian Kent

Device-independent quantum cryptographic schemes aim to guarantee security to users based only on the output statistics of any components used, and without the need to verify their…

quant-ph2010

Defining the local part of a hidden variable model: a comment

Roger Colbeck, Renato Renner

In [Physical Review Letters 101, 050403 (2008)], we showed that quantum theory cannot be explained by a hidden variable model with a non-trivial local part. The purpose of this com…

quant-ph2026

Analysing causal structures in generalised probabilistic theories

Mirjam Weilenmann, Roger Colbeck

Causal structures give us a way to understand the origin of observed correlations. These were developed for classical scenarios, but quantum mechanical experiments necessitate thei…

quant-ph2010

Experimental investigation of the uncertainty principle in the presence of quantum memory

Robert Prevedel, Deny R. Hamel, Roger Colbeck +2

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle provides a fundamental limitation on an observer's ability to simultaneously predict the outcome when one of two measurements is performed on a q…

quant-ph2018

Analysing causal structures with entropy

Mirjam Weilenmann, Roger Colbeck

A central question for causal inference is to decide whether a set of correlations fit a given causal structure. In general, this decision problem is computationally infeasible and…

quant-ph2025

Genuine multipartite entanglement is not necessary for standard device-independent conference key agreement

Lewis Wooltorton, Peter Brown, Roger Colbeck

Conference key agreement aims to establish shared, private randomness among many separated parties in a network. Device-independent conference key agreement (DICKA) is a variant in…

quant-ph2020

On the insufficiency of entropic inequalities for detecting non-classicality in the Bell causal structure

V. Vilasini, Roger Colbeck

Classical and quantum physics impose different constraints on the joint probability distributions of observed variables in a causal structure. These differences mean that certain c…

quant-ph2007

The Impossibility Of Secure Two-Party Classical Computation

Roger Colbeck

We present attacks that show that unconditionally secure two-party classical computation is impossible for many classes of function. Our analysis applies to both quantum and relati…

quant-ph2026

Improved device-independent randomness expansion rates using two sided randomness

Rutvij Bhavsar, Sammy Ragy, Roger Colbeck

A device-independent randomness expansion protocol aims to take an initial random string and generate a longer one, where the security of the protocol does not rely on knowing the…

quant-ph2022

A general framework for cyclic and fine-tuned causal models and their compatibility with space-time

V. Vilasini, Roger Colbeck

Causal modelling is a tool for generating causal explanations of observed correlations and has led to a deeper understanding of correlations in quantum networks. Existing framework…

quant-ph2021

Quantum Circuits for Sparse Isometries

Emanuel Malvetti, Raban Iten, Roger Colbeck

We consider the task of breaking down a quantum computation given as an isometry into C-NOTs and single-qubit gates, while keeping the number of C-NOT gates small. Although several…

quant-ph2012

Uncertainty relations from simple entropic properties

Patrick J. Coles, Roger Colbeck, Li Yu +1

Uncertainty relations provide constraints on how well the outcomes of incompatible measurements can be predicted, and, as well as being fundamental to our understanding of quantum…

quant-ph2025

Closing the problem of which causal structures of up to six total nodes have a classical-quantum gap

Shashaank Khanna, Matthew Pusey, Roger Colbeck

The discovery of Bell that there exist quantum correlations that cannot be reproduced classically is one of the most important in the foundations of quantum mechanics, as well as h…