A classical formulation of quantum theory?

Abstract

We explore a particular way of reformulating quantum theory in classical terms, starting with phase space rather than Hilbert space, and with actual probability distributions rather than quasiprobabilities. The classical picture we start with is epistemically restricted, in the spirit of a model introduced by Spekkens. We obtain quantum theory only by combining a collection of restricted classical pictures. Our main challenge in this paper is to find a simple way of characterizing the allowed sets of classical pictures. We present one promising approach to this problem and show how it works out for the case of a single qubit.

arXiv comment13 pages. Submitted to Entropy for the special issue, Quantum Darwinism and Friends

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Epistemic Horizons From Deterministic Laws: Lessons From a Nomic Toy Theory
• Classical and quantum complex dynamics
• A quantum prediction as a collection of epistemically restricted classical predictions
• Sufficiency of the counterfactual account of Lüders' rule to rule out ontological models of quantum mechanics
• Complex Lagrangian dynamics