Quantum mechanics is about quantum information

Abstract

I argue that quantum mechanics is fundamentally a theory about the representation and manipulation of information, not a theory about the mechanics of nonclassical waves or particles. The notion of quantum information is to be understood as a new physical primitive -- just as, following Einstein's special theory of relativity, a field is no longer regarded as the physical manifestation of vibrations in a mechanical medium, but recognized as a new physical primitive in its own right.

17 pages, forthcoming in Foundations of Physics Festschrift issue for James Cushing. Revised version: some paragraphs have been added to the final section clarifying the argument, and various minor clarifying remarks have been added throughout the text

References in corpus (5)

• Quantum Mechanics as Quantum Information (and only a little more)
• Characterizing quantum theory in terms of information-theoretic constraints
• A note on information theoretic characterizations of physical theories
• Separation theorems and Bell inequalities in algebraic quantum mechanics
• Unconditionally Secure Quantum Bit Commitment

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Explaining the unobserved: why quantum mechanics is not only about information
• Understanding quantum mechanics: a review and synthesis in precise language
• Quantum theory as a principle theory: insights from an information-theoretic reconstruction
• The quantum-to-classical transition: Bohr's doctrine of classical concepts, emergent classicality, and decoherence
• Quantum information as a non-Kolmogorovian generalization of Shannon's theory
• Entanglement of a Single Spin-1 Object: An Example of Ubiquitous Entanglement
• Obliterating Thingness: An Introduction to the "What" and the "So What" of Quantum Physics
• Bohmian trajectories and the ether: Where does the analogy fail?
• Sheaf-Theoretic Methods in Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Information Theory
• The epistemic view of quantum states and the ether
• Does Quantum Mechanics Need Interpretation?
• A Topos Theoretic Notion of Entropy
• Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics: a critical survey
• How quantum mechanics requires non-additive measures
• Quantum theory is not only about information
• Entanglement - A Queer In The World Of Quantum : Some Perspectives
• An Argument for 4D Blockworld from a Geometric Interpretation of Non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics
• Why physical understanding should precede the mathematical formalism - conditional quantum probabilities as a case-study