The Significance of Information in Quantum Theory

Abstract

We propose a system of information-theoretic axioms from which we derive the formalism of quantum theory. Part I is devoted to the conceptual foundations of the information-theoretic approach. We argue that this approach belongs to the epistemological framework depicted as a loop of existences. In Part II we derive the quantum formalism from information-theoretic axioms and we analyze the twofold role of observer as physical system and as informational agent. Quantum logical techniques are then introduced, and we prove theorems reconstructing elements of the formalism. In Part III, we introduce the formalism of C*-algebras and give it an information theoretic interpretation. We analyze the conceptual underpinnings of the theory of modular automorphisms and we give an information-theoretic justification for the emergence of time in the algebraic approach. We conclude by giving a list of open questions, including topics in cognitive science, decision theory, and information technology.

191 pages, 13 figures. Ph.D. dissertation (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris)

References in corpus (5)

• Contextuality for preparations, transformations, and unsharp measurements
• Characterizing quantum theory in terms of information-theoretic constraints
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• The Bell-Kochen-Specker Theorem
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• Modular Theory, Non-Commutative Geometry and Quantum Gravity
• An Information-Theoretic Approach to Quantum Theory, I: The Abstract Quantum Formalism
• An Information-Theoretic Approach to Quantum Theory, II: The Formal Rules of Quantum Theory
• An interpretive conjecture for physics beyond the standard models: generalized complementarity