On the reality of the quantum state once again: A no-go theorem for ψ-ontic models

Carcassi, Gabriele and Aidala, Christine A and Oldofredi, Andrea (2022) On the reality of the quantum state once again: A no-go theorem for ψ-ontic models. [Preprint]

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Abstract

In this paper we show that ψ-ontic models, as defined by Harrigan and Spekkens (HS), cannot reproduce quantum theory. Instead of focusing on probability, we use information theoretic considerations to show that all pure states of ψ-ontic models must be orthogonal to each other, in
clear violation of quantum mechanics. Given that (i) Pusey, Barrett and Rudolph (PBR) previously showed that ψ-epistemic models, as defined by HS, also contradict quantum mechanics, and (ii) the HS categorization is exhausted by these two types of models, we conclude that the HS categorization
itself is problematic as it leaves no space for models that can reproduce quantum theory.

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Creators	Email	ORCID
Carcassi, Gabriele	carcassi@umich.edu	0000-0002-1071-6251
Aidala, Christine A	caidala@umich.edu	0000-0001-9540-4988
Oldofredi, Andrea	Andrea.Oldofredi@unil.ch