dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaWhat information theory can tell us about quantum reality
| Authors | C. Adami, N. J. Cerf |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9806047 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9806047 |
Abstract
An investigation of Einstein's ``physical'' reality and the concept of quantum reality in terms of information theory suggests a solution to quantum paradoxes such as the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) and the Schroedinger-cat paradoxes. Quantum reality, the picture based on unitarily evolving wavefunctions, is complete, but appears incomplete from the observer's point of view for fundamental reasons arising from the quantum information theory of measurement. Physical reality, the picture based on classically accessible observables is, in the worst case of EPR experiments, unrelated to the quantum reality it purports to reflect. Thus, quantum information theory implies that only correlations, not the correlata, are physically accessible: the mantra of the Ithaca interpretation of quantum mechanics.
{
"annotation_id": "70a8fc94-213e-4ac7-b8c7-a8a5e8c5ad7d",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:02:43.877000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:02:43.877000Z",
"file_hash": "5c531323d0bef726ac533a1ac28cb6776891fcc4925599c156338daf91e5376f",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "An investigation of Einstein\u0027s ``physical\u0027\u0027 reality and the concept of\nquantum reality in terms of information theory suggests a solution to quantum\nparadoxes such as the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) and the Schroedinger-cat\nparadoxes. Quantum reality, the picture based on unitarily evolving\nwavefunctions, is complete, but appears incomplete from the observer\u0027s point of\nview for fundamental reasons arising from the quantum information theory of\nmeasurement. Physical reality, the picture based on classically accessible\nobservables is, in the worst case of EPR experiments, unrelated to the quantum\nreality it purports to reflect. Thus, quantum information theory implies that\nonly correlations, not the correlata, are physically accessible: the mantra of\nthe Ithaca interpretation of quantum mechanics.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9806047",
"authors": [
"C. Adami",
"N. J. Cerf"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"title": "What information theory can tell us about quantum reality",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9806047"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "c7edc246-9404-49a8-b44f-d125f4b457bd",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}