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Is Measurement a Black Box? On the Importance of Understanding Measurement Even in Quantum Information and Computation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Michael Dickson
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Abstract

It has been argued, partly from the lack of any widely accepted solution to the measurement problem, and partly from recent results from quantum information theory, that measurement in quantum theory is best treated as a black box. However, there is a crucial difference between ‘having no account of measurement’ and ‘having no solution to the measurement problem’. We know a lot about measurements. Taking into account this knowledge sheds light on quantum theory as a theory of information and computation. In particular, the scheme of ‘one-way quantnum computation’ takes on a new character in light of the role that reference frames play in actually carrying out any one-way quantum comptuation.

Type
Philosophy of Physics: Quantum Information and Computation
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 74 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2006 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers. Edited by Cristina Bicchieri and Jason Alexander , December 2007 , pp. 1019 - 1032
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

Thanks to audiences at the PSA and the Centre for Time, University of Sydney, for helpful comments and questions.

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