Absolute Quantum Theory (after Chang, Lewis, Minic and Takeuchi), and a Road to Quantum Deletion

Abstract

In a recent paper, Chang et al. have proposed studying “quantum F u n ”: the q ↦ 1 limit of modal quantum theories over finite fields F q , motivated by the fact that such limit theories can be naturally interpreted in classical quantum theory. In this letter, we first make a number of rectifications of statements made in that paper. For instance, we show that quantum theory over F 1 does have a natural analogon of an inner product, and so orthogonality is a well-defined notion, contrary to what was claimed in Chang et al. Starting from that formalism, we introduce time evolution operators and observables in quantum F u n , and we determine the corresponding unitary group. Next, we obtain a typical no-cloning result in the general realm of quantum F u n . Finally, we obtain a no-deletion result as well. Remarkably, we show that we can perform quantum deletion by almost unitary operators, with a probability tending to 1. Although we develop the construction in quantum F u n , it is also valid in any other quantum theory (and thus also in classical quantum theory in complex Hilbert spaces).