English

Warring Contextualities -- Provably Classical vs Provably Nonclassical

Quantum Physics 2026-04-20 v2 History and Philosophy of Physics

Abstract

In the literature, there are two differing definitions of contextuality: Kochen and Specker's, and Spekkens' (or ``generalised''). However, researchers using one of these definitions rarely consider the other, meaning comparative analysis of these two notions is rare. In this paper, we advance the idea that Kochen-Specker contextuality provides a generalisation of the idea of system being fundamentally nonclassical, while Spekkens' noncontextuality provides a generalisation of the idea of a system being classical. This allows us to reconcile the two approaches, as different stages in a hierarchy of classicality/nonclassicality.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.14319,
  title  = {Warring Contextualities -- Provably Classical vs Provably Nonclassical},
  author = {Enrico Bozzetto and Jonte R. Hance},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.14319},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

16+14 pages, 2+1 figures. v2. Fig 1a fixed, added brief discussion of related results for (un)steerability

R2 v1 2026-07-01T12:11:30.819Z