Related papers: Mermin's Pentagram as an Ovoid of PG(3,2)
In 1993, Mermin (Rev. Mod. Phys. 65, 803--815) gave lucid and strikingly simple proofs of the Bell-Kochen-Specker (BKS) theorem in Hilbert spaces of dimensions four and eight by making use of what has since been referred to as the…
Mermin's simple "pentagram" proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem is examined from various perspectives. We emphasise the many mathematical structures intimately related to Kochen-Specker proofs, ranging through functional analysis, sheaf…
We investigate small geometric configurations that furnish observable-based proofs of the Kochen-Specker theorem. Assuming that each context consists of the same number of observables and each observable is shared by two contexts, it is…
We study the geometry of the space of Mermin pentagrams, objects that are used to rule out the existence of noncontextual hidden variable theories as alternatives to quantum theory. It is shown that this space of 12096 possible pentagrams…
A number of new proofs of the Kochen-Specker theorem are given based on the observables of the three-qubit Pauli group. Each proof is presented in the form of a diagram from which it is obvious by inspection. Each of our observable-based…
The Kochen-Specker theorem states that noncontextual hidden variable theories are incompatible with quantum mechanics. We provide a state independent proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem using the smallest number of projectors, i.e., thirty…
It is shown how a proof of the Bell-Kochen-Specker (BKS) theorem given by Kernaghan and Peres can be experimentally realized using a scheme of measurements derived from a related proof of the same theorem by Mermin. It is also pointed out…
We present a number of observables-based proofs of the Kochen-Specker (KS) theorem based on the N-qubit Pauli group for N >= 4, thus adding to the proofs that have been presented earlier for the two- and three-qubit groups. These proofs…
We invoke some ideas from finite geometry to map bijectively 135 heptads of mutually commuting three-qubit observables into 135 symmetric four-qubit ones. After labeling the elements of the former set in terms of a seven-dimensional…
The geometry of the real four-qubit Pauli group, being embodied in the structure of the symplectic polar space W(7,2), is analyzed in terms of ovoids of a hyperbolic quadric of PG(7,2), the seven-dimensional projective space of order two.…
Coxeter pointed out that a number of polytopes can be projected orthogonally into two dimensions in such a way that their vertices lie on a number of concentric regular triacontagons (or 30-gons). Among them are the 600-cell and 120-cell in…
A "magic rectangle" of eleven observables of four qubits, employed by Harvey and Chryssanthacopoulos (2008) to prove the Bell-Kochen-Specker theorem in a 16-dimensional Hilbert space, is given a neat finite-geometrical reinterpretation in…
Regarding a Dynkin diagram as a specific point-line incidence structure (where each line has just two points), one can associate with it a Veldkamp space. Focusing on extended Dynkin diagrams of type $\widetilde{D}_n$, $4 \leq n \leq 8$, it…
Recently Waegell and Aravind [J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 45 (2012), 405301, 13 pages] have given a number of distinct sets of three-qubit observables, each furnishing a proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem. Here it is demonstrated that two of…
A proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem for a single two-level system is presented. It employs five eight-element positive operator-valued measures and a simple algebraic reasoning based on the geometry of the dodecahedron.
We introduce a point-line incidence geometry in which the commutation relations of the real Pauli group of multiple qubits are fully encoded. Its points are pairs of Pauli operators differing in sign and each line contains three pairwise…
The pentagram map is a natural iteration on projective equivalence classes of (twisted) n-gons in the projective plane. It was recently proved ([OST]) that the pentagram map is completely integrable, with the complete set of Poisson…
We investigate a symmetric set of three quantum states in three dimensions having interesting properties, which we call the lifted trine states. We show that for the ensemble consisting of the three lifted trine states taken with equal…
Disregarding the identity, the remaining 63 elements of the generalized three-qubit Pauli group are found to contain 12096 distinct copies of Mermin's magic pentagram. Remarkably, 12096 is also the number of automorphisms of the smallest…
The ring of projective invariants of eight ordered points on the line is a quotient of the polynomial ring on V, where V is a fourteen-dimensional representation of S_8, by an ideal I_8, so the modular fivefold (P^1)^8 // GL(2) is Proj(Sym*…