Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31366888›Full record

ArticleNature communications2019

Variational consistent histories as a hybrid algorithm for quantum foundations.

Andrew Arrasmith, Lukasz Cincio, Andrew T Sornborger, Wojciech H Zurek, Patrick J Coles

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Andrew ArrasmithTheoretical Division, MS 213, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2674-9370
Lukasz CincioTheoretical Division, MS 213, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA.
Andrew T SornborgerInformation Sciences, MS 256, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA.
Wojciech H ZurekTheoretical Division, MS 213, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA.
Patrick J ColesTheoretical Division, MS 213, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA. pcoles@lanl.gov.

Funding

Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) FQXi-1821
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Although quantum computers are predicted to have many commercial applications, less attention has been given to their potential for resolving foundational issues in quantum mechanics. Here we focus on quantum computers' utility for the Consistent Histories formalism, which has previously been employed to study quantum cosmology, quantum paradoxes, and the quantum-to-classical transition. We present a variational hybrid quantum-classical algorithm for finding consistent histories, which should revitalize interest in this formalism by allowing classically impossible calculations to be performed. In our algorithm, the quantum computer evaluates the decoherence functional (with exponential speedup in both the number of qubits and the number of times in the history) and a classical optimizer adjusts the history parameters to improve consistency. We implement our algorithm on a cloud quantum computer to find consistent histories for a spin in a magnetic field and on a simulator to observe the emergence of classicality for a chiral molecule.

Identifiers

PMID31366888
PMCPMC6668436

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.