YQI Seminar - Adán Cabello - University of Seville

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Understanding Quantum Theory through Non-locality and Contextuality

In 1926, Max Born proposed that quantum theory arises from the nonexistence of inner properties that condition a definite outcome, an idea that has little explanatory power at first sight. However, we show that, by embedding this idea in the framework of general probabilistic theories (GPTs) and requiring that the theory's observables have outcomes that can be predicted with certainty without disturbance, one can derive the Hilbert space formalism of quantum theory, including Born's rule. This approach unblocks the GPTs program for reconstructing quantum theory from physical principles, gives a second life to Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) reasoning, explains the sets of quantum correlations for all Bell and measurement contextuality scenarios, explains the appearance of infinite-dimensional systems, and the origin of the undecidability of the membership problem in quantum nonlocality and contextuality, offering a unified resolution to long-standing foundational problems.