The cost of quantum locality
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 3, 2025

Large Scale Energy Efficient Sensor Network Routing Using a Quantum Processor Unit
Published on: September 8, 2023
1Università della Svizzera italiana, Via Giuseppe Buffi, 13, 6900 Lugano, Switzerland.
Abstract:
It has been more than 20 years since Deutsch and Hayden demonstrated that quantum systems can be completely described locally-notwithstanding Bell's theorem. More recently, Raymond-Robichaud proposed two other approaches to the same conclusion. In this paper, all these means of describing quantum systems locally are proved formally equivalent. The cost of such descriptions is then quantified by the dimensionality of their underlining space. The number of degrees of freedom of a single qubit's local description is shown to grow exponentially with the total number of qubits considered as a global system. This apparently unreasonable cost to describe such a small system in a large Universe is nonetheless shown to be expected. Finally, structures that supplement the universal wave function are investigated.
Related Concept Videos
The Quantum-Mechanical Model of an Atom
Quantum Numbers
Estimation of the Physical Quantities
IR Absorption Frequency: Delocalization
In IR...
Base Quantities and Derived Quantities
The International Organization for...
Atomic Radii and Effective Nuclear Charge

