Agents in Superposition - Indefinite Causal Order and Wigner's-Friend-type Experiments

Staff - Faculty of Informatics

Date: 15 September 2021 / 11:00 - 13:00

You are cordially invited to attend the PhD Dissertation Defence of Veronika Baumann on Wednesday 15 September 2021 at 11.00 on Zoom(Meeting-ID: 958 8863 9474 - Password: ejaZf0)

Abstract:
The quantum superposition principle lies at the heart of many open questions and controversies in quantum theory. The idea of agents in superposition is central to both Wigner's-firend-type experiments and correlations without definite causal order. An agent might be regarded as a thinking or computing entity, that is able to perform operations on other quantum systems. In case of Wigner's-friend-type scenarios the agent's ability to make predictions about other agents potentially poses problems for the consistency of interpretations of the quantum formalism due to the measurement problem. The crucial questions are in how far seeming contradictions can be observed and tested as well as whether and to what extent they can be resolved by the interpretation of the quantum formalism.

Dissertation Committee:
- Prof. Stefan Wolf, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland (Research Advisor)
- Prof. Caslav Brukner, University of Vienna, Austria (Research co-Advisor)
- Prof. Antonio Carzaniga, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland (Internal Member)
- Prof. Igor Pivkin, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland (Internal Member)
- Prof. Reinhold Bertlmann, University of Vienna, Austria (External Member)
- Prof. Renato Renner, ETH Zurich, Switzerland (External Member)