Author ORCID Identifier

0009-0009-8218-0941

Date of Award

8-31-2026

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Computational Sciences

First Advisor

Christopher Fuchs

Second Advisor

Olga Goulko

Third Advisor

Kourosh Zarringhalam

Abstract

QBism understands quantum mechanics to be probability theory supplemented by additional nonclassical coherence conditions. In this dissertation, we develop these nonclassical coherence conditions from first principles, emphasizing the role of a well chosen reference measurement. After treating standard probability on subjective Bayesian lines, we demonstrate an equivalence between the QBist approach and the existing framework of generalized probabilistic theories. We show that the fundamental nonclassical coherence relation may almost always be taken to be a gentle modification of the law of total probability, and give a coherentist account of when an experimental scenario has a classical explanation. Finally, we show that when the reference measurement is chosen to correspond to a complex projective 3-design, the shape of quantum state space is implicit in the probabilities which characterize the reference measurement itself. Thus coherence with this single reference measurement, properly understood, implies coherence with all of finite dimensional quantum mechanics. We then attempt a modest reconstruction of quantum theory along these lines, one practical consequence of which is a method for self-testing complex projective t-designs (for t at least three) in a theory-agnostic way.

Comments

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