Gap between quantum theory based on real and complex numbers is arbitrarily large

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Authors: Shubhayan Sarkar, David Trillo, Marc-Olivier Renou, Remigiusz Augusiak
Cited by: 0

Abstract

Quantum information theory, the formalism for representing information contained in quantum systems, is based on complex Hilbert spaces. It was recently shown that in quantum networks involving three parties with nontrivial locality constraints, this formalism predicts correlations that cannot be explained by real quantum theory, a variant of quantum mechanics based on real Hilbert spaces. In this work, we study a scenario withparties sharing quantum systems in a star network. We then construct a multipartite Bell inequality that exhibits a gap between quantum theory and its variant based on real numbers, which grows linearly with, and is thus arbitrarily large in the asymptotic limit. This implies, that, as the number of parties grows, Hilbert space formalism based on real numbers becomes exceedingly worse at describing complex networks of quantum systems. We also compute the tolerance of this gap to experimental errors.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Quantum Mechanics and Applications Quantum Information and Cryptography Statistical Mechanics and Entropy

Publication details

Journal / source
Reports on Progress in Physics
Volume
89
Issue
7
Pages
070503–070503
Publication date
1 July 2026
Language
EN