Bennett and Stinespring, Together at Last

Chris Heunen
(University of Edinburgh)
Robin Kaarsgaard
(University of Edinburgh)

We present a universal construction that relates reversible dynamics on open systems to arbitrary dynamics on closed systems: the restriction affine completion of a monoidal restriction category quotiented by well-pointedness. This categorical completion encompasses both quantum channels, via Stinespring dilation, and classical computing, via Bennett's method. Moreover, in these two cases, we show how our construction can be essentially 'undone' by a further universal construction. This shows how both mixed quantum theory and classical computation rest on entirely reversible foundations.

In Chris Heunen and Miriam Backens: Proceedings 18th International Conference on Quantum Physics and Logic (QPL 2021), Gdansk, Poland, and online, 7-11 June 2021, Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science 343, pp. 102–118.
Published: 18th September 2021.

ArXived at: https://dx.doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.343.5 bibtex PDF
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