26th Australian Institute of Physics Congress and the Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics

Session

AIP QST: Quantum foundations, non-locality & time

QST

9 Dec 2026, 16:00

Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

353. How unique is quantum phase space? The topology of discrete Wigner representations

Lucky Antonopoulos (RMIT)

09/12/2026, 16:00

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

Quantum states and operators can be represented in many different ways. One useful representation assigns values to points of a finite phase-space grid, giving a discrete analogue of the Wigner function. These discrete Wigner functions are useful in quantum information because they can reveal nonclassical behaviour, support calculations with finite-dimensional systems, and connect naturally to...

606. What Does Prediction Mean in a Quantum World?

Graeme Berk (Nanyang Technological University)

09/12/2026, 16:15

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

Prediction is a foundational task across the quantitative sciences and is precisely understood in the classical world. The universe, however, is fundamentally quantum. Then, what does it mean to 'predict' a future whose proper description is neither a definite state nor a probability distribution, but a quantum state, and what resources are required?

The first question turns out to be...

690. Extended Wigner's Friend Scenario in the Instrumental Network

Aaditya Datar (Griffith University)

09/12/2026, 16:30

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

Bell inequality violations have been a paradigmatic framework to quantify how strongly nature departs from assumptions that seem reasonable from a classical perspective. More precisely, they show that no theory can simultaneously uphold the assumptions of absoluteness of observed events, freedom of choice, relativistic causality, and classical cause-effect relations. Furthermore, while it is...

247. Towards a Unified Framework for Extended Wigner's Friend No-Go Theorems and Multiagent Paradoxes

Juan Diego Diaz Martinez (Griffith University)

09/12/2026, 16:45

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

Quantum foundations has advanced significantly from Bell’s theorem to the strictly stronger Local-Friendliness (LF) no-go theorem [1], providing means to test assumptions about reality underlying physical theories and thereby unveiling nature’s counterintuitive behavior. The LF theorem’s proof relies on an extension incorporating Bell’s ideas and describing observers as quantum systems,...

550. Detection-loophole-free nonlocality in the simplest scenario

Ms Nandana Thuranalloor Raveendranath

09/12/2026, 17:00

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

Quantum nonlocal correlations—encompassing Bell nonlocality and quantum steering—beyond their foundational role, act as a cornerstone for device-independent (DI) applications such as DI quantum key distribution, randomness generation, and more. To ensure the integrity of these protocols, nonlocal correlations must first be rigorously verified using a nonlocality test. This test typically...

494. Machine learning the arrow of time for quantum systems

Carolyn Wood (The University of Queensland)

09/12/2026, 17:15

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

The direction of time's arrow is easily discernible by us in the real, macroscopic world. In the microscopic regime, on the other hand, the dynamics of physical systems are time reversible, and fluctuations prevent us from determining the arrow of time with anything more than probabilities. It has been shown that a machine learning algorithm can discern the arrow of time even in the...