Contextuality in Sequential State Discrimination

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2608.04099v1
• Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2026 18:00:07 GMT
• Title: Contextuality in Sequential State Discrimination
• Abstract summary: We consider the extent to which contextuality plays a role in sequential versions of both unambiguous and minimum error discrimination.<n>We show that the presence of contextuality depends on which states are prepared, and on the protocol (unambiguous or minimum error) selected.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Generalized contextuality is known to be required in optimal strategies for quantum state discrimination protocols. More recently, sequential discrimination tasks have been studied; n players attempt to determine in which state a qubit was prepared, in such a way that they all have a finite probability of success. We consider the extent to which contextuality plays a role in sequential versions of both unambiguous and minimum error discrimination. In the standard nonsequential case where n = 1, we use the COPE formalism to demonstrate that the presence of contextuality is guaranteed not only for the optimal measurement, but for a specific set of nonoptimal measurements as well. In the sequential case n > 1, we show that the presence of contextuality depends on which states are prepared, and on the protocol (unambiguous or minimum error) selected.

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