Axiomatic Description of Mixed States From Selinger's CPM-construction

We recast Selinger's CPM-construction of completely positive maps [11] as an axiomatization of maximally mixed states. This axiomatization also guarantees categories of completely positive maps to satisfy the preparation-state agreement axiom of [3], and admits a physical interpretation in terms of purification of mixed states and CPMs. Internal traces, which are crucial in quantum information theory, are the adjoints to these maximally mixed states.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: ENTCS
• Authors: Bob Coecke
• Keywords: ENTCS 2008, Mixed States, Positive Maps, Preparation-state Agreement Axiom