An abstract structure determines the contextuality degree of observable-based Kochen-Specker proofs (2410.14463v1)

Abstract: This article delves into the concept of quantum contextuality, specifically focusing on proofs of the Kochen-Specker theorem obtained by assigning Pauli observables to hypergraph vertices satisfying a given commutation relation. The abstract structure composed of this hypergraph and the graph of anticommutations is named a hypergram. Its labelings with Pauli observables generalize the well-known magic sets. A first result is that all these quantum labelings satisfying the conditions of a given hypergram inherently possess the same degree of contextuality. Then we provide a necessary and sufficient algebraic condition for the existence of such quantum labelings and an efficient algorithm to find one of them. We finally attach to each assignable hypergram an abstract notion of contextuality degree. By presenting the study of observable-based Kochen-Specker proofs from the perspective of graphs and matrices, this abstraction opens the way to new methods to search for original contextual configurations.