Quantum Pseudo-Telepathy Saves the World
Interactive Supplements for the Article, "Quantum Pseudo-Telepathy Saves the World"
(submitted to Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact)
by Michael Main

The article "Quantum Pseudo-Telepathy Saves the World" [1] describes a game based on the Mermin-GHZ game [2,3] In the game, three players (Alice, Bob and Charlie) are separated by a large distance, and then each is given an smooth boulder or a jagged boulder. The number of smooth boulders will always be three (the 3-smooth case) or one (the 1-smooth case). Each of the players must then make a choice: to keep his or her boulder or to give it back.

In order to win the 1-smooth case, the three players must keep an odd number of boulders. In order to win the 3-smooth case, the players must give back an odd number of boulders.

Alice, Bob and Charlie are allowed to agree on a strategy ahead of time, but once they are given the boulders, they may no longer communicate. A classical strategy is an agreement they make that dictates which colors of boulders they will keep and which they will give back. A classical strategy cannot win the game, but the article describes an always winning strategy in which the players share three entangled qubits of a quantum computation.

  • Test a Classical Strategy
  • Run the Quantum Programs
  • Linear Algebra Versions of the Quantum Programs


    [1] Michael Main, "Quantum Pseudo-Telepathy Saves the World." Submitted for publication (2009).

    main@colorado.edu