The Kochen–Specker theorem, and the associated notion of quantum contextuality, can be considered as the starting point for the development of a notion of non-classical correlations for single systems. The subsequent debate around the possibility of an experimental test of Kochen–Specker-type contradiction stimulated the development of different theoretical frameworks to interpret experimental results. Starting from the approach based on sequential measurements, we will discuss a generalization of the notion of non-classical temporal correlations that goes beyond the contextuality approach and related ones based on Leggett and Garg's notion of macrorealism, and it is based on the notion of memory cost of generating correlations. Finally, we will review recent results on the memory cost for generating temporal correlations in classical and quantum systems. The present work is based on the talk given at the Purdue Winer Memorial Lectures 2018: probability and contextuality.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Contextuality and probability in quantum mechanics and beyond’.
Contextuality, memory cost and non-classicality for sequential measurements