The Axiom of Choice and the No-Signaling Principle

Abstract

We show that the axiom of choice, a basic yet controversial postulate of set theory, leads to revise the standard understanding of one of the pillars of our best physical theories, namely the no-signaling principle. While it is well known that probabilistic no-signaling resources (such as quantum non-locality) are stronger than deterministic ones, we show-by invoking the axiom of choice-the opposite: Functional (deterministic) no-signaling resources can be stronger than probabilistic ones. To prove this, we devise a Bell-like game that shows a systematic advantage of functional no-signaling with respect to any probabilistic no-signaling resource.