Hidden-Field Coordination Reveals Payoff-Free Quantum Correlation Structure in Decentralized Coordination
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2601.21139 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 29 Jan 2026] Title:Hidden-Field Coordination Reveals Payoff-Free Quantum Correlation Structure in Decentralized Coordination Authors:Sinan Bugu View a PDF of the paper titled Hidden-Field Coordination Reveals Payoff-Free Quantum Correlation Structure in Decentralized Coordination, by Sinan Bugu View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:We study decentralized multi-agent coordination where agents must correlate actions against an unobserved field and cannot communicate. To isolate correlation geometry from payoff optimization, we introduce the Hidden-Field Coordination (HFC) model, which enforces identical information access and no-signaling constraints across strategies. Using information-theoretic diagnostics, we compare classical shared-randomness baselines with an entanglement-mediated strategy based on multipartite W states and a strictly local Spontaneous Leader Election rule. Within the restricted symmetric shared-latent baseline studied here, increasing total correlation is achieved primarily by driving actions toward alignment (copying), which also increases pairwise coincidence (collisions). By contrast, the quantum strategy realizes a collision-suppressing coordination regime: it preserves global dependence while reducing pairwise coincidence below the independent (product) baseline induced by the common marginal distribution. This produces a geometric separation in the joint-action distribution. Classical baselines concentrate probability near the diagonal of action equality, whereas the entanglement-mediated mapping occupies an offset-diagonal region associated with relational roles. Accordingly, the entanglement signature in this setting is not higher correlation magnitude; total-correlation differentials can be negative relative to the classical copying optimum. Instead, it reflects a change in dependence geometry that supports robust anti-coordination. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2601.21139 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2601.21139v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.21139 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Sinan Bugu Mr. [view email] [v1] Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:46:23 UTC (274 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Hidden-Field Coordination Reveals Payoff-Free Quantum Correlation Structure in Decentralized Coordination, by Sinan BuguView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-01 References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)