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Imagine we have a supply of stuff that, we suppose, has quantum
properties that are not well known. Consider a computational scheme in
which we attach inputs and outputs to this stuff to assist a classical
computation. In this paper I consider how we might go about
operationally characterizing the stuff to enable effective quantum
computation. To do this I will present a general formalism for studying
arbitrary fragments of circuits for general probabilistic causal
theories. This formalism then provides the backbone for a procedure to
characterizing the stuff to a sufficient extent that we may be able to
use it to do quantum computing if the stuff has the appropriate
properties.
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