Relationship between covariance of Wigner functions and transformation noncontextuality

Abstract: We investigate the relationship between two properties of quantum transformations often studied in popular subtheories of quantum theory: covariance of the Wigner representation of the theory and the existence of a transformation noncontextual ontological model of the theory. We consider subtheories of quantum theory specified by a set of states, measurements and transformations, defined specifying a group of unitaries, that map between states (and measurements) within the subtheory. We show that if there exists a Wigner representation of the subtheory which is covariant under the group of unitaries defining the set of transformations then the subtheory admits of a transformation noncontextual ontological model. We provide some concrete arguments to conjecture that the converse statement also holds provided that the underlying ontological model is the one given by the Wigner representation. In addition, we investigate the relationships of covariance and transformation noncontextuality with the existence of a quasiprobability distribution for the theory that represents the transformations as positivity preserving maps. We conclude that covariance implies transformation noncontextuality, which implies positivity preservation.