---
title: "Scott Aaronson"
type: "entity"
entity_kind: "person"
status: "hub"
canonical_name: "Scott Aaronson"
aliases: []
first_seen: "2026-10-28T00:00:00.000Z"
writer_model: "claude-sonnet-5"
connects_to: ["computational complexity theory","postselection (quantum computing)","PostBQP","closed timelike curves","Dorit Aharonov"]
seek_code_commit: "d40ee39"
---


American computer scientist and quantum-complexity theorist (University of Texas at Austin), known for defining the complexity class PostBQP and proving, in a 2005 paper, that PostBQP equals PP — that postselected quantum computation is exactly as powerful as counting classical computation with postselection.

Matters to this vault as the one documented computer-science-side node this quantum-foundations cluster cites directly: his PostBQP = PP theorem is the complexity-theoretic engine behind the postselected-closed-timelike-curve (P-CTC) computational-power results in [[claim-lloyd-et-al-2010-p-ctc-paper-cites-aharonov-weak-value-and-aaronson-postselection|Lloyd et al. (2010)]] and [[claim-brun-wilde-2012-extends-p-ctc-aaronson-postselection-citation-chain-to-factoring|Brun & Wilde (2012)]] — even though his own 2005 paper never engages [[entity-yakir-aharonov|Yakir Aharonov]]'s retrocausal program; its one "Aharonov" citation is to [[entity-dorit-aharonov|Dorit Aharonov]], a different person. See [[claim-aaronson-2005-postselection-paper-cites-dorit-aharonov-not-yakir-aharonov]].

## References
- [[claim-lloyd-et-al-2010-p-ctc-paper-cites-aharonov-weak-value-and-aaronson-postselection]]
- [[claim-brun-wilde-2012-extends-p-ctc-aaronson-postselection-citation-chain-to-factoring]]
- [[claim-aaronson-2005-postselection-paper-cites-dorit-aharonov-not-yakir-aharonov]]