The connection between Bell's inequalities based on probabilities and those based on correlations

Abstract

Violation of Bell inequalities is widely regarded as a definitive test for non-locality. However, Bell correlational inequalities must always be satisfied by all jointly present, cross-correlated data. The correlations of variable pairs obtained in repeated runs are not cross-correlated in this way and are not required to satisfy the Bell inequality. In addition, by using information regarded as non-local, proper joint correlations may be computed among counterfactual and measured variables. These correlations satisfy the Bell inequality, but are spatially non-stationary in angle. By using a simple symmetry condition, such considerations may be extended to inequalities in probabilities. The latter may be derived directly from correlational inequalities developed by Clauser, Horne, Shimony and Holt (CHSH). Violation of either correlational or probabilistic Bell inequalities then implies that the Bell correlation cannot be accounted for by a stochastic process that is spatially stationary in angle coordinates. However, other processes may still be allowed.     

Kochen-Specker theorem studied with neutron interferometer

The Kochen-Specker theorem shows the incompatibility of noncontextual hidden variable theories with quantum mechanics. Quantum contextuality is a more general concept than quantum non-locality which is quite well tested in experiments using Bell inequalities. Within neutron interferometry we performed an experimental test of the Kochen-Specker theorem with an inequality, which identifies quantum contextuality, by using spin-path entanglement of single neutrons. Here entanglement is achieved not between different particles, but between degrees of freedom of a single neutron, i.e., between spin and path degree of freedom. Appropriate combinations of the spin analysis and the position of the phase shifter allow an experimental verification of the violation of an inequality derived from the Kochen-Specker theorem. The observed violation 2.291±0.008?1 clearly shows that quantum mechanical predictions cannot be reproduced by noncontextual hidden variable theories.     

The Damped-vacuum-field Jaynes-Cummings Model

Abstract

We study the dynamics of a two-level atom interacting with a single mode of a damped cavity at 0 K when the cavity is initially in the vacuum state and the atom enters it in an arbitrary (pure or mixed) state. A complete analytical solution of this simple model is presented. On the basis of this solution we firstly investigate the pseudo-spin dynamics of the atom and the cavity field, secondly give an illustration of the Araki-Lieb theorem concerning the von Neumann entropies of interacting quantum systems and thirdly demonstrate the generation of entangled states of the atom and cavity field that are of interest in connection with the Bell inequalities.     

Separability and distillability in composite quantum systems-a primer

Abstract

Quantum mechanics is already 100 years old, but remains alive and full of challenging open problems. On one hand, the problems encountered at the frontiers of modern theoretical physics like quantum gravity, string theories, etc. concern quantum theory, and are at the same time related to open problems of modern mathematics. But even within non-relativistic quantum mechanics itself there are fundamental unresolved problems that can be formulated in elementary terms. These problems are also related to challenging open questions of modern mathematics; linear algebra and functional analysis in particular. Two of these problems will be discussed in this article: (a) the separability problem, i.e. the question when the state of a composite quantum system does not contain any quantum correlations or entanglement; and (b) the distillability problem, i.e. the question when the state of a composite quantum system can be transformed to an entangled pure state using local operations (local refers here to component subsystems of a given system). Although many results concerning the above mentioned problems have been obtained (in particular in the last few years in the framework of quantum information theory), both problems remain until now essentially open. We will present a primer on the current state of knowledge concerning these problems, and discuss the relation of these problems to one of the most challenging questions of linear algebra: the classification and characterization of positive operator maps.     

Can there be quantum correlations in a mixture of two separable states?

Abstract

We use a recently proposed measure of quantum correlations (work deficit) to measure the strength of the non-locality of an equal mixture of two bipartite orthogonal but locally indistinguishable separable states. This gives supporting evidence for a non-zero value of a separable state for this measure of non-locality. We show that a different order imposed on two states by the work deficit and any entanglement measure cannot be explained by mixedness alone.     

Nanostructures,Entanglement and the Physics of Quantum Control

Abstract

Nanostructures might be viewed as solid-state approximations to SU(N) networks, the nodes of which would, in simplest form, be analogous to elementary spins. Owing to interactions with an external light field and coupling between the local nodes these networks allow for single- and multiple-node coherence (entanglement), despite damping. By means of stochastic simulations we demonstrate how such a ‘quantum machinery’ embedded in a qualified environment would look like in terms of measurement protocols. These protocols give evidence for the underlying complex behaviour of the network, a complexity which is based on the non-local information contained in the entanglement and which would not be present in the ‘classical limit’ of using local information only.     

Bell's inequality with times rather than angles

Abstract

An abstract treatment of Bell inequalities is proposed, in which the parameters characterizing Bell's observable can be times rather than directions. The violation of a Bell inequality might then be taken to mean that the property of a system can be changed by the timing of a distant measurement, which could take place in the future.     

Three-photon W-state

Abstract

Multiphoton entanglement is the basis of many quantum communication schemes, quantum cryptographic protocols, and fundamental tests of quantum theory. For entangled three-qubit states it has been shown that there are two inequivalent classes of states, under stochastic local operations and classical communications. The classes are represented by the GHZ- and W-state. The GHZ-state has been used to prove Bell's theorem without inequality. Contrary to the GHZ-state, the W-state shows high robustness of entanglement against photon loss. Here we show the first experimental results on the observation of the polarization entangled three-photon W-state from spontaneous parametric down-conversion.     

Cavity QED analog of spin

Abstract

Using the even and odd coherent states, we show that a single mode cavity field, prepared in a coherent state by a classical source and manipulated by both dispersive and resonant interactions with atoms, is analogous to a spin one-half particle interacting with Stern–Gerlach magnets where the parity of the field is the analog of spin. Because the number of photons in the cavity may be large, the system we describe can exhibit quantum effects on at least a mesoscopic scale. We show that entangled two and three cavity systems can be generated. The three cavity case can be used to demonstrate the contradiction between local realistic theories and quantum mechanics in the manner proposed by Greenberger, Horne and Zeilinger in 1989 [13].     

Tunneling in rf-SQUIDs and Tests of Quantum Mechanics at the Macroscopic Level

Superconducting devices such as rf-SQUIDs have been proposed to test the validity of quantum mechanics by means of Bell-like inequalities involving different-time correlation probabilities for measurements of magnetic flux. We calculate the quantum mechanical violations to such temporal Bell inequalities taking into account the effect of the measurement process on the probability distribution for the outcomes. We define a general criterion quantifying the observability of the violations and show that it is not fulfilled for the various experimental configurations proposed so far.     

Operational theory of eight-port homodyne detection

Abstract

The eight-port homodyne detection apparatus is analysed in the framework of the operational theory of quantum measurement. For an arbitrary quantum noise leaking through the unused port of the beam splitter, the positive operator valued measure and the corresponding operational homodyne observables are derived. It is shown that such an eight-port homodyne device can be used to construct the operational quantum trigonometry of an optical field. The quantum trigonometry and the corresponding phase space Wigner functions are derived for a signal field probed by a classical local oscillator and a squeezed vacuum in the unused port.     

Non-local quantum gates: A cavity-quantum-electrodynamics implementation

Abstract

The problems related to the management of large quantum registers could be handled in the context of distributed quantum computation: unitary non-local transformations among spatially separated local processors are realized performing local unitary transformations and exchanging classical communication. In this paper, a scheme is proposed for the implementation of universal non-local quantum gates such as a controlled NOT (CNOT) and a controlled quantum phase gate (CQPG). The system chosen for their physical implementation is a cavity-quantum-electrodynamics (CQED) system formed by two spatially separated microwave cavities and two trapped Rydberg atoms. The procedures to follow for the realization of each step necessary to perform a specific non-local operation are described.     

Quantum network architecture of tight-binding models with substitution sequences

Abstract

We study a two-spin quantum Turing architecture, in which discrete local rotations {α_m} of the Turing head spin alternate with quantum controlled NOT operations. Substitution sequences are known to underlie aperiodic structures. We show that parameter inputs {α_m} described by such sequences can lead here to a quantum dynamics, intermediate between the regular and the chaotic variant. Exponential parameter sensitivity characterizing chaotic quantum Turing machines turns out to be an adequate criterion for induced quantum chaos in a quantum network.     

Nonlocality for continuous variable system with local symplectic operation

We study Bell's theorem for two-mode squeezed state with realizable operations in experiment. For the purpose, we suggest the Bell–CHSH operator with photon presence measurement using symplectic operation and displacement. The symplectic operation can be decomposed into phase shifter and squeezing operation in single mode. These operations are realizable experimentally in quantum optics. As a result, we obtain a larger degree of quantum nonlocality by local symplectic operation and displacement.     

Decay of two-qubit correlation in correlated stochastic dephasing

Time evolutions of quantum correlation, classical correlation and total correlation of two qubits are investigated when the two qubits are placed under the influence of classical phase fluctuations with correlation. Stochastic variables that describe the phase fluctuations are correlated and subject to the stationary Gauss–Markov process. The model includes the local and global dephasing models. It is shown that the quantum correlation measured by the quantum discord is increased by the correlation between the stochastic variables in the initial time region while the classical correlation and the total correlation are not. Furthermore the entanglement, the optimal fidelity of the quantum teleportation and the violation of the Bell inequality are investigated.     

Information Transfer with Two-state Two-particle Quantum Systems

Abstract

Any future quantum information machine will contain unitary operators and entangled particle states. The Hilbert space describing the action of the quantum information machine separates into a bosonic and a fermionic sector. Because the bosonic sector is of higher dimension, it is always possible to encode more information into a multiboson state than into a multifermion state, given the same complexity, that is unitary representation, of the quantum information machine. This is explicitly studied for the case of two particles defined in two modes. There the beam splitter is a generic representation of any U(2) matrix, and it has recently been shown that one can realize any N-dimensional unitary operator by successive application of such two-dimensional operators. The two-boson two-mode Hilbert space is of dimension three, and thus one can encode log₂3 = 1·57 bits of information into such an entangled state. Finally, some explicit schemes for creating and detecting the three possible, two-photon, two-mode states spanning the bosonic Bell basis are given.     

Creating quantum entanglement between multi-atom Dicke states and two cavity modes

We present a scheme to create quantum entanglement between multi-atom Dicke states and two cavity modes by passing N three-level atoms in Λ configuration through a resonant two-mode cavity one by one. We further show that such a scheme can be used to generate arbitrary two-mode N-photon entangled states, arbitrary superposition of Dicke states, and a maximal entangled state of Dicke states. These states may find applications in the demonstration of quantum non-locality, high-precision spectroscopy and quantum information processing.     

Quantum lost and found

Abstract

We consider the problem of correcting the errors incurred from sending classical or quantum information through a noisy quantum environment by schemes using classical information obtained from a measurement on the environment. We give conditions for quantum or classical information (prepared in a specified input basis B) to be corrigible based on a measurement M. Based on these criteria we give examples of noisy channels such that (1) no information can be corrected by such a scheme, (2) for some basis B there is a correcting measurement M, (3) for all bases B there is an M and (4) there is a measurement M which allows perfect correction for all bases B. The last case is equivalent to the possibility of correcting quantum information, and turns out to be equivalent to the channel allowing a representation as a convex combination of isometric channels. Such channels are doubly stochastic but not conversely.     

Quantum authentication with unitary coding sets

Abstract

A general class of authentication schemes for arbitrary quantum messages is proposed. The class is based on the use of sets of unitary quantum operations in both transmission and reception, and on appending a quantum tag to the quantum message used in transmission. The previous secret between partners required for any authentication is a classical key. We obtain the minimal requirements on the unitary operations that lead to a probability of failure of the scheme less than one. This failure may be caused by someone performing a unitary operation on the message in the channel between the communicating partners, or by a potential forger impersonating the transmitter.     

Bell's Inequality and Rejected-data Protocols for Quantum Cryptography

Abstract

We introduce a suitably constructed Bell inequality as a test of the integrity of a single-particle quantum cryptography scheme.