Weak measurements offer new insights into the behavior of quantum systems. Combined with post-selection, quantum mechanics predicts a range of new experimentally testable phenomena. In this paper I consider weak measurements performed on time-dependent pre- and post-selected ensembles, with emphasis on the decay of excited states. The results show that the standard exponential decay law is a limiting case of a more general law that depends on both the time of post-selection and the choice of final state. The generalized law is illustrated for two interesting choices of post-selection.
In this comment on S.Lloyd, et al, Phys.Rev.Lett. 106, 040403 (2011), we show that modelling closed timelike curves (CTCs) as post-selected teleportation allows signalling to past times before the creation of the CTC and allows information paradoxes to form.
In this paper, we analyze a potential procedure based on the combination of an alternative information encoding system inside the state of an electromagnetic mode and on continuous-variable post-selected teleportation, for speed up computational power of a classic architecture up to resolution of problems in PSPACE.
QICI Quantum Information and Computation Initiative, School of Computing and Data Science, The University of Hong Kong（香港大学计算与数据科学学院量子信息与计算倡议）；Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University（广岛大学先进理工学研究科）
An expression is proposed for the quantum mechanical state of a pre- and post-selected ensemble, which is an ensemble determined by the final as well as the initial state of the quantum systems involved. It is shown that the probabilities calculated from the proposed state agree with previous expressions, for cases where they both apply. The same probabilities are found when they are calculated in the forward- or reverse-time directions. This work was prompted by several problems raised by Shimony recently in relation to the state, and time symmetry, of pre- and post-selected ensembles.
A common problem in Bell type experiments is the well-known detection loophole: if the detection efficiencies are not perfect and if one simply post-selects the conclusive events, one might observe a violation of a Bell inequality, even though a local model could have explained the experimental results. In this paper, we analyze the set of all post-selected correlations that can be explained by a local model, and show that it forms a polytope, larger than the Bell local polytope. We characterize the facets of this post-selected local polytope in the CHSH scenario, where two parties have binary…
In analogy with the usual state estimation problem, we introduce the problem of state estimation for a pre- and post-selected ensemble. The problem has fundamental physical significance since, as argued by Y. Aharonov and collaborators, pre- and post-selected ensembles are the most basic quantum ensembles. Two new features are shown to appear: 1) information is flowing to the measuring device both from the past and from the future; 2)because of the post-selection, certain measurement outcomes can be forced never to occur. Due to these features, state estimation in such ensembles is dramaticall…
Weak value is increasingly acknowledged as an important research tool for probing quantum pre- and post-selected ensembles, where some extraordinary phenomena occur. We generalize this concept to the broader notion of "weak potential" which enables predicting the interactions between particles when one of them is pre-/post-selected and the interaction potential is small. A harmonic oscillator is considered, undergoing weak position and momentum measurements between strong position measurement, and shown to possess peculiar physical properties, affecting the momentum rather than the position of…
Closed expressions are derived for the quantum measurement statistics of pre-and postselected gaussian particle beams. The weakness of the pre-selection step is shown to compete with the non-orthogonality of post-selection in a transparent way. The approach is shown to be useful in analyzing post-selection-based signal amplification, allowing measurements to be extended far beyond the range of validity of the well-known Aharonov-Albert-Vaidman limit.
The variance of an observable in a pre-selected quantum system, which is always real and non-negative, appears as an increase in the probe wave packet width in indirect measurements. Extending this framework to pre- and post-selected systems, we formulate a complex-valued counterpart of the variance called "weak variance." In our formulation, the real and imaginary parts of the weak variance appear as changes in the probe wave packet width in the vertical-horizontal and diagonal-antidiagonal directions, respectively, on the quadrature phase plane. Using an optical system, we experimentally dem…
We define a quantum entropy conditioned on post-selection which has the von Neumann entropy of pure states as a special case. This conditional entropy can take negative values which is consistent with part of a quantum system containing less information than the whole which can be in a pure state. The definition is based on generalised density operators for postselected ensembles. The corresponding density operators are consistent with the quantum generalisation of classical conditional probabilities following Dirac s formalism of quasiprobability distributions.
We discuss the concept of connection states (or connection matrices) that describe posterior ensembles, post-selected according to the outcomes of a quantum measurement. Connection matrices allow one to obtain results of any weak and some non-weak pre- and post-selected measurements, in the same manner as density matrices allow one to predict the results of conventional quantum measurements. Connection matrices are direct extensions of the density matrices and are generally non-Hermitian, which we show to be a direct consequence of quantum complementarity. This implies that the ultimate reason…
We present a general formalism for charecterizing 2-time quantum states, describing pre- and post-selected quantum systems. The most general 2-time state is characterized by a `density vector' that is independent of measurements performed between the preparation and post-selection. We provide a method for performing tomography of an unknown 2-time density vector. This procedure, which cannot be implemented by weak or projective measurements, brings new insight to the fundamental role played by Kraus operators in quantum measurements. Finally, after showing that general states and measurements …
We introduce a novel concept which we call as potent value of system observable for pre- and post-selected quantum states. This describes, in general, how a quantum system affects the state of the apparatus during the time between two strong measurements corresponding to pre- and post-selections. The potent value can be realized for any interaction strength and for arbitrary coupling between the system and the apparatus observables. Most importantly, potent values generalize and unify the notion of the weak values and modular values of observables in quantum theory. Furthermore, we define a po…
We show the utility of the weak value amplification to observe the quantum interference between two close lying atomic coherent states in a post-selected atomic cat state, produced in a system of $N$ identical two-level atoms weakly interacting with a single photon field. Through the observation of the negative parts of the Wigner distribution of the post-selected atomic cat state, we find that the post-selected atomic cat state becomes more nonclassical when the post-selected polarization state of the single photon field tends toward becoming orthogonal to its pre-selected state. We show that…
Harnessing Post-selected von Neumann Measurements to Strengthen Entanglement and Quantum Signatures in Coherent States
Research and Development Center for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors（宽禁带半导体研发中心）；State Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Physics and Chip Technologies, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院半导体研究所半导体物理与芯片技术国家重点实验室）；Center of Materials Science and Opto-Electronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学材料科学与光电/激光技术中心）
In arXiv:1107.4675 Ralph uses our post-selection model of closed timelike curves (P-CTC) to construct an "unproven-theorem" paradox, and claims that this voids our argument that P-CTCs are able to resolve such types of paradoxes. Here we point out that Ralph has not accounted for all the interactions needed for his construction. A more careful analysis confirms that indeed there is no paradox, contrary to his claims.
The reconstruction of quantum states from a sufficient set of experimental data can be achieved with arbitrarily weak measurement interactions. Since such weak measurements have negligible back-action, the quantum state reconstruction is also valid for the post-selected sub-ensembles usually considered in weak measurement paradoxes. It is shown that post-selection can then be identified with a statistical decomposition of the initial density matrix into transient density matrices conditioned by the anticipated measurement outcomes. This result indicates that it is possible to ascribe the prope…
Weak values are the fundamental values for observables in a pre- and post-selected system. Weak values are typically measured by weak measurement, in which weak values appear in the change of not the pre- and post-selected system but the probe system. This indirect characteristic of weak measurement obscures the meaning of weak values for the pre- and post-selected system, in contrast to conventional physical quantities, which have a clear operational meaning. In this study, we operationally formulate weak values as the sensitivity of post-selection probability amplitude to small transformatio…
The ability to post-select the outcomes of an experiment is a useful theoretical concept and experimental tool. In the context of weak measurements post-selection can lead to surprising results such as complex weak values outside the range of eigenvalues. Usually post-selection is realized by a projective measurement, which is hard to implement in ensemble systems such as NMR. We demonstrate the first experiment of a weak measurement with post-selection on an NMR quantum information processor. Our setup is used for measuring complex weak values and weak values outside the range of eigenvalues.…
This paper discusses the quantum mechanics of closed timelike curves (CTC) and of other potential methods for time travel. We analyze a specific proposal for such quantum time travel, the quantum description of CTCs based on post-selected teleportation (P-CTCs). We compare the theory of P-CTCs to previously proposed quantum theories of time travel: the theory is physically inequivalent to Deutsch's theory of CTCs, but it is consistent with path-integral approaches (which are the best suited for analyzing quantum field theory in curved spacetime). We derive the dynamical equations that a chrono…
We study classical query algorithms with post-selection, and find that they are closely connected to rational functions with nonnegative coefficients. We show that the post-selected classical query complexity of a Boolean function is equal to the minimal degree of a rational function with nonnegative coefficients that approximates it (up to a factor of two). For post-selected quantum query algorithms, a similar relationship was shown by Mahadev and de Wolf, where the rational approximations are allowed to have negative coefficients. Using our characterisation, we find an exponentially large se…
Many seemingly paradoxical effects are known in the predictions for outcomes of intermediate measurements made on pre- and post-selected quantum systems. Despite appearances, these effects do not demonstrate the impossibility of a noncontextual hidden variable theory, since an explanation in terms of measurement-disturbance is possible. Nonetheless, we show that for every paradoxical effect wherein all the pre- and post- selected probabilities are 0 or 1 and the pre- and post-selected states are nonorthogonal, there is an associated proof of contextuality. This proof is obtained by considering…
It is shown that a quantum shutter, pre- and post-selected in particular quantum states, can close simultaneously arbitrary number of slits preventing the passage of a single photon in an arbitrary state. A set of K pre- and post-selected shutters can close the slits preventing the passage of K or less photons. This result indicates that the surprising properties of pre- and post-selected quantum systems are even more robust than previously expected.
In device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) the security is not based on any assumptions about the intrinsic properties of the devices and the quantum signals, but on the violation of a Bell inequality. We introduce a DIQKD scenario in which an optimal Bell inequality is constructed from the performed measurement data, rather than fixing beforehand a specific Bell inequality. Our method can be employed in a general way, for any number of measurement settings and any number of outcomes. We provide an implementable DIQKD protocol and perform finite-size security key analysis for colle…
Quantum walks are counterparts of classical random walks. They spread faster, which can be exploited in information processing tasks, and constitute a versatile simulation platform for many quantum systems. Yet, some of their properties can be emulated with classical light. This rises a question: which aspects of the model are truly nonclassical? We address it by carrying out a photonic experiment based on a pre- and post-selection paradox. The paradox implies that if somebody could choose to ask, either if the particle is at position x = 0 at even time steps, or at position x = d (d > 1) at o…
Bell inequality violations can be used to certify private randomness for use in cryptographic applications. In photonic Bell experiments, a large amount of the data that is generated comes from no-detection events and presumably contains little randomness. This raises the question as to whether randomness can be extracted only from the smaller post-selected subset corresponding to proper detection events, instead of from the entire set of data. This could in principle be feasible without opening an analogue of the detection loophole as long as the min-entropy of the post-selected data is evalu…
Entanglement and nonlocality are studied in the framework of pre-/post-selected ensembles with the aid of weak measurements and the Two-State-Vector Formalism. In addition to the EPR-Bohm experiment, we revisit the Hardy and Cheshire Cat experiments, whose pre- or post-selected states give rise to curious phenomena. We then turn to even more peculiar phenomenon suggesting "emerging correlations" between independent pre- and post-selected ensembles of particles. This can be viewed as a quantum violation of the classical "pigeonhole principle".
The interaction of an open system $\s$ with a pre- and post-selected environment is studied. In general, under such circumstances $\s$ can not be described in terms of a density matrix, {\it even when $\s$ in not post-selected}. However, a simple description in terms of a two-state (TS) is always available. The two-state of $\s$ evolves in time from an initially `pure' TS to a `mixed' TS and back to a final `pure' TS. This generic process is governed by a modified Liouville equation, which is derived. For a sub-class of observables, which can still be described by an ordinary density matrix, t…
Probabilistic metrology attempts to improve parameter estimation by occasionally reporting an excellent estimate and the rest of the time either guessing or doing nothing at all. Here we show that probabilistic metrology can never improve quantum limits on estimation of a single parameter, both on average and asymptotically in number of trials, if performance is judged relative to mean-square estimation error. We extend the result by showing that for a finite number of trials, the probability of obtaining better estimates using probabilistic metrology, as measured by mean-square error, decreas…
Pre- and post-selected (PPS) measurement, especially the weak PPS measurement, is a useful protocol for amplifying small physical parameters. However, it is difficult to retain both the attainable highest measurement sensitivity and precision with the increase of the parameter to be measured. Here, a modulated PPS measurement scheme based on coupling-strength-dependent modulation is presented with the highest sensitivity and precision retained for an arbitrary coupling strength. This idea is demonstrated by comparing the modulated PPS measurement scheme with standard PPS measurementv scheme, r…
Applying high power continuous-wave resonant s-shell excitation to a single self-assembled In- GaAs quantum dot, we demonstrate the generation of post-selected single-indistinguishable photons from the Mollow triplet sidebands. A sophisticated spatial filtering technique based on a double Michelson interferometer enabled us to separate the spectrally close lying individual Mollow components and perform almost background free two-photon interference measurements. Showing high consistency with the results of an independent determination of the emission coherence of 250 +/- 30 ps, our analysis re…
We consider quantum systems in entangled states post-selected in non-entangled states. Such systems exhibit unusual behavior, in particular when weak measurements are performed at intermediate times.
We show that the weak value of any observable in pre- and post-selected states can be expressed as the sum of the average of the observable in the pre-selected state and an anomalous part. We argue that at a fundamental level the anomalous nature of the weak values arises due to the interference between the post-selected state and another quantum state which is orthogonal to the pre-selected state. This provides a necessary and sufficient condition for the anomalous nature of the weak value of a quantum observable. Furthermore, we prove that for two non-commuting observables the product of the…
The quantum statistical fluctuations of the electromagnetic field establish a limit, known as the shot-noise limit, on the sensitivity of optical measurements performed with classical technologies. However, quantum technologies are not constrained by this shot-noise limit. In this regard, the possibility of using every photon produced by quantum sources of light to estimate small physical parameters, beyond the shot-noise limit, constitutes one of the main goals of quantum optics. Here we experimentally demonstrate a scalable protocol for quantum-enhanced optical phase estimation across a broa…
We use homodyne detection to monitor the radiative decay of a superconducting qubit. According to the classical theory of conditional probabilities, the excited state population differs from an exponential decay law if it is conditioned upon a later projective qubit measurement. Quantum trajectory theory accounts for the expectation values of general observables, and we use experimental data to show how a homodyne detection signal is conditioned upon both the initial state and the finally projected state of a decaying qubit. We observe, in particular, how anomalous weak values occur in continu…
A recent result about measurability of a quantum state of a single quantum system is generalized to the case of a single pre- and post-selected quantum system described by a two-state vector. The protection required for such measurement is achieved by coupling the quantum system to a pre- and post-selected protected device yielding a nonhermitian effective Hamiltonian.
This paper starts with a brief review of the topic of strong and weak pre- and post-selected (PPS) quantum measurements, as well as weak values, and afterwards presents original work. In particular, we develop a nonperturbative theory of weak PPS measurements of an arbitrary system with an arbitrary meter, for arbitrary initial states. New and simple analytical formulas are obtained for the average and the distribution of the meter pointer variable, which hold to all orders in the weak value. In the case of a mixed preselected state, in addition to the standard weak value, an associated weak v…
In a sequence of single spins interacting longitudinally with a mechanical oscillator, and using the micromaser model with random injection, we show that after an appropriate post-selection of each spin, a phonon laser analog with Poisson statistics is created with nearly perfect coherence, evidenced by the second order coherence function that goes asymptotically to one. The non-linear gain of the system depends crucially on the properly post-selected spin state as well as the pump. Our model and results suggest that the mechanism of interaction followed by a post-selected state or partial tra…
We show that a beam splitter of reflectivity one-third can be used to realize a quantum phase gate operation if only the outputs conserving the number of photons on each side are post-selected.
Fourth-order interference is an information processing primitive for photonic quantum technologies. When used in conjunction with post-selection, it forms the basis of photonic controlled logic gates, entangling measurements, and can be used to produce quantum correlations. Here, using classical weak coherent states as inputs, we study fourth-order interference in novel $4 \times 4$ multi-port beam splitters built within multi-core optical fibers. Using two mutually incoherent weak laser pulses as inputs, we observe high-quality fourth order interference between photons from different cores, a…
Through the von Neumann interaction followed by post-selection, we can extract not only the eigenvalue of an observable of the measured system but also the weak value. In this post-selected von Neumann measurement, the initial pointer state of the measuring device is assumed to be a fundamental Gaussian wave function. By considering the optical implementation of the post-selected von Neumann measurement, higher-order Gaussian modes can be used. In this paper, we consider the Hermite--Gaussian (HG) and Laguerre--Gaussian (LG) modes as pointer states and calculate the average shift of the pointe…
Quantum nonlocal correlations of anomalous weak values
Faculty of Engineering and Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar-Ilan University（巴伊兰大学工程学院与纳米技术和先进材料研究所）；Institute for Quantum Studies, Chapman University（查普曼大学量子研究所）；Iyar, The Israeli Institute for Advanced Research（以色列高级研究院）
We develop a formal theory of the weak values with emphasis on the consistency conditions and a probabilistic interpretation in the counter-factual processes. We present the condition for the choice of the post-selected state to give a negative weak value of a given projection operator and strange values of an observable in general. The general framework is applied to Hardy's paradox and the spin $1/2$ system to explicitly address the issues of counter-factuality and strange weak values. The counter-factual arguments which characterize the paradox specifies the pre-selected state and a complet…
We prove uncertainty relations that quantitatively express the impossibility of jointly sharp preparation of pre- and post-selected quantum states for measuring incompatible observables during the weak measurement. By defining a suitable operator whose average in the pre-selected quantum state gives the weak value, we show that one can have new uncertainty relations for variances of two such operators corresponding to two non-commuting observables. These generalize the recent stronger uncertainty relations that give non-trivial lower bounds for the sum of variances of two observables which ful…
