We introduce a measure of ''quantumness'' for any quantum state in a finite dimensional Hilbert space, based on the distance between the state and the convex set of classical states. The latter are defined as states that can be written as a convex sum of projectors onto coherent states. We derive general properties of this measure of non-classicality, and use it to identify for a given dimension of Hilbert space what are the "Queen of Quantum" states, i.e. the most non-classical quantum states. In three dimensions we obtain the Queen of Quantum state analytically and show that it is unique up to rotations. In up to 11-dimensional Hilbert spaces, we find the Queen of Quantum states numerically, and show that in terms of their Majorana representation they are highly symmetric bodies, which for dimensions 5 and 7 correspond to Platonic bodies.
The question of witnessing or quantifying nonclassicality of quantum systems has been addressed in various ways. For a given system or theory, we propose identifying it with the incompatibility of admissible states. We quantify the nonclassicality of quantum systems using the Hilbert-Schmidt norm of the commutator of two states. As a particular application of this measure, we study the classicalization of a discrete-time quantum walk with a noisy coin.
The reliability of quantum channels for transmitting information is of profound importance from the perspective of quantum information. This naturally leads to the question as how well a quantum state is preserved when subjected to a quantum channel. We propose a measure of quantumness of channels based on non-commutativity of quantum states that is intuitive and easy to compute. We apply the proposed measure to some well known noise channels, both Markovian as well as non-Markovian and find that the results are in good agreement with those from a recently introduced $l_1$-norm coherence based…
Entanglement is at the heart of most quantum information tasks, and therefore considerable effort has been made to find methods of deciding the entanglement content of a given bipartite quantum state. Here, we prove a fundamental limitation to deciding if an unknown state is entangled or not: we show that any quantum measurement which can answer this question necessarily gives enough information to identify the state completely. Therefore, only prior information regarding the state can make entanglement detection less expensive than full state tomography in terms of the demanded quantum resour…
We propose a new measure of relative incompatibility for a quantum system with respect to two non-commuting observables, and call it quantumness of relative incompatibility. In case of a classical state, order of observation is inconsequential, hence probability distribution of outcomes of any observable remains undisturbed. We define relative entropy of the two marginal probability distributions as a measure of quantumness in the state, which is revealed only in presence of two non-commuting observables. Like all other measures, we show that the proposed measure satisfies some basic axioms. A…
Witnessing non-classicality in the gravitational field has been claimed to be practically impossible. This constitutes a deep problem, which has even lead some researchers to question whether gravity should be quantised, due to the weakness of quantum effects. To counteract these claims, we propose a thought experiment that witnesses non-classicality of a physical system by probing it with a qubit. Remarkably, this experiment does not require any quantum control of the system, involving only measuring a single classical observable on that system. In addition, our scheme does not even assume an…
We propose an approach for quantifying a quantum circuit's quantumness as a means to understand the nature of quantum algorithmic speedups. Since quantum gates that do not preserve the computational basis are necessary for achieving quantum speedups, it appears natural to define the quantumness of a quantum circuit using the number of such gates. Intuitively, a reduction in the quantumness requires an increase in the amount of classical computation, hence giving a ``quantum and classical tradeoff''. In this paper we present two results on this direction. The first gives an asymptotic answer to…
Entanglement, a manifestation of quantumness of correlations between the observables of the subsystems of a composite system, and the quantumness of their mutual information are widely studied characteristics of a system of spin-1/2 particles. The concept of quantumness of correlations between the observables of a system is based on incommensurability of the correlations with the predictions of some local hidden variable (LHV) theory. However, the concept of quantumness of mutual information does not invoke the LHV theory explicitly. In this paper, by invoking explicitly the local hidden varia…
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was successfully employed to test several protocols and ideas in Quantum Information Science. In most of these implementations the existence of entanglement was ruled out. This fact introduced concerns and questions about the quantum nature of such bench tests. In this article we address some issues related to the non-classical aspects of NMR systems. We discuss some experiments where the quantum aspects of this system are supported by quantum correlations of separable states. Such quantumness, beyond the entanglement-separability paradigm, is revealed via a de…
Local quantum uncertainty (in short LQU) was introduced by Girolami et. al.(Phy. Rev. Lett. \textbf{110}, 240402) as a measure of quantum uncertainty in a quantum state as achievable on single local measurement. However, such quantity do satisfy all necessary criteria to serve as measure of discord like quantum correlation and it has no closed formula except only for $2\otimes n$ system. Here, we consider orthogonal invariant class of states which includes both the Werner and Isotropic class of states and explore the possibility of closed form formula. Further, we extend our quest to the possi…
Complementarity or wave-particle duality has been the basis of quantum mechanics over the last century. Since the Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiments in 1956, the particle nature of single photons has been intensively studied for various quantum phenomena such as anticorrelation and Bell inequality violation. Regarding the fundamental question on quantumness or nonclassicality, however, no clear answer exists for what quantum entanglement should be and how to generate it. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the secrete of quantumness using the wave nature of single photons.
Simulating quantum nonlocality and steering requires augmenting pre-shared randomness with non-vanishing communication cost. This prompts the question of how one may provide such an operational characterization for the quantumness of correlations due even to unentangled states. Here we show that for a certain class of states, such quantumness can be pointed out by superlocality, the requirement for a larger dimension of the pre-shared randomness to simulate the correlations than that of the quantum state that generates them. This provides an approach to define the nonclassicality of local mult…
We address the question of verifying the quantumness of thermal machines. A Szilárd engine is truly quantum if its work output cannot be described by a local hidden state (LHS) model, i. e. an objective local statistical ensemble. Quantumness in this scenario is revealed by a steering-type inequality which bounds the classically extractable work. A quantum Maxwell demon can violate that inequality by exploiting quantum correlations between the work medium and the thermal environment. While for a classical Szilárd engine an objective description of the medium always exists, any such description…
Quantum mechanics marks a radical departure from the classical understanding of Nature, fostering an inherent randomness which forbids a deterministic description; yet the most fundamental departure arises from something different. As shown by Bell [1] and Kochen-Specker [2], quantum mechanics portrays a picture of the world in which reality loses its objectivity and is in fact created by observation. Quantum mechanics predicts phenomena which cannot be explained by any theory with objective realism, although our everyday experience supports the hypothesis that macroscopic objects, despite bei…
Large-scale quantum effects have always played an important role in the foundations of quantum theory. With recent experimental progress and the aspiration for quantum enhanced applications, the interest in macroscopic quantum effects has been reinforced. In this review, we critically analyze and discuss measures aiming to quantify various aspects of macroscopic quantumness. We survey recent results on the difficulties and prospects to create, maintain and detect macroscopic quantum states. The role of macroscopic quantum states in foundational questions as well as practical applications is ou…
Quantum discord is a measure of the quantumness of correlations. After reviewing its different versions and properties, we apply it to the questions of quantum information processing. First we show that changes in discord in the processed unentangled states indicate the need for entanglement in the distributed implementation of quantum gates. On the other hand, it was shown that zero system-environment discord is a necessary and sufficient condition for applicability of the standard completely positive description of the system's evolution. We demonstrate that this result does not translate in…
Based on the theory of quantum mechanics, intrinsic randomness in measurement distinguishes quantum effects from classical ones. From the perspective of states, this quantum feature can be summarized as coherence or superposition in a specific (classical) computational basis. Recently, by regarding coherence as a physical resource, Baumgratz et al.~present a comprehensive framework for coherence measures. Here, we propose a quantum coherence measure essentially using the intrinsic randomness of measurement. The proposed coherence measure provides an answer to the open question in completing th…
Multipartite Quantum Correlations is one of the most relevant indicator of the quantumness of a system in many body systems. This remarkable feature is in general difficult to characterize and the known definitions are hard to measure. Besides the efforts dedicated to solve this problem, the question of which is the best approach remains open. In this work, we study the Global Quantum Discord, GQD, as a bipartite and multipartite measure. We also check the limits of this definitions and present an experimental scheme to determine the maximum of the GQD via the measurements of the system's exci…
Quantum information theory is built upon the realisation that quantum resources like coherence and entanglement can be exploited for novel or enhanced ways of transmitting and manipulating information, such as quantum cryptography, teleportation, and quantum computing. We now know that there is potentially much more than entanglement behind the power of quantum information processing. There exist more general forms of non-classical correlations, stemming from fundamental principles such as the necessary disturbance induced by a local measurement, or the persistence of quantum coherence in all …
QBism regards quantum mechanics as an addition to probability theory. The addition provides an extra normative rule for decision-making agents concerned with gambling across experimental contexts, somewhat in analogy to the double-slit experiment. This establishes the meaning of the Born Rule from a QBist perspective. Moreover it suggests that the best way to formulate the Born Rule for foundational discussions is with respect to an informationally complete reference device. Recent work [DeBrota, Fuchs, and Stacey, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 013074 (2020)] has demonstrated that reference devices emplo…
