The Bell inequalities can be violated by postselecting on the results of a measurement of the Bell states. If information about the original state preparation is available, we point out how the violation can be reproduced classically by postselecting on the basis of this information. We thus propose a variant of existing experiments that rules out such alternative explanations, by having the preparation and the postselection at spacelike separation. Unlike the timelike case where one can sharply distinguish Bell inequality violations based on pre- or postselection of a Bell state, in our scenario the distinction between these physical effects becomes foliation-dependent. We call this 'relativity of pre- and postselection'.
We report on an experimental violation of the Bell-Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (Bell-CHSH) inequality using energy-time entangled photons. The experiment is not free of the locality and detection loopholes, but is the first violation of the Bell-CHSH inequality using energy-time entangled photons which is free of the postselection loophole described by Aerts et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2872 (1999)].
It is shown that the data of the Hensen et al. Bell test experiment exhibits anomalous postselection that can fully account for the apparent violation of the CHSH inequality. A simulation of a local realist model implementing similar postselection is presented. The model produces an apparent violation of CHSH indistinguishable from that of the experiment. The experimental data also appears to violate no-signaling, and it is shown how postselection can produce an artifactual violation of no-signaling. The Hensen et al. experiment does not succeed in rejecting classical locality and therefore do…
Experimental tests of Bell inequalities ought to take into account all detection events. If the latter are postselected, and only some of these events are included in the statistical analysis, a Bell inequality may be violated, even by purely classical correlations. The paradoxical properties of Werner states, recently pointed out by Popescu, can be explained as the result of a postselection of the detection events, or, equivalently, as due to the preparation of a new state by means of a nonlocal process.
Entanglement is an invaluable resource for fundamental tests of physics and the implementation of quantum information protocols such as device-independent secure communications. In particular, time-bin entanglement is widely exploited to reach these purposes both in free-space and optical fiber propagation, due to the robustness and simplicity of its implementation. However, all existing realizations of time-bin entanglement suffer from an intrinsic postselection loophole, which undermines their usefulness. Here, we report the first experimental violation of Bell's inequality with "genuine" ti…
It is generally assumed that sources sending randomly two particles to one or two different observers, named here random destination sources (RDS), cannot by used for genuine quantum nonlocality tests because of the postselection loophole. We demonstrate that Bell experiments not affected by the postselection loophole may be performed with: (i) RDS and local postselection using perfect detectors, (ii) RDS, local postselection, and fair sampling assumption with any detection efficiency, and (iii) RDS and a threshold detection efficiency required to avoid the detection loophole. These results al…
We report a practical non-postselection entanglement concentration scheme in which a maximally entangled Bell-state photon pair is produced from two pairs of partially (or non-maximally) entangled photons. Since this scheme is built only upon linear optical elements and does not require photon-number resolving detectors, it has immediate applications in experimental implementations of various quantum information protocols which require two-photon Bell-states.
Device-independent (DI) quantum communication will require a loophole-free violation of Bell inequalities. In typical scenarios where line-of-sight between the communicating parties is not available, it is convenient to use energy-time entangled photons due to intrinsic robustness while propagating over optical fibers. Here we show an energy-time Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell inequality violation with two parties separated by 3.7 km over the deployed optical fiber network belonging to the University of Concepción in Chile. Remarkably, this is the first Bell violation with spatially separated…
The violation of Bell's inequality requires a well-designed experiment to validate the result. In experiments using energy-time and time-bin entanglement, initially proposed by Franson in 1989, there is an intrinsic loophole due to the high postselection. To obtain a violation in this type of experiment, a chained Bell inequality must be used. However, the local realism bound requires a high visibility in excess of 94.63 percent in the time-bin entangled state. In this work, we show how such a high visibility can be reached in order to violate a chained Bell inequality with 6, 8 and 10 terms.
Passing a photon number state through a balanced beam splitter will produce an entangled state in which the phases of the two output beams are highly correlated. This entangled state can be viewed as a generalized form of a Schrodinger cat state where there is an equal probability amplitude for all possible phases. We show that Bell's inequality can be violated using this entangled state and two distant measuring devices that consist of a single-photon interferometer with a Kerr medium in one path, a set of single-photon detectors, and postselection based on a homodyne measurement. These entan…
Violations of Bell inequalities are better preserved by turbulent atmospheric channels than by comparable optical fibers in the scenario of copropagating entangled photons [A.A. Semenov and W. Vogel, Phys. Rev. A 81, 023835 (2010); arXiv:0909.2492]. Here we reexamine this result for the case of counterpropagation also considering the fact that each receiver registers so-called double-click events, which are caused by dark counts, stray light, and multi-photon entangled pairs. We show that advantages of the atmospheric links are feasible only for the copropagation scenario in the case of strong…
Can a Bell test with no detection loophole be demonstrated for multi-photon entangled states of light within the current technology? We examine the possibility of a postselection-free CHSH-Bell inequality test wih an unsymmetrical polarization singlet. To that end we employ a preselection procedure which is performed prior to the test. It allows using imperfect (coarse-grained) binary photodetection in the test. We show an example of preselection scheme which improves violation of the CHSH inequality with the micro-macro polarization singlet produced by the optimal quantum cloning. The presele…
The question whether Quantum Mechanics describes all aspects of both the micro-world of elementary particles and living organisms adequately is still open. A Bell inequality test without locality and detection loopholes will deliver the answer when applied to macroscopic systems. Here we show that an experimentally feasible loophole-free Bell test is possible using only multi-photon polarization entanglement and linear optics. We apply a preselection protocol which produces genuine macroscopic superpositions and entanglement, thus eliminating postselection and dark counts. Such superpositions …
Quantum correlations may violate the Bell inequalities. Most of the experimental schemes confirming this prediction have been realized in all-optical Bell tests suffering from the detection loophole. Experiment which closes this loophole and the locality loophole simultaneously is highly desirable and remains challenging. A novel approach to a loophole-free Bell tests is based on amplification of the entangled photons, i.e.\@ on macroscopic entanglement, which optical signal should be easy to detect. However, the macroscopic states are partially indistinguishable by the classical detectors. An…
In a recent interesting article Chris Nagele, Ebubechukwu O. IloOkeke, Peter P. Rohde, Jonathan P. Dowling, and Tim Byrnes discuss an entanglement swapping experiment using a setup where it is possible to switch the time ordering of measurements. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the very same idea was introduced in two previous papers, and briefly address some important points related to the subject.
One way to deal with the fact that many versions of reality simultanenously exist in the wave function is to suppose there are hidden variables that single out one version for perception. Bell showed theoretically and the Aspect experiment confirmed that there could be no hidden variable theory which satisfied a locality condition. We show here that the locality condition can be derived from the well-established principle of the relativity of simultaneity. Thus virtually all hidden variable theories, not just obviously local ones, are in conflict with the results of the Aspect experiment and a…
The entanglement swapping protocol is analyzed in a relativistic setting, where shortly after the entanglement swapping is performed, a Bell violation measurement is performed. From an observer in the laboratory frame, a Bell violation is observed due to entanglement swapping taking place, but in a moving frame the order of the measurements is reversed, and a Bell violation is observed even though no entanglement is present. Although the measurement results are identical, the wavefunctions for the two frames are different--- one is entangled and the other is not. Furthermore, for boosts in a p…
It is recalled that closed (isolated) systems are essentially reversible whilst open systems like the Earth, or living beings on it, are irreversible because they are not isolated. Earth and life irreversibility derives from the evolution of the universe, which is a consequence of its special initial conditions. It is stressed that, although relativity theory forbids that information travels faster than light, it does not forbid influences of an event on its past light cone. Therefore the violation of Bell inequalities in loophole-free experiments is compatible with relativity theory. A correl…
We present a simple model demonstrating that time-symmetric relativistic interactions can account for correlations violating the Bell inequalities while avoiding conspiracies as well as the commitment to instantaneous influences. Based on an explicit statistical analysis of this model, we emphasize the essential virtues and problems of such an account and discuss its relation to Bell's theorem.
Here we present a Multiple Observer Probability Analysis (MOPA) for the purpose of clarifying topics in experimental Bell scenarios. Because Bell scenarios are interested in quantum effects between nonlocal measurement devices, we assign an observer to each device: Alice and Bob. Given that the observers are stationary and space-like separated, each observer is privy to different information along their shared equi-temporal lines due to permutations in the order they observe events. Therefore, each observer is inclined to assign different probability distributions to the same set of propositio…
Almost all Bell-inequality experiments to date have used postselection, and therefore relied on the fair sampling assumption for their interpretation. The standard form of the fair sampling assumption is that the loss is independent of the measurement settings, so the ensemble of detected systems provides a fair statistical sample of the total ensemble. This is often assumed to be needed to interpret Bell inequality experiments as ruling out hidden-variable theories. Here we show that it is not necessary; the loss can depend on measurement settings, provided the detection efficiency factorises…
The method of transfer functions is developed as a tool for studying Bell inequalities, alternative quantum theories and the associated physical properties of quantum systems. Non-negative probabilities for transfer functions result in Bell-type inequalities. The method is used to show that all realistic Lorentz-invariant quantum theories, which give unique results and have no preferred frame, can be ruled out on the grounds that they lead to weak backward causality.
We investigate how relativity influences the spin correlation of entangled fermions measured by moving detectors. In particular, we show that the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell inequality is not violated by quantum mechanics when the left and right spin detectors move fast enough.
This note is a part of my efforts for getting rid of nonlocality from quantum mechanics (QM). Quantum nonlocality is two faced Janus, one face is Lüders projection nonlocality, another face is Bell nonlocality. This paper is devoted to disillusion of the latter. The main casualty of Bell's model with hidden variables is that it straightforwardly contradicts to the Heinsenberg's uncertainty and generally Bohr's complementarity principles. Thus, we do not criticize the derivation or interpretation of the Bell inequality (as was done by numerous authors). Our critique is directed against the mode…
Bell-inequality violation and entanglement, measured by Wootters' concurrence and negativity, of two qubits initially in Werner or Werner-like states coupled to thermal reservoirs are analyzed within the master equation approach. It is shown how this simple decoherence process leads to generation of states manifesting the relativity of two-qubit entanglement measures.
We show a device with which, apparently, information (in the form of a "slash-dot" code) is instantly transmitted via Bell state collapse, over arbitrary distance. We show then why the device does not actually work, and discuss about the "no Bell telephone" statement. We discuss also about the troublesome relationship between the Copenhagen interpretation and special relativity. In particular, we advocate the interpretation that the "state space" cannot be a description of the state of the object studied alone, but that the observer is inextricably involved even if no measurement is taking pla…
Entanglement boosting: Low-volume logical Bell pair preparation for distributed fault-tolerant quantum computation
Nanofiber Quantum Technologies, Inc. (NanoQT)（纳米纤维量子技术有限公司）；Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford（牛津大学克拉伦登实验室）；Department of Computer Science, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo（东京大学大学院信息理工学研究系计算机科学专业）
In this paper, the Lorentz transformation of the entangled Bell states with momentum, not necessarily orthogonal to the boost direction, and spin, is studied. We extended quantum correlations and Bell's inequality to the relativistic regime by considering normalized relativistic observables. It is shown that quantum information, along the perpendicular direction to the boost, is eventually lost and Bell's inequality is not always violated for entangled states in special relativity. This could impose restrictions to certain quantum information processing such as quantum cryptography using massi…
Demonstrations of quantum entanglement which confirm the violation of Bell's inequality indicate that under certain conditions action at a distance is possible. This consequence seems to contradict the relativistic principle of causality, which asserts that an effect never precedes its cause, in any reference frame. By analyzing a numerical example of Bell's experiment with entangled pairs of photons, we show how observers in two inertial reference frames can disagree about the causality relation between two events. One observer claims that event 1 is the cause of event 2, while the other clai…
The EPR paradox dates back to 1935 when Einstein et al., through the use of non commuting operators, proposed that quantum mechanics was not complete in that it suggested a `spooky action at a distance.' Later in 1964 John Bell was able to express the dilemma in a simple inequality involving spin-singlet states. If the inequality were satisfied then Einstein was correct and if it were violated then it favored the quantum mechanics point of view. In what follows, we present two approaches to Bell's inequality, and then offer an interpretation from the viewpoint of quantum mechanics based on the…
Counterfactual definiteness must be used as at least one of the postulates or axioms that are necessary to derive Bell-type inequalities. It is considered by many to be a postulate that is not only commensurate with classical physics (as for example Einstein's special relativity), but also separates and distinguishes classical physics from quantum mechanics. It is the purpose of this paper to show that Bell's choice of mathematical functions and independent variables implicitly includes counterfactual definiteness and reduces the generality of the physics of Bell-type theories so significantly…
We give a simple non-mathematical explanation of Bell's inequality. Using the inequality, we show how the results of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) experiments violate the principle of strong locality, also known as local causality. This indicates, given some reasonable-sounding assumptions, that some sort of faster-than-light influence is present in nature. We discuss the implications, emphasizing the relationship between EPR and the Principle of Relativity, the distinction between causal influences and signals, and the tension between EPR and determinism.
Local realism is in conflict with special quantum Bell-type models. Recently, several experiments have demonstrated violation of local realism if we trust their setup assuming special relativity valid. In this paper we question the assumption of relativity, point out not commented anomalies and show that the experiments have not closed objectivity loophole because clonability of the result has not been demonstrated. We propose several improvements in further experimental tests of local realism make the violation more convincing.
By assuming a deterministic evolution of quantum systems and taking realism into account, we carefully build a hidden variable theory for Quantum Mechanics based on the notion of ontological states proposed by 't Hooft. We view these ontological states as the ones embedded with realism and compare them to the (usual) quantum states that represent superpositions, viewing the latter as mere information of the system they describe. Such a deterministic model puts forward conditions for the applicability of Bell's inequality: the usual inequality cannot be applied to the usual experiments. We buil…
In light of a recent reformulation of Bell's theorem from causal principles by Howard Wiseman and the author, I argue that the conflict between quantum theory and relativity brought up by Bell's work can be softened by a revision of our classical notions of causation. I review some recent proposals for a quantum theory of causation that make great strides towards that end, but highlight a property that is shared by all those theories that would not have satisfied Bell's realist inclinations. They require (implicitly or explicitly) agent-centric notions such as "controllables" and "uncontrollab…
The technique of weak value amplification, proposed by Aharonov et al. in 1988, has been applied for various fields of physics for the purpose of precision measurement, which is made possible by exploiting the freedom of `postselection' specifying actively the final state in the physical process. Here we report for the first time the feasibility of utilizing the technique of weak value amplification in high energy particle physics, especially in measuring the CP-violating parameters in B meson decays, where the effective lifetime of the decay mode is expected to be prolonged statistically due …
J.S. Bell believed that his famous theorem entailed a deep and troubling conflict between the empirically verified predictions of quantum theory and the notion of local causality that is motivated by relativity theory. Yet many physicists continue to accept, usually on the reports of textbook writers and other commentators, that Bell's own view was wrong, and that, in fact, the theorem only brings out a conflict with determinism or the hidden-variables program or realism or some other such principle that (unlike local causality), allegedly, nobody should have believed anyway. (Moreover, typica…
Time has a fundamentally different character in quantum mechanics and in general relativity. In quantum theory events unfold in a fixed time order while in general relativity temporal order is influenced by the distribution of matter. When the distribution of matter requires a quantum description, temporal order is expected to become non-classical -- a scenario beyond the scope of current theories. Here we provide a direct description of such a scenario. We consider a massive body in a spatial superposition and show how it leads to "entanglement" of temporal orders between time-like events in …
We review some counterintuitive properties of standard measures describing quantum entanglement and violation of Bell's inequality (often referred to as "nonlocality") in two-qubit systems. By comparing the nonlocality, negativity, concurrence, and relative entropy of entanglement, we show: (i) ambiguity in ordering states with the entanglement measures, (ii) ambiguity of robustness of entanglement in lossy systems and (iii) existence of two-qubit mixed states more entangled than pure states having the same negativity or nonlocality. To support our conclusions, we performed a Monte Carlo simul…
Experimental tests of Bell's inequality allow to distinguish quantum mechanics from local hidden variable theories. Such tests are performed by measuring correlations of two entangled particles (e.g. polarization of photons or spins of atoms). In order to constitute conclusive evidence, two conditions have to be satisfied. First, strict separation of the measurement events in the sense of special relativity is required ("locality loophole"). Second, almost all entangled pairs have to be detected (for particles in a maximally entangled state the required detector efficiency is 82.8%), which is …
Quantum information theorists have created axiomatic reconstructions of quantum mechanics (QM) that are very successful at identifying precisely what distinguishes quantum probability theory from classical and more general probability theories in terms of information-theoretic principles. Herein, we show how one such principle, Information Invariance & Continuity, at the foundation of those axiomatic reconstructions maps to "no preferred reference frame" (NPRF, aka "the relativity principle") as it pertains to the invariant measurement of Planck's constant h for Stern-Gerlach (SG) spin measure…
We provide a new formulation of the Local Friendliness no-go theorem of Bong et al [Nat. Phys. 16, 1199 (2020)] from fundamental causal principles, providing another perspective on how it puts strictly stronger bounds on quantum reality than Bell's theorem. In particular, quantum causal models have been proposed as a way to maintain a peaceful coexistence between quantum mechanics and relativistic causality, while respecting Leibniz's methodological principle. This works for Bell's theorem but does not work for the Local Friendliness no-go theorem, which considers an extended Wigner's Friend s…
According to the theory of cosmic inflation, the large scale structures observed in our Universe (galaxies, clusters of galaxies, Cosmic Background Microwave - CMB - anisotropy ...) are of quantum mechanical origin. They are nothing but vacuum fluctuations, stretched to cosmological scales by the cosmic expansion and amplified by gravitational instability. At the end of inflation, these perturbations are placed in a two-mode squeezed state with the strongest squeezing ever produced in Nature (much larger than anything that can be made in the laboratory on Earth). This article studies whether a…
