Grounded on the quantum measurement riddle, a general argument against the universal validity of the superposition principle was recently put forward by Bassi and Ghirardi. It is pointed out that this argument is valid only within the realm of the philosophy of ``objectivistic realism'' which is not a necessary part of the foundations of physics, and that recent developments including decoherence theory do account for the appearance of macroscopic objects without resorting to a break of the principle.
A simple quantum interaction is analyzed, where the paths of two superposed particles asymmetrically cross, while a detector set to detect an interaction between them remains silent. Despite this negative result, the particles' states leave no doubt that a peculiar interaction has occurred: One particle's momentum changes while the other's remains unaffected, in apparent violation of momentum conservation. Revisiting the foundations of the quantum measurement process offers the resolution. Prior to the macroscopic recording of no interaction, a brief Critical Interval prevails, during which th…
We review a few useful concepts about polarization measurements in the quantum domain. Using a perfectly general formalism, we show how to build the quantum counterpart of some classical quantities like Stokes parameters and Mueller matrices, which are well known in classical polarization-measurement theory.
The sets of after-measurement states for standard and generalized quantum measurements are compared. It is shown that for a SIC-POVM generalized measurement, the ratio of the volume of the set of after-measurement states and the volume of the simplex generated by individual outcomes quickly tends to zero with increase of the number of dimensions. The volumes used are based on the Hilbert-Schmidt norm. Some consequences on actual realizations, having finite collections of systems are discussed.
The quantum measurement incompatibility is a distinctive feature of quantum mechanics. We investigate the incompatibility of a set of general measurements and classify the incompatibility by the hierarchy of compatibilities of its subsets. By using the approach of adding noises to measurement operators we present a complete classification of the incompatibility of a given measurement assemblage with $n$ members. Detailed examples are given to the incompatibility for unbiased qubit measurements based on semidefinite programm.
We show that there exist informationally incomplete phase space observables such that the Cartesian margins are informationally equivalent with position and momentum. This shows that it is possible to reconstruct the position and momentum distributions of a quantum system from the statistics of a single observable, and thus a single measurement, even though the state of the system is not uniquely determined by the statistics.
According to d'Espagnat we must choose between nonlinear breaks in quantum state evolution and weak objectivity. In this comment it is shown that this choice is forced on us by an inconsistent pseudo-realistic interpretation of quantum states. A strongly objective one-world interpretation of linear quantum mechanics is presented. It is argued that the weak objectivity favored by d'Espagnat is, in fact, inconsistent with quantum mechanics.
It is well known that the Husimi Q-function of the signal field can actually be measured by the eight-port homodyne detection technique, provided that the reference beam (used for homodyne detection) is a very strong coherent field so that it can be treated classically. Using recent rigorous results on the quantum theory of homodyne detection observables, we show that any phase space observable, and not only the Q-function, can be obtained as a high amplitude limit of the signal observable actually measured by an eight-port homodyne detector. The proof of this fact does not involve any classic…
In the paper [X. Tan et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 210401 (2019)], we have studied the Euler characteristic number $χ$ for a two-band model; However, the calculated $χ$ there is not an integer when the parameter $|h|>1$ and then may not be considered as a suitable topological number for the system. In this note, we find that the Bloch vectors of the ground state for $|h|>1$ do not cover the whole Bloch sphere and thus the Euler characteristic number should be effectively associated with the manifold of a disk, rather than a sphere. After taking into account the boundary contribution, we derive…
It has been recently proved that a quantum jump may be reversed by a unitary process provided the initial state is restricted by some conditions. The application of such processes for preventing decoherence, for example in quantum computers, was suggested. We shall show that in the situation when the quantum jump is reversible it supplies no information about the initial state additional to the information known beforehand. Therefore the reversibility of this type does not contradict the general statement of quantum measurement theory: a measurement cannot be reversed. As a consequence of this…
Recently, we find a physical limit on energy consumption of quantum metrology, and demonstrate that it essentially arises from the erasure of quantum Fisher information (QFI) which determines the best achievable measurement precision. Here, we provide more details in order to further elaborate the essence of this principle.
The problem considered is how to map the concepts of Quantum Theory (QT) to elements of a psychological experiment. The QT concepts are "measurement," "state," and "observable". The elements of a psychological experiment are trial, stimulus, instructions, questions, and responses.
This paper has been withdrawn by the author. In this paper I present some reasons to adopt an holistic point of wiev, eliminating a boundary subject/object in the measurement. I review shortly Everett's and Cramer's positions, casting light on their flaws, to introduce a logical motivation to thinking to an experiment as a totality in which everything is entangled.
We argue that the concepts of "freedom of choice" and of "causal order" are intrinsically linked: a choice is considered "free" if it is correlated only to variables in its causal future. We discuss the implications of this to Bell-type scenarios, where two separate measurements are carried out, neither of which lies in the causal future of the other, and where one typically assumes that the measurement settings are chosen freely. Furthermore, we refute a recent criticism made by Ghirardi and Romano in [arXiv:1301.5040] and [arXiv:1302.1635] that we used an unphysical freedom of choice assumpt…
In a recent note David Mermin attributed the idea that wave function collapse is a physical process to a misunderstanding of probability and the role it plays in quantum mechanics. There are, however, further misconceptions at play, some of which are shared by Mermin himself and more generally by QBists. The main objective of the present comment on his note is to explain why I disagree with his reading of a well-known passage by Niels Bohr, in particular the ambiguity of the first-person plural he perceives in Bohr's reference to "our description of nature" and "our experience."
Recently it was realized that linear optics and photo-detectors with feedback can be used for theoretically efficient quantum information processing. The first of three steps toward efficient linear optics quantum computation (eLOQC) was to design a simple non-deterministic gate, which upon post-selection based on a measurement result implements a non-linear phase shift on one mode. Here a computational strategy is given for finding non-deterministic gates for bosonic qubits with helper photons. A more efficient conditional sign flip gate is obtained.
This is a revision of my original posting, in which I raised objections to part of the Conway-Kochen argument. I now agree with them that their recent reply answers my original concerns. In the first part of these notes (identical to the original), I give a reformulation of the part of the Conway-Kochen result that closes the contextuality loophole in the original Kochen-Specker (KS) theorem. In the second part (modified in this revision) I review my concerns connected with the finite time needed to make a measurement, and briefly indicate how Conway and Kochen have reponded to them.
This note contains the complete mathematical proof of the main Theorem of the paper "How continuous measurements in finite dimension are actually discrete" (quant-ph/0702068), thus showing that in finite dimension any measurement with continuous set of outcomes can be simply realized by randomizing some classical parameter and conditionally performing a measurement with finite outcomes.
It is well known that the pointer state |Φ> resulting from the von Neumann measurement of a projection operator A performed upon an ensemble of quantum systems in the preselected state |ψ> depends upon A|ψ>. Here it is shown that the pointer state |Ψ> obtained from such a measurement performed upon an ensemble that is also postselected depends upon the weak value of A - regardless of the measurement interaction strength. It is also found that, while the spatial distribution of |Ψ> exhibits interference, the idempotency of A prohibits interference in that of |Φ>. This is explained in terms of w…
Quantum-correlated photon sources provide a means of suppressing multiple photon emission and thus improving the security and efficiency of quasi single-photon quantum key distribution systems. We present illustrative photon-counting statistics for a Poissonian source conditioned by photon number measurements on a fully correlated twin beam with a non-ideal photon counter. We show that high photon counting efficiency is needed to obtain significant improvement in channel efficiency (bits per symbol) and/or security (in the form of reduced Shannon entropy leakage) over a single beam source.
With Bell's inequalities one has a formal expression to show how essentially all local theories of natural phenomena that are formulated within the framework of realism may be tested using a simple experimental arrangement. For the case of entangled pairs of spin-1/2 particles we propose an alternative measurement setup which is consistent to the necessary assumptions corresponding to the derivation of the Bell inequalities. We find that the Bell inequalities are never violated with respect to our suggested measurement process.
In a series of papers Colbeck and Renner claim to have shown that the quantum state provides a complete description for the prediction of future measurement outcomes. In this paper I argue that thus far no solid satisfactory proof has been presented to support this claim. Building on the earlier work of Leifer, Landsman and Leegwater, I present and prove two results that only partially support this claim. I then discuss the arguments by Colbeck, Renner and Leegwater concerning how these results are to generalize to the full claim. This argument turns out to hinge on the implicit use of an assu…
One-way quantum deficit and quantum discord are two important measures of quantum correlations. We revisit the relationship between them in two-qubit systems. We investigate the conditions that both one-way quantum deficit and quantum discord have the same optimal measurement ensembles, and demonstrate that one-way quantum deficit can be derived from the quantum discord for a class of X states. Moreover, we give an explicit relation between one-way quantum deficit and entanglement of formation. We show that under phase damping channel both one-way quantum deficit and quantum discord evolve exa…
In quantum mechanical bipartite systems, naive extensions of von Neumann's projective measurement to nonlocal variables can produce superluminal signals and thus violate causality. We analyze the projective quantum nondemolition state-verification in a two-spin system and see how the projection introduces nonlocality without entanglement. For the ideal measurements of "R-nonlocal" variables, we argue that causality violation can be resolved by introducing further restrictions on the post-measurement states, which makes the measurement "Q-nonlocal". After we generalize these ideas to quantum me…
The conventional view, that Einstein was wrong to believe that quantum physics is local and deterministic, is challenged. A parametrised model, Q, for the state vector evolution of spin 1/2 particles during measurement is developed. Q draws on recent work on so-called riddled basins in dynamical systems theory, and is local, deterministic, nonlinear and time asymmetric. Moreover the evolution of the state vector to one of two chaotic attractors (taken to represent observed spin states) is effectively uncomputable. Motivation for this model arises from Penrose's speculations about the nature an…
This note shows how to apply the James-Stein estimator to the case of entropic uncertainty relations of more than two observables. A better result is found compared to applying the ordinary estimator and we find a more optimal model compared with experimental data. The theoretical bounds for entropic relations for entropic relations for more than two observables are shown to be improved.
We exploit a well-known isomorphism between complex hermitian $2\times 2$ matrices and $\mathbb{R}^4$, which yields a convenient real vector representation of qubit states. Because these do not need to be normalized we find that they map onto a Minkowskian future cone in $\mathbb{E}^{1,3}$, whose vertical cross-sections are nothing but Bloch spheres. Pure states are represented by light-like vectors, unitary operations correspond to special orthogonal transforms about the axis of the cone, positive operations correspond to pure Lorentz boosts. We formalize the equivalence between the generaliz…
This text is an introduction to an operational outlook on Bell inequalities, which has been very fruitful in the past few years. It has lead to the recognition that Bell tests have their own place in applied quantum technologies, because they quantify non-classicality in a device-independent way, that is, without any need to describe the degrees of freedom under study and the measurements that are performed. At the more fundamental level, the same device-independent outlook has allowed the falsification of several other alternative models that could hope to reproduce the observed statistics wh…
The measurement of spin effects in general relativity has recently taken centre stage with the successfully launched Gravity Probe B experiment coming toward an end, coupled with recently reported measurements using laser ranging. Many accounts of these experiments have been in terms of frame-dragging. We point out that this terminology has given rise to much confusion and that a better description is in terms of spin-orbit and spin-spin effects. In particular, we point out that the de Sitter precession (which has been mesured to a high accuracy) is also a frame-dragging effect and provides an…
This survey tries to investigate the truths and deficiencies of prevalent philosophy about Uncertainty Relations (UR) and Quantum Measurements (QMS). The respective philosophy, known as being eclipsed by unfinished controversies, is revealed to be grounded on six basic precepts. But one finds that all the respective precepts are discredited by insurmountable deficiencies. So, in regard to UR, the alluded philosophy discloses oneself to be an unjustified mythology. Then UR appear either as short-lived historical conventions or as simple and limited mathematical formulas, without any essential s…
An unavoidable task in quantum information processing is how to obtain data about the state of an individual system by suitable measurements. Informationally complete measurements are relevant in quantum state tomography, quantum cryptography, quantum cloning, and other questions. Symmetric informationally complete measurements (SIC-POVMs) form an especially important class of such measurements. We formulate some novel properties and relations for general SIC-POVMs in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space. For a given density matrix and any general SIC-POVM, the so-called index of coincidence of …
These lecture notes cover undergraduate textbook topics (e.g. as in Sakurai), and also additional advanced topics at the same level of presentation. In particular: EPR and Bell; Basic postulates; The probability matrix; Measurement theory; Entanglement; Quantum computation; Wigner-Weyl formalism; The adiabatic picture; Berry phase; Linear response theory; Kubo formula; Modern approach to scattering theory with mesoscopic orientation; Theory of the resolvent and the Green function; Gauge and Galilei Symmetries; Motion in magnetic field; Quantum Hall effect; Quantization of the electromagnetic f…
In this note we address the question of whether any any quantum computational model that allows adaptive measurements can be simulated by a model that allows postselected measurements. We argue in the favor of this question and prove that adaptive measurements can be simulated by postselection. We also discuss some potentially stunning consequences of this result such as the ability to solve #P problems.
Leonard Shelby, the protagonist of Memento, uses mementos in the form of tattoos and pictures to handle his amnesia. Similar to Leonard, contemporary quantum computers suffer from "quantum amnesia": the inability to store quantum registers for a long duration. Quantum computers can only retain classical "mementos" of quantum registers by measuring them before those vanish. Some quantum skeptics argue that this quantum amnesia is inherent. We point out that this variant of a skeptic world is roughly described by the quantum bounded storage model, and although it is a computational obstacle that…
The measurement problem is seen as an ambiguity of quantum mechanics, or, beyond that, as a contradiction within the theory: Quantum mechanics offers two conflicting descriptions of the Wigner's-friend experiment. As we argue in this note there are, however, obstacles from within quantum mechanics and regarding our perspective onto doing physics towards fully describing a measurement. We conclude that the ability to exhaustively describe a measurement is an assumption necessary for the common framing of the measurement problem and ensuing suggested solutions.
