Quantum entanglements are of fundamental importance in quantum physics ranging from the quantum information processing to the physics of black hole. Here, we show that the quantum entanglement is not invariant in special relativity. This suggests that nearly all aspects of quantum information processing would be affected significantly when relativistic effects are considered because present schemes are based on the general assumption that entanglement is invariant. There should be additional protocols to compensate the variances of entanglement in in quantum information processing. Furthermore, extending our results to general relativity may provide clues to the fate of the information contained in an entangled Hawking pair inside and outside the event horizon as black hole evaporates.
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.
It has recently been suggested that various entanglement measures for bipartite mixed states do not in general give the same ordering even in the asymptotic cases [S. Virmani and M. B. Plenio, Phys. Lett. A {\bf 268}, 31 (2000)]. That is, for two certain mixed states, the order of the degree of entanglement depends on the measures. Therefore, incomparable pairs of mixed states which cannot be transformed to each other with unit efficiency by any combinations of local quantum operations and classical communications exist. We make an analogy of the relativity of the order of the degree of entang…
Recent experiment by Zhinden et al (Phys. Rev {\bf A} 63 02111, 2001) purports to test compatibility between relativity and quantum mechanics in the classic EPR setting. We argue that relativity has no role in the EPR argument based solely on non-relativistic quantum formalism. It is suggested that this interesting experiment may have significance to address fundamental questions on quantum probability.
We study entanglement distillability of bipartite mixed spin states under Wigner rotations induced by Lorentz transformations. We define weak and strong criteria for relativistic isoentangled and isodistillable states to characterize relative and invariant behavior of entanglement and distillability. We exemplify these criteria in the context of Werner states, where fully analytical methods can be achieved and all relevant cases presented.
Entanglement of any pure state of an N times N bi-partite quantum system may be characterized by the vector of coefficients arising by its Schmidt decomposition. We analyze various measures of entanglement derived from the generalized entropies of the vector of Schmidt coefficients. For N >= 3 they generate different ordering in the set of pure states and for some states their ordering depends on the measure of entanglement used. This odd-looking property is acceptable, since these incomparable states cannot be transformed to each other with unit efficiency by any local operation. In analogy t…
Realistic many-particle systems dynamically exchange particles with their environments. In classical physics, small variations in the number of constituent particles are commonly considered practically irrelevant. However, in the quantum mechanical context, such and similar structural variations are generically taxed due to the so-called Entanglement Relativity. In this paper we point out difficulties in deriving master equation for a subsystem of an alternative partition of the closed quantum system. We find that the Nakajima-Zwanzig projection method cannot be straightforwardly used to solve…
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…
In this paper we survey, in an elementary fashion, some of the questions that arise when one considers how entanglement and relativity are related via the notion of non-locality. We begin by reviewing the role of entangled states in Bell inequality violation and question whether the associated notions of non-locality lead to problems with relativity. The use of entanglement and wavefunction collapse in Einstein's famous incompleteness argument is then considered, before we go on to see how the issue of non-locality is transformed if one considers quantum mechanics without collapse to be a comp…
A proper choice of subsystems for a system of identical particles e.g., bosons, is provided by second-quantized modes i.e.,creation/annihilation operators. Here we investigate how the entanglement properties of bipartite gaussian states of bosons change when modes are changed by means of unitary, number conserving, Bogolioubov transformations. This set of "virtual" bi-partitions is then finite-dimensionally parametrized and one can quantitatively address relevant questions such as the determination of the minimal and maximal available entanglement. In particular, we show that in the class of b…
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…
We obtain the necessary and sufficient separability and distillability conditions of mixtures of a maximally entangled state and the completely separable state in relativistic setting. In an inertial frame we study the entanglement under Wigner rotations induced by Lorentz transformations. We also investigate the mixed state entanglement of scalar and Dirac fields as seen by two relatively accelerated observers. For scalar field we show that in infinite acceleration limit the state has no longer distillable entanglement. For dirac field the entanglement in the infinite acceleration limit is fi…
The relation between the special relativity and quantum mechanics is discussed. Based on the postulate that space-time inversion is equavalent to particle-antiparticle transformation, the essence of special relativity is explored and the relativistic modification on Stationary Schrödinger Equation is derived.
We claim that both multipartiteness and localization of subsystems of compound quantum systems are of an essentially relative nature crucially depending on the set of operationalistically available states. In a more general setting, to capture the relativity and variability of our structures with respect to the observation means, sheaves of algebras may need be introduced. We provide the general formalism based on algebras which exhibits the relativity of multipartiteness and localization.
A phase space treatment of special relativity of quantum systems is developed. In this approach a quantum particle remains localized if subject to inertial transformations, the localization occurring in a finite phase space area. Unlike non-relativistic transformations, relativistic transformations generally distort the phase space distribution function, being equivalent to aberrations in optics.
Entanglement entropy in local quantum field theories is typically ultraviolet divergent due to short distance effects in the neighbourhood of the entangling region. In the context of gauge/gravity duality, we show that surface terms in general relativity are able to capture this entanglement entropy. In particular, we demonstrate that for 1+1 dimensional CFTs at finite temperature whose gravity dual is the BTZ black hole, the Gibbons-Hawking-York term precisely reproduces the entanglement entropy which can be computed independently in the field theory.
By investigating the evolution of a moving spin-1/2 Dirac electron coupled with a background magnetic noise, we demonstrate that the effects of special relativity will significantly modify the decoherence properties of the spin state. The dephasing could be much suppressed, and for a sufficiently long time the decoherence even seems to halt. This interesting phenomenon stems from the dressed environment induced by special relativity.
We show that any quantum information theory based on anticommuting operators must be supplemented by a superselection rule deeply rooted in relativity to establish a reasonable notion of entanglement. While quantum information may be encoded in the fermionic Fock space, the unrestricted theory has a peculiar feature: The marginals of bipartite pure states need not have identical entropies, which leads to an ambiguous definition of entanglement. We solve this problem, by proving that it is removed by relativity, i.e., by the parity superselection rule that arises from Lorentz invariance via the…
Experiments with evanescent modes and tunneling particles have shown that i) their signal velocity may be faster than light, ii) they are described by virtual particles, iii) they are nonlocal and act at a distance, iv) experimental tunneling data of phonons, photons, and electrons display a universal scattering time at the tunneling barrier front, and v) the properties of evanescent, i.e. tunneling modes is not compatible with the special theory of relativity.
In a previous paper, we have shown that the classical and quantum relativistic dynamics of the Stueckelberg-Horwitz-Piron [SHP] theory can be embedded in general relativity (GR). We briefly review the SHP theory here, and, in particular, the formulation of the theory of spin in the framework of relativistic quantum theory. We show here how the quantum theory of relativistic spin can be embedded, using a theorem of Abraham, Marsden and Ratiu, and also explicit derivation, into the framework of GR by constructing a local induced representation. The relation to the work of Fock and Ivanenko is al…
The special theory of relativity does not predict the existence of photons (quanta of electromagnetic radiation). However, it is demonstrated here that it follows from the special theory of relativity that if photons do exist---and we know that they do---then their energy must be proportional to their frequency. This means that the Planck-Einstein formula E=hν follows just from some results of the special theory of relativity and the assumption of the particle--wave duality.
We introduce a Lorentz-covariant description of tachyons, free of inconsistencies. Our approach is based on an appropriate extension of the special relativity beyond the light barrier, owing to the freedom of synchronization of distant clocks.
This white paper aims to identify an open problem in 'Quantum Physics and the Nature of Reality' --namely whether quantum theory and special relativity are formally compatible--, to indicate what the underlying issues are, and put forward ideas about how the problem might be addressed.
We consider a single free spin 1/2 particle. The reduced density matrix for its spin is not covariant under Lorentz transformations. The spin entropy is not a relativistic scalar and has no invariant meaning.
Photon interference and bunching are widely studied quantum effects that have also been proposed for high precision measurements. Here we construct a theoretical description of photon-interferometry on rotating platforms, specifically exploring the relation between non-inertial motion, relativity, and quantum mechanics. On the basis of this, we then propose an experiment where photon entanglement can be revealed or concealed solely by controlling the rotational motion of an interferometer, thus providing a route towards studies at the boundary between quantum mechanics and relativity.
Based on the doubly special relativity we find a new type of generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) where the coordinate remain unaltered at the high energy while the momentum is deformed at the high energy so that it may be bounded from the above. For this GUP, we discuss some quantum mechanical problems in one dimension such as box problem, momentum wave function, and harmonic oscillator problem.
Can a relativistic quantum field theory be consistently described as a theory of localizable particles? There are many known issues with such a description, indicating an answer in the negative. In this paper, we examine these obstructions by tracing how they (partially) subside in passing to an approximation of ordinary quantum mechanics in the non-relativistic regime. We undertake a recovery of the characteristic features of non-relativistic quantum mechanics beyond simply the Schrödinger equation. We find that once this is achieved, there are persisting issues in the localizability of parti…
Building on our previous work [Phys.Rev.D82,085016(2010)], we show in this paper how a Brownian motion on a short scale can originate a relativistic motion on scales that are larger than particle's Compton wavelength. This can be described in terms of polycrystalline vacuum. Viewed in this way, special relativity is not a primitive concept, but rather it statistically emerges when a coarse graining average over distances of order, or longer than the Compton wavelength is taken. By analyzing the robustness of such a special relativity under small variations in the polycrystalline grain-size dis…
We show how the Minkowskian space-time emerges from a topologically homogeneous causal network, presenting a simple analytical derivation of the Lorentz transformations, with metric as pure event-counting. The derivation holds generally for d=1 space dimension, however, it can be extended to d>1 for special causal networks.
