This paper shall define and discuss two types of quantum process - Disentangling and Entangling. The first type will be shown to contradict Unitarity and is therefore ruled out as a possible signalling process within standard linear Quantum Mechanics. The paper will argue that the second type - the entangling process - is both allowed by the principles of Quantum Mechanics, and can transmit superluminal signals. A proposal will be made for addressing the objection to superluminal signalling by the Special Theory of Relativity.
The standard no-signalling constraints in Bell scenarios are neither sufficient nor necessary for preventing superluminal signalling with general interventions
It is a frequent assumption that - via superluminal information transfers - superluminal signals capable of enabling communication are necessarily exchanged in any quantum theory that posits hidden superluminal influences. However, does the presence of hidden superluminal influences automatically imply superluminal signalling and communication? The non-signalling theorem mediates the apparent conflict between quantum mechanics and the theory of special relativity. However, as a 'no-go' theorem there exist two opposing interpretations of the non-signalling constraint: foundational and operation…
We propose a thought experiment for classical superluminal signal transmission based on the quantum nonlocal influence of photons on their momentum entangled EPR twins. The signal sender measures either position or momentum of particles in a pure ensemble of the entangled pairs, leaving their twins as localized particles or plane waves. The signal receiver distinguishes these outcomes interferometrically using a double slit interferometer modified by a system of optical filters. Since the collapse of the wavefunction is postulated to be instantaneous, this signal can be transmitted superlumina…
Hereby we inspect two-partite entanglement using thought experiment that relates properties of incoherently mixed states to the impossibility of faster-than-light (FTL) signalling. We show that if there appears a way to distinguish ensembles of particles that are described by the same density matrix, but are generated using different pure states - properties of entanglement (namely, non-classical correlations) could be employed to create an FTL signalling device. We do not claim FTL signalling is possible, rather, we establish the logical connection between the aforementioned properties of cur…
Recent technological developments have made it increasingly easy to access the non-perturbative regimes of cavity quantum electrodynamics known as ultra or deep strong coupling, where the light-matter coupling becomes comparable to the bare modal frequencies. In this work, we address the adequacy of the broadly used single-mode cavity approximation to describe such regimes. We demonstrate that, in the non-perturbative light-matter coupling regimes, the single-mode models become unphysical, allowing for superluminal signalling. Moreover, considering the specific example of the quantum Rabi mode…
We show that nonlocality of quantum mechanics cannot lead to superluminal transmission of information, even if most general local operations are allowed, as long as they are linear and trace preserving. In particular, any quantum mechanical approximate cloning transformation does not allow signalling. On the other hand, the no-signalling constraint on its own is not sufficient to prevent a transformation from surpassing the known cloning bounds. We illustrate these concepts on the basis of some examples.
It is shown that superluminal optical signalling is possible without violating Lorentz invariance and causality via tunneling through photonic band gaps in inhomogeneous dielectrics of a special kind.
In the present work we investigate the possibility of superluminal information transmission in quantum theory. We give simple and general arguments to prove that the general structure (Hilbert's space plus instantaneous state reduction) of the theory allows the existence of superluminal communication. We discuss how this relates with existing no-signalling theorems.
It is known that if we can clone an arbitrary state we can send signal faster than light. Here, we show that deletion of unknown quantum state against a copy can lead to superluminal signalling. But erasure of unknown quantum state does not imply faster than light signalling.
Impossibility of superluminal signalling rules out causal loops in conical spacetimes
Univ. Grenoble Alpes（格勒诺布尔阿尔卑斯大学）；Inria（法国国家数字与信息系统研究所）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；Grenoble INP（格勒诺布尔理工学院）；Institut Néel（内尔研究所）；Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zürich（苏黎世联邦理工学院理论物理研究所）
It is known that if one could clone an arbitrary quantum state one could send signal faster than the speed of light. However it remains interesting to see that if one can perfectly self replicate an arbitrary quantum state, does it violate the no signalling principle? Here we see that perfect self replication would also lead to superluminal signalling.
Many authors state that quantum nonlocality could not involve any controllable superluminal transmission of momentum-energy, signals, or information. We claim that most or all no-signalling proofs to date are question-begging, in that they depend upon assumptions about the locality of the measurement process that needed to be established in the first place. We analyse no-signalling arguments by Bohm and Hiley, and Shimony, which illustrate the problem in an especially striking way.
Quantum theory is compatible with special relativity. In particular, though measurements on entangled systems are correlated in a way that cannot be reproduced by local hidden variables, they cannot be used for superluminal signalling. As Czachor, Gisin and Polchinski pointed out, this is not true for general nonlinear modifications of the Schroedinger equation. Excluding superluminal signalling has thus been taken to rule out most nonlinear versions of quantum theory. The no superluminal signalling constraint has also been used for alternative derivations of the optimal fidelities attainable …
We show that non-local resources cannot be used for probabilistic signalling even if one can produce exact clones with the help of a probabilistic quantum cloning machine (PQCM). We show that PQCM cannot help to distinguish two statistical mixtures at a remote location. Thus quantum theory rules out the possibility of sending superluminal signals not only deterministically but also probabilistically. We give a bound on the success probability of producing multiple clones in an entangled system.
In an earlier paper the author expounded an interferometer scheme to communicate classical data over an entangled quantum channel. We return to this concept to show that the laws of Quantum Mechanics are not violated and that the device is able to affect the statistical blend of the quantum states (and that this can be detected) but not the statistics - i.e. the physics of observables. The ideas of superluminal information transfer, discussed in the previous paper, are taken forward to develop a notion of absolute space, time and motion with relativistic effects ascribed to motion through an a…
The experimental violation of Bell inequalities using spacelike separated measurements precludes the explanation of quantum correlations through causal influences propagating at subluminal speed. Yet, any such experimental violation could always be explained in principle through models based on hidden influences propagating at a finite speed v>c, provided v is large enough. Here, we show that for any finite speed v with c<v<infinity, such models predict correlations that can be exploited for faster-than-light communication. This superluminal communication does not require access to any hidden …
The no-signalling principle preventing superluminal communication is a limiting paradigm for physical theories. Within the information-theoretic framework it is commonly understood in terms of admissible correlations in composite systems. Here we unveil its complementary incarnation --- the 'dynamical no-signalling principle' ---, which forbids superluminal signalling via measurements on simple physical objects (e.g. particles) evolving in time. We show that it imposes strong constraints on admissible models of dynamics. The posited principle is universal --- it can be applied to any theory (c…
Summoning is a task between two parties, Alice and Bob, with distributed networks of agents in space-time. Bob gives Alice a random quantum state, known to him but not her, at some point. She is required to return the state at some later point, belonging to a subset defined by communications received from Bob at other points. Many results about summoning, including the impossibility of unrestricted summoning tasks and the necessary conditions for specific types of summoning tasks to be possible, follow directly from the quantum no-cloning theorem and the relativistic no-superluminal-signalling…
Theories with no superluminal signaling have greater information-processing power than theories with no superluminal causation
Université Grenoble Alpes（格勒诺布尔阿尔卑斯大学）；Inria（法国国家数字研究院）；Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zurich（苏黎世联邦理工学院理论物理研究所）；Department of Mathematics, King’s College London（伦敦国王学院数学系）；Department of Mathematics, University of York（约克大学数学系）
Standard quantum key distribution protocols are provably secure against eavesdropping attacks, if quantum theory is correct. It is theoretically interesting to know if we need to assume the validity of quantum theory to prove the security of quantum key distribution, or whether its security can be based on other physical principles. The question would also be of practical interest if quantum mechanics were ever to fail in some regime, because a scientifically and technologically advanced eavesdropper could perhaps use post-quantum physics to extract information from quantum communications with…
Device-Independent (DI) security is the best form of quantum cryptography, providing information-theoretic security based on the very laws of nature. In its highest form, security is guaranteed against adversaries limited only by the no-superluminal signalling rule of relativity. The task of randomness amplification, to generate secure fully uniform bits starting from weakly random seeds, is of both cryptographic and foundational interest, being important for the generation of cryptographically secure random numbers as well as bringing deep connections to the existence of free-will. DI no-sign…
Gell-Mann and Hartle (GMH) have recently considered time-neutral cosmological models in which the initial and final conditions are independently specified, and several authors have investigated experimental tests of such models. We point out here that GMH time-neutral models can allow superluminal signalling, in the sense that it can be possible for observers in those cosmologies, by detecting and exploiting regularities in the final state, to construct devices which send and receive signals between space-like separated points. In suitable cosmologies, any single superluminal message can be tr…
We study the set of no-signalling empirical models on a measurement scenario, and show that the combinatorial structure of the no-signalling polytope is completely determined by the possibilistic information given by the support of the models. This is a special case of a general result which applies to all polytopes presented in a standard form, given by linear equations together with non-negativity constraints on the variables.
In this essay, we explore the limits imposed by the impossibility of superluminal signalling on the class of physically realisable quantum operations, focusing on the difference in approaches one can take towards this problem in Hilbert space quantum theory and algebraic quantum field theory (AQFT). We review a recent proposal by Fewster and Verch for a generally covariant measurement scheme in AQFT, which we call the FV scheme; along the way, we argue that the framework as set up in its original proposal can be greatly simplified without losing generality or physical motivation. We then discu…
Theories involving localized collapse allow the possibility that classical information could be obtained about quantum states without using POVMS and without allowing superluminal signalling. We can model this by extending quantum theory to include hypothetical devices that read out information about the local quantum state at a given point, defined by considering only collapses in its past light cone. Like Popescu-Rohrlich boxes, these hypothetical devices would have practical and scientific implications if realisable. These include signalling through opaque media, probing the physics of dist…
We analyze potential violations of causality in Unruh DeWitt-type detector models in relativistic quantum information. We proceed by first studying the relation between faster-than-light signaling and the causal factorization of the dynamics for multiple detector-field interactions. We show in what way spatially extended non-relativistic detector models predict superluminal propagation of the field's initial conditions. We draw parallels between this characteristic of detector models, stemming from their non-relativistic dynamics, and Sorkin's "impossible measurements on quantum fields" arXiv:…
Relativistic invariance is a physical law verified in several domains of physics. The impossibility of faster than light influences is not questioned by quantum theory. In quantum electrodynamics, in quantum field theory and in the standard model relativistic invariance is incorporated by construction. Quantum mechanics predicts strong long range correlations between outcomes of spin projection measurements performed in distant laboratories. In spite of these strong correlations marginal probability distributions should not depend on what was measured in the other laboratory what is called sho…
A local, deterministic toy model for quantum mechanics is introduced and discussed. It is demonstrated that, when averaged over the hidden variables, the model produces the same predictions as quantum mechanics. In the model considered here, the dynamics depends only on the settings of the measurement device at the detection time, not how those settings were chosen. As a consequence, the model is locally causal but violates statistical independence. We show that it is neither fine-tuned nor allows for superluminal signalling.
This recreational paper investigates what happens if we change quantum mechanics in several ways. The main results are as follows. First, if we replace the 2-norm by some other p-norm, then there are no nontrivial norm-preserving linear maps. Second, if we relax the demand that norm be preserved, we end up with a theory that allows rapid solution of PP-complete problems (as well as superluminal signalling). And third, if we restrict amplitudes to be real, we run into a difficulty much simpler than the usual one based on parameter-counting of mixed states.
International Centre for Theory of Quantum Technologies, University of Gdańsk（格但斯克大学量子技术理论国际中心）；University of Geneva（日内瓦大学）；Constructor University（Constructor大学）
It is well known that measurements performed on spatially separated entangled quantum systems can give rise to correlations that are non-local, in the sense that a Bell inequality is violated. They cannot, however, be used for super-luminal signalling. It is also known that it is possible to write down sets of ``super-quantum'' correlations that are more non-local than is allowed by quantum mechanics, yet are still non-signalling. Viewed as an information theoretic resource, super-quantum correlations are very powerful at reducing the amount of communication needed for distributed computationa…
In 1964, John Bell proved that quantum mechanics is "unreasonable" (to use Einstein's term): there are nonlocal bipartite quantum correlations. But they are not the most nonlocal bipartite correlations consistent with relativistic causality ("no superluminal signalling"): also maximally nonlocal "superquantum" (or "PR-box") correlations are consistent with relativistic causality. I show that---unlike quantum correlations---these correlations do not have a classical limit consistent with relativistic causality. The generalization of this result to all stronger-than-quantum nonlocal correlations…
One of Yakir Aharonov's endlessly captivating physics ideas is the conjecture that two axioms, namely relativistic causality ("no superluminal signalling") and nonlocality, so nearly contradict each other that a unique theory - quantum mechanics - reconciles them. But superquantum (or "PR-box") correlations imply that quantum mechanics is not the most nonlocal theory (in the sense of nonlocal correlations) consistent with relativistic causality. Let us consider supplementing these two axioms with a minimal third axiom: there exists a classical limit in which macroscopic observables commute. Th…
The 1964 theorem of John Bell shows that no model that reproduces the predictions of quantum mechanics can simultaneously satisfy the assumptions of locality and determinism. On the other hand, the assumptions of \emph{signal locality} plus \emph{predictability} are also sufficient to derive Bell inequalities. This simple theorem, previously noted but published only relatively recently by Masanes, Acin and Gisin, has fundamental implications not entirely appreciated. Firstly, nothing can be concluded about the ontological assumptions of locality or determinism independently of each other -- it…
It is currently unknown whether the laws of physics permit time travel into the past. While general relativity indicates the theoretical possibility of causality violation, it is now widely accepted that a theory of quantum gravity must play an essential role in such cases. As a striking example, the logical paradoxes usually associated with causality violation can be resolved by quantum effects. We ask whether the explicit construction of a theory that allows causality violation might in turn teach us something about quantum gravity. Taking the toy model of Deutsch as a starting point, in Par…
A central theme in current work in quantum information and quantum foundations is to see quantum mechanics as occupying one point in a space of possible theories, and to use this perspective to understand the special features and properties which single it out, and the possibilities for alternative theories. Two formalisms which have been used in this context are operational theories, and categorical quantum mechanics. The aim of the present paper is to establish strong connections between these two formalisms. We show how models of categorical quantum mechanics have representations as operati…
