In this letter we establish the impossibility of existence of self replicating machine in the quantum world. We establish this result by three different but consistent approaches of linearity of quantum mechanics, no signalling condition and conservation of entanglement under local unitary operations.
In general relativity, closed timelike curves can break causality with remarkable and unsettling consequences. At the classical level, they induce causal paradoxes disturbing enough to motivate conjectures that explicitly prevent their existence. At the quantum level, resolving such paradoxes induce radical benefits - from cloning unknown quantum states to solving problems intractable to quantum computers. Instinctively, one expects these benefits to vanish if causality is respected. Here we show that in harnessing entanglement, we can efficiently solve NP-complete problems and clone arbitrary…
In this paper we analyze the existence of joint probabilities for the Bell-type and GHZ entangled states. We then propose the usage of nonmonotonic upper probabilities as a tool to derive consistent joint upper probabilities for the contextual hidden variables. Finally, we show that for the extreme example of no error, the GHZ state allows for the definition of a joint upper probability that is consistent with the strong correlations.
We have previously proposed a conjecture stating that quantum mechanical transition amplitudes can be parametrized in terms of a quantum action. Here we give a proof of the conjecture and establish the existance of a local quantum action in the case of imaginary time in the Feynman-Kac limit (when temperature goes to zero). Moreover we discuss some symmetry properties of the quantum action.
Measurement-induced back action, a direct consequence of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, is the defining feature of quantum measurements. We use quantum measurement theory to analyze the recent experiment of Safavi-Naeini et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 108}, 033602 (2012)], and show that results of this experiment not only characterize the zero-point fluctuation of a near-ground-state nanomechanical oscillator, but also demonstrate the existence of quantum back-action noise --- through correlations that exist between sensing noise and back-action noise. These correlations arise from the q…
We predict the existence of the electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) in the double cavity configurations of the hybrid opto-electro mechanical systems (OEMS). We discuss the origin of the EIA in OEMS which exhibit the existence of an absorption peak within the transparency window. We provide analytical results for the width and the height of the EIA peak. The combination of the EIT and EIA is especially useful for photon switching applications. The EIA that we discuss is different from the one originally discovered by Lezama et al in atomic systems and can be understood in terms of the…
Arbitrary quantum states cannot be copied. In fact, to make a copy we must provide complete information about the system. However, can a quantum system self-replicate? This is not answered by the no-cloning theorem. In the classical context, Von Neumann showed that a `universal constructor' can exist which can self-replicate an arbitrary system, provided that it had access to instructions for making copy of the system. We question the existence of a universal constructor that may allow for the self-replication of an arbitrary quantum system. We prove that there is no deterministic universal qu…
We show that the existence of the family of self-adjoint Lyapunov operators introduced in [J. Math. Phys. 51, 022104 (2010)] allows for the decomposition of the state of a quantum mechanical system into two parts: A past time asymptote, which is asymptotic to the state of the system at t goes to minus infinity and vanishes at t goes to plus infinity, and a future time asymptote, which is asymptotic to the state of the system at t goes to plus infinity and vanishes at t goes to minus infinity. We demonstrate the usefulness of this decomposition for the description of resonance phenomena by cons…
If the unitary quantum mechanical state evolution is universally valid, quantized systems evolve uniformly, deterministically, and reversible; that is, one-to-one. Hence, what is considered an irreversible measurement might be a purely subjective, conventional, and convenient abstraction of the situation that, although in principal totally reversible, for all practical purposes (fapp), measurements cannot be undone. If this is granted, then Schroedinger's "quantum jellification" arises because of the inevitability of the physical co-existence of classically mutually exclusive states through qu…
A simple criterion is derived in order that a number sequence ${\cal S}_n$ is a permitted spectrum of a quantized system. The sequence of the prime numbers fulfils the criterion and the corresponding one-dimensional quantum potential is explicitly computed in a semi-classical approximation. The existence of such a potential implies that the primality testing can in principle be resolved by the sole use of physical laws.
The characterization of quantum correlations, being stronger than classical, yet weaker than those appearing in non-signaling models, still poses many riddles. In this work we show that the extent of binary correlations in a general class of nonlocal theories can be characterized by the~existence of a certain covariance matrix. The set of quantum realizable two-point correlators in the~bipartite case then arises from a subtle restriction on the structure of this general covariance matrix. We also identify a class of theories whose covariance does not have neither a quantum nor an "almost quant…
It is widely accepted that a Born probability of 1 is sufficient for the existence of a corresponding element of reality. Recently Vaidman has extended this idea to the ABL probabilities of the time-symmetrized version of quantum mechanics originated by Aharonov, Bergmann, and Lebowitz. Several authors have objected to Vaidman's time-symmetrized elements of reality without casting doubt on the widely accepted sufficiency condition for `ordinary' elements of reality. In this paper I show that while the proper truth condition for a quantum counterfactual is an ABL probability of 1, neither a Bor…
Under which conditions do outcome probabilities of measurements possess a quantum-mechanical model? This kind of problem is solved here for the case of two dichotomic von Neumann measurements which can be applied repeatedly to a quantum system with trivial dynamics. The solution uses methods from the theory of operator algebras and the theory of moment problems. The ensuing conditions reveal surprisingly simple relations between certain quantum-mechanical probabilities. It also shown that generally, none of these relations holds in general probabilistic models. This result might facilitate fur…
The four-bar linkage is a basic arrangement of mechanical engineering and represents the simplest movable system formed by a closed sequence of bar-shaped bodies. Although the mechanism can have in general a spatial arrangement, we focus here on the prototypical planar case, starting however from a spatial viewpoint. The classification of the mechanism relies on the angular range spanned by the rotational motion of the bars allowed by the ratios among their lengths and is established by conditions for the existence of either one or more bars allowed to move as cranks, namely to be permitted to…
We investigate modifications of the discrete-time lattice action, for a quantum mechanical particle in one spatial dimension, that vanish in the naïve continuum limit but which, nevertheless, induce non-trivial effects due to quantum fluctuations. These effects are seen to modify the geometry of the paths contributing to the path-integral describing the time evolution of the particle, which we investigate through numerical simulations. In particular, we demonstrate the existence of a modified lattice action resulting in paths with any fractal dimension, d_f, between one and two. We argue that …
A localised particle in Quantum Mechanics is described by a wave packet in position space, regardless of its energy. However, from the point of view of General Relativity, if the particle's energy density exceeds a certain threshold, it should be a black hole. In order to combine these two pictures, we introduce a horizon wave-function determined by the position wave-function, which yields the probability that the particle is a black hole. The existence of a (fuzzy) minimum mass for black holes naturally follows, and we also show that our construction entails an effective Generalised Uncertain…
We apply Dicke's theory of superradiance introduced in 1954 to the methanol 6.7 GHz and water 22 GHz spectral lines, often detected in molecular clouds as signposts for the early stages of the star formation process. We suggest that superradiance, characterized by burst-like features taking place over a wide range of time-scales, may provide a natural explanation for the recent observations of periodic and seemingly alternating methanol and water maser flares in G107.298+5.639. Although these observations would be very difficult to explain within the context of maser theory, we show that these…
The seminal work by T. Kazimierczuk et al. [Nature 514, 343 (2014)] has shown the existence of highly excited exciton states in a regime, where the correspondence principle is applicable and quantum mechanics turns into classical mechanics, however, any interpretation of exciton spectra based on a classical approach to excitons is still missing. Here, we close this gap by computing and comparing quantum mechanical and semiclassical recurrence spectra of cuprous oxide. We show that the quantum mechanical recurrence spectra exhibit peaks, which, by application of semiclassical theories and a sca…
Looking for a quantum-mechanical implementation of duality, we formulate a relation between coherent states and complex-differentiable structures on classical phase space ${\cal C}$. A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of locally-defined coherent states is the existence of an almost complex structure on ${\cal C}$. A necessary and sufficient condition for globally-defined coherent states is a complex structure on ${\cal C}$. The picture of quantum mechanics that emerges is conceptually close to that of a geometric manifold covered by local coordinate charts. Instead of the l…