On the basis of our recent model of a one-dimensional (1D) completed scattering we argue that Leggett's principles of macroscopic realism must and can be extended onto the level of single electrons and atoms. These principles need three quite feasible innovations in quantum mechanics (QM): (1) at the conceptual level, QM must treat a pure time-dependent one-particle state to involve two or more macroscopically distinct alternatives for a particle as a pure {\it combined} one - the intermediate link between a pure {\it elementary} state (indecomposable into macroscopically distinct parts) and statistical mixture; (2) at the mathematical level, QM must provide the presentation of the pure time-dependent combined state as a coherent superposition of macroscopically distinct elementary states (MDESs); (3) at the experimental level, QM must provide for such states two types of measurements - those for observing the interference pattern resulting from the joint action of MDESs, and non-demolishing 'which-way' measurements for scanning the individual properties of MDESs.
In 1985, Leggett and Garg put forward the concept of macroscopic realism (macrorealism) and, in analogy to Bell's theorem, derived a necessary condition in terms of inequalities, which are now known as the Leggett-Garg inequalities. In this paper, we discuss another necessary condition called no-signaling in time. It solely bases on comparing the probability distribution for a macrovariable at some time for the cases where previously a measurement has or has not been performed. Although the concept is analogous to the no-signaling condition in the case of Bell tests, it can be violated accordi…
We show violations of Leggett-Garg inequalities to be possible for single-mode cat-states evolving dynamically in the presence of a nonlinear quantum interaction arising from, for instance, a Kerr medium. In order to prove the results, we derive a generalised version of the Leggett-Garg inequality involving different cat-states at different times. The violations demonstrate failure of the premise of macro-realism as defined by Leggett and Garg, provided extra assumptions associated with experimental tests are valid. With the additional assumption of stationarity, violations of the Leggett-Garg…
Macro-realism is the position that certain "macroscopic" observables must always possess definite values: e.g. the table is in some definite position, even if we don't know what that is precisely. The traditional understanding is that by assuming macro-realism one can derive the Leggett-Garg inequalities, which constrain the possible statistics from certain experiments. Since quantum experiments can violate the Leggett-Garg inequalities, this is taken to rule out the possibility of macro-realism in a quantum universe. However, recent analyses have exposed loopholes in the Leggett-Garg argument…
Bell's inequality is established based on local realism. The violation of Bell's inequality by quantum mechanics implies either locality or realism or both are untenable. Leggett's inequality is derived based on nonlocal realism. The violation of Leggett's inequality implies that quantum mechanics is neither local realistic nor nonlocal realistic. The incompatibility of nonlocal realism and quantum mechanics has been urrently confirmed by photon experiments. In our work, we propose to test Leggett's inequality using the Aharonov-Casher effect. In our scheme, four entangled particles emitted fr…
We investigate the violation of Leggett's inequality for non-local realism using entangled coherent states and various types of local measurements. We prove mathematically the relation between the violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt form of Bell's inequality and Leggett's one when tested by the same resources. For Leggett inequalities, we generalize the non-local realistic bound to systems in Hilbert spaces larger than bidimensional ones and introduce an optimization technique that allows to achieve larger degrees of violation by adjusting the local measurement settings. Our work descr…
We consider tests of Leggett-Garg's macrorealism and of macroscopic local realism, where for spacelike separated measurements the assumption of macroscopic noninvasive measurability is justified by that of macroscopic locality. We give a mapping between the Bell and Leggett-Garg experiments for microscopic qubits based on spin $1/2$ eigenstates and gedanken experiments for macroscopic qubits based on two macroscopically distinct coherent states (cat states). In this mapping, the unitary rotation of the Stern-Gerlach analyzer is realized by an interaction $H=Ω\hat{n}^{4}$ where $\hat{n}$ is the…
The usual formulation of Macrorealism is recast to make this notion fully concurrent with the basic ideas behind classical physics. The assumption of non-invasiveness of measurements is dropped. Instead, it is assumed that the current state of the system defines full initial conditions for its subsequent evolution. An example of a new family of temporal Bell inequalities is derived which can be applied to processes in which the state of the system undergoes arbitrarily many transformations (which was not the case in the original approach). An exponential (in terms of number of operations) viol…
Leggett-type inequalities for testing nonlocal realism in multipartite systems
School of Physics, Shandong University（山东大学物理学院）；Wilczek Quantum Center, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学物理与天文学院吴健雄量子中心）；Key Laboratory of Vacuum Physics, CAS（中国科学院真空物理重点实验室）；School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学物理科学学院）
We consider the so called Legget inequalities which are deduced from the assumption of general (local or non-local) realism plus the arrow of time preservation. Then, instead of assuming cryto-nonlocal hidden variables, we assume any (local or non-local) realism compatible with the joint and non-joint expected values dictated by quantum mwechaanics. Hence, we prove that this double assumption is not consistent, since the corresponding general Leggett inequalities are violated by quantum mechanics. Thus, realism plus arrow of time preservation and quntum mechanics are not compatible. In other w…
The Leggett-Garg inequality is a widely used test of the "quantumness" of a system, and involves correlations between measurements realized at different times. According to its widespread interpretation, a violation of the Legget-Garg inequality disproofs macroscopic realism and non-invasiveness. Nevertheless, recent results point out that macroscopic realism is a model dependent notion and that one should always be able to attribute to invasiveness a violation of a Legget-Garg inequality. This opens some natural questions: how to provide such an attribution in a systematic way? How can appare…
We show how to apply the Leggett-Garg inequality to opto-electro-mechanical systems near their quantum ground state. We find that by using a dichotomic quantum non-demolition measurement (via, e.g., an additional circuit-QED measurement device) either on the cavity or on the nanomechanical system itself, the Leggett-Garg inequality is violated. We argue that only measurements on the mechanical system itself give a truly unambigous violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality for the mechanical system. In this case, a violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality indicates physics beyond that of "macros…
Tests of local realism and macrorealism have historically been discussed in very similar terms: Leggett-Garg inequalities follow Bell inequalities as necessary conditions for classical behavior. Here, we compare the probability polytopes spanned by all measurable probability distributions for both scenarios and show that their structure differs strongly between spatially and temporally separated measurements. We arrive at the conclusion that, in contrast to tests of local realism where Bell inequalities form a necessary and sufficient set of conditions, no set of inequalities can ever be neces…
We propose a new Wigner inequality suitable for test of the hypothesis of realism. We show that this inequality is not identical neither to the well-known Wigner inequality nor to the Leggett-Garg inequality in Wigner form. The obtained inequality is suitable for test of realism not only in quantum mechanical systems, but also in quantum field systems. Also we propose a mathematically consistent derivation of the Leggett--Garg inequality in Wigner form, which was recently presented in the literature, for three and $n$ distinct moments of time. Contrary to these works, our rigor derivation uses…
Macroscopic realism is the thesis that macroscopically observable properties must always have definite values. The idea was introduced by Leggett and Garg (1985), who wished to show a conflict with the predictions of quantum theory. However, their analysis required not just the assumption of macroscopic realism per se, but also that the observable properties could be measured non-invasively. In recent years there has been increasing interest in experimental tests of the violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality, but it has remained a matter of controversy whether this second assumption is a rea…
We show how a test of macroscopic realism based on Leggett-Garg inequalities (LGIs) can be performed in a macroscopic system. Using a continuous-variable approach, we consider quantum non-demolition (QND) measurements applied to atomic ensembles undergoing magnetically-driven coherent oscillation. We identify measurement schemes requiring only Gaussian states as inputs and giving a significant LGI violation with realistic experimental parameters and imperfections. The predicted violation is shown to be due to true quantum effects rather than to a classical invasivity of the measurement. Using …
We study the macroscopic realism (macrorealism) through the two- and three-time Leggett-Garg inequalities (LGIs) in a two interacting qubits system. The two qubits are coupled either with two bosonic (thermal or photonic) baths or fermionic (electronic) baths. We study both how the equilibrium and nonequilibrium environments influence the LGIs. One way to characterize the nonequilibrium condition is by the temperature difference (for the bosonic bath) or the chemical potential difference (for the fermionic bath). We also study the heat or particle current and the entropy production rate genera…
Leggett-Garg inequalities are tests of macroscopic realism that can be violated by quantum mechanics. In this letter, we realise photonic Leggett-Garg tests on a three-level system and implement measurements that admit three distinct measurement outcomes, rather than the usual two. In this way we obtain violations of three- and four-time Leggett-Garg inequalities that are significantly in excess of those obtainable in standard Leggett-Garg tests. We also report violations the quantum-witness equality up to the maximum permitted for a three-outcome measurement. Our results highlight differences…
Macroscopic Realism (MR) says that a macroscopic system is always determinately in one or other of the macroscopically distinguishable states available to it. The Leggett-Garg (LG) inequality was derived to allow experimental test of whether or not this doctrine is true; it is also often thought of as a temporal version of a Bell-inequality. Despite recent interest in the inequality, controversy remains regarding what would be shown by its violation. Here we resolve this controversy, which arises due to an insufficiently general and model-independent approach to the question so far. We argue t…
In 1862, George Boole derived an inequality for variables, now known as Boolean variables, that in his opinion represents a demarcation line between possible and impossible experience. This inequality forms an important milestone in the epistemology of probability theory and probability measures. In 1985 Leggett and Garg derived a physics related inequality, mathematically identical to Boole's, that according to them represents a demarcation between macroscopic realism and quantum mechanics. Their formalism, constructed for the magnetic flux of SQUIDS, includes general features and applies als…
We show that quantum mechanics predicts a contradiction with local hidden variable theories for photon number measurements which have limited resolving power, to the point of imposing an uncertainty in the photon number result which is macroscopic in absolute terms. We show how this can be interpreted as a failure of a new premise, macroscopic local realism.
We suggest to test the premise of ``macroscopic local realism'' which is sufficient to derive Bell inequalities when measurements of photon number are only accurate to an uncertainty of order $n$ photons, where $n$ is macroscopic. Macroscopic local realism is only sufficient to imply, in the context of the original Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen argument, fuzzy ``elements of reality'' which have a macroscopic indeterminacy. We show therefore how the violation of local realism in the presence of macroscopic uncertainties implies the failure of ``macroscopic local realism''. Quantum states violating th…
The Bell and Leggett-Garg tests offer operational ways to demonstrate that non-classical behavior manifests itself in quantum systems, and experimentalists have implemented these protocols to show that classical worldviews such as local realism and macrorealism are false, respectively. Previous theoretical research has exposed important connections between more general Bell inequalities and polyhedral combinatorics. We show here that general Leggett-Garg inequalities are closely related to the cut polytope of the complete graph, a geometric object well-studied in combinatorics. Building on tha…
We investigate how discrete internal degrees of freedom in a quasi-macroscopic system affect the violation of the Leggett--Garg inequality, a test of macroscopic-realism based on temporal correlation functions. As a specific example, we focus on an ensemble of qubits subject to collective and individual noise. This generic model can describe a range of physical systems, including atoms in cavities, electron or nuclear spins in NV centers in diamond, erbium in Y$_2$SiO$_5$, bismuth impurities in silicon, or arrays of superconducting circuits, to indicate but a few. Such large ensembles are pote…
Macroscopic realism, as introduced by Leggett and Garg, is the world view in which properties of macroscopic systems exist independent of and are not influenced by measurement. Motivated by classical physical laws such as Newtonian mechanics or Maxwell's electrodynamics, in this work we add the restrictive postulate that the observables of macroscopic objects are evolved continuously through space and time. Quantum theory violates both macroscopic realism and the continuity assumption. While decoherence or collapse models (e.g. due to a universal noise background or gravitational self energy) …
Macro-realism is a fundamental feature of classical world that contradicts with the quantum theory. An elegant method of testing macrorealism is to apply the Leggett-Garg inequality (LGI), but the non-invasivity of measurement is challenging in practice. In this work, we report the LGI violation of path observable in a composite interference experiment with coherent light. Experiment results confirm the occurrence of destructive interference providing per se as evidence of macro-realism violation. And by using an exact weak measurement model in the present experiment, the advantage that the vi…
As is well known, the macroscopic realism and the noninvasive measurability together lead to Leggett-Garg inequalities violated by quantum mechanics. We consider tests of the Leggett-Garg type with use of the $q$-entropies. For all $q\geq1$, quantum mechanics predicts violations of an entire family of $q$-entropic inequalities of the Leggett-Garg type. Violations are exemplified with a quantum spin-$s$ system. In general, entropic Leggett-Garg inequalities give only necessary conditions that some probabilistic model is compatible with the macrorealism in the broader sense. The presented $q$-en…
We define a quantum witness for high-mass matter-wave interferometers that allows us to test fundamental assumptions of macroscopic realism. We propose an experimental realisation using absorptive laser gratings and show that such systems can strongly violate a macrorealistic quantum-witness equality. The measurement of the witness can therefore provide clear evidence of physics beyond macrorealism for macromolecules and nanoparticles.
We theoretically study the macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) in a hetero Josephson junction formed by a conventional single-gap superconductor and a multi-gap one such as ${MgB}_{2}$ and iron-based superconductors. In such a Josephson junction more than one phase differences are defined. We clarify the quantum dynamics of the phase differences and construct a theory for the MQT in the multi-gap Josephson junctions. The dynamics of the phase differences are strongly affected by the Josephson-Leggett mode, which is the out-of-phase oscillation mode of the phase differences. The escape rate is …
We show that for macroscopic measurements which cannot reveal full information about microscopic states of the system, the monogamy of Bell inequality violations present in quantum mechanics implies that practically all correlations between macroscopic measurements can be described by local realistic models. Our results hold for sharp measurement and arbitrary closed quantum systems.
Leggett and Garg derived inequalities that probe the boundaries of classical and quantum physics by putting limits on the properties that classical objects can have. Historically, it has been suggested that Leggett-Garg inequalities are easily violated by quantum systems undergoing sequences of strong measurements, casting doubt on whether quantum mechanics correctly describes macroscopic objects. Here I show that Leggett-Garg inequalities cannot be violated by any projective measurement. The perceived violation of the inequalities found previously can be traced back to an inappropriate assump…
We show that quantum mechanics predicts an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox (EPR), and also a contradiction with local hidden variable theories, for photon number measurements which have limited resolving power, to the point of imposing an uncertainty in the photon number result which is macroscopic in absolute terms. We show how this can be interpreted as a failure of a new, very strong premise, called macroscopic local realism. We link this premise to the Schrodinger-cat paradox. Our proposed experiments ensure all fields incident on each measurement apparatus are macroscopic. We show that an…
We study the fluctuations of the work performed on a driven quantum system, defined as the difference between subsequent measurements of energy eigenvalues. These work fluctuations are governed by statistical theorems with similar expressions in classical and quantum physics. In this article we show that we can distinguish quantum and classical work fluctuations, as the latter can be described by a macrorealistic theory and hence obey Leggett-Garg inequalities. We show that these inequalities are violated by quantum processes in a driven two-level system and in a harmonic oscillator subject to…
Macroscopic realism, the classical world view that macroscopic objects exist independently of and are not influenced by measurements, is usually tested using Leggett-Garg inequalities. Recently, another necessary condition called no-signaling in time (NSIT) has been proposed as a witness for non-classical behavior. In this paper, we show that a combination of NSIT conditions is not only necessary but also sufficient for a macrorealistic description of a physical system. Any violation of macroscopic realism must therefore be witnessed by a suitable NSIT condition. Subsequently, we derive an ope…
Investigation the boundary between quantum mechanical description and classical realistic view is of fundamental importance. The Leggett-Garg inequality provides a criterion to distinguish between quantum systems and classical systems, and can be used to prove the macroscopic superposition state. A larger upper bound of the LG function can be obtained in a multi-level system. Here, we present an experimental violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality in a three-level system using nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond by ideal negative result measurement. The experimental maximum value of Leggett-Ga…
Macroscopic realism is a classical worldview that a macroscopic system is always determinately in one of the two or more macroscopically distinguishable states available to it, and so is never in a superposition of these states. The question of whether there is a fundamental limitation on the possibility to observe quantum phenomena at the macroscopic scale remains unclear. Here we implement a strict and simple protocol to test macroscopic realism in a light-matter interfaced system. We create a micro-macro entanglement with two macroscopically distinguishable solid-state components and rule o…
We investigate the influence of environmental noise on polarization entangled light generated by parametric emission in a cavity. By adopting a recently developed separability criterion, we show that: i) self-stimulation may suppress the detrimental influence of noise on entanglement; ii) when self-stimulation becomes effective, a classical model of parametric emission incorporating noise provides the same results of quantum theory for the expectation values involved in the separability criterion. Moreover we show that, in the macroscopic limit, it is impossible to observe violations of local …
In an endeavour to better define the distinction between classical macroscopic and quantum microscopic regimes, the Leggett-Garg inequalities were established as a test of macroscopic-realistic theories, which are commonly thought to be a suitable class of descriptions for classical dynamics. The relationship between their violation and non-classicality is however not obvious. We show that classical states of light, which in the quantum optical sense are any convex sums of coherent states, may not satisfy the Leggett-Garg inequalities. After introducing a simple Mach-Zehnder setup and showing …
We consider a macroscopic quantum system in a tilted double-well potential. By solving Hamiltonian equation, we obtain tunneling probabilities which contain oscillation effects. To show how one can decide between quantum mechanics and the implications of macrorealism assumption, a given form of Leggett-Garg inequality is used. The violation of this inequality occurs for a broader range of decoherence effects, compared to previous results obtained for two-level systems.
In this paper we propose a time-independent \textit{equality} and time-dependent \textit{inequality}, suitable for an experimental test of the hypothesis of realism. The derivation of these relations is based on the concept of conditional probability and on Bayes' theorem in the framework of Kolmogorov's axiomatics of probability theory. The equality obtained is intrinsically different from the well known GHZ-equality and its variants, because violation of the new equality might be tested in experiments with only two microsystems in a maximally entangled Bell state $\big\vert\, Ψ^-\,\big\rangl…
Macroscopic realism (MR) specifies that where a system can be found in one of two macroscopically distinguishable states (a cat being dead or alive), the system is always predetermined to be in one or other of the two states (prior to measurement). Proposals to test MR generally introduce a second premise to further qualify the meaning of MR. This paper examines two such models, the first where the second premise is that the macroscopically distinguishable states are quantum states (MQS) and the second where the macroscopcially distinguishable states are localised hidden variable states (LMHVS…
Why do we not experience a violation of macroscopic realism in every-day life? Normally, no violation can be seen either because of decoherence or the restriction of coarse-grained measurements, transforming the time evolution of any quantum state into a classical time evolution of a statistical mixture. We find the sufficient condition for these classical evolutions for spin systems under coarse-grained measurements. Then we demonstrate that there exist "non-classical" Hamiltonians whose time evolution cannot be understood classically, although at every instant of time the quantum spin state …
In two-party, two-input and two-output measurement scenario only relevant Bell's inequality is the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) form. They also provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for local realism. Any other form, such as, Clauser-Horne and Wigner forms reduce to the CHSH one. Standard Leggett-Garg inequalities are often considered to be the temporal analog of CHSH inequalities. But, they do not provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for macrorealism. There is thus scope of formulating new macrorealist inequalities different and stronger than the standard Leggett-Gar…
We study the emergence of macrorealism in a harmonic oscillator subject to consecutive measurements of a squeezed action. Since the harmonic oscillator dynamics admits a hidden trajectory formulation, the assumptions of macrorealism are violated only by the measurement process. We demonstrate a breakdown of macrorealism in a wide parameter range that is maximized in a scaling limit of extreme squeezing. A semiclassical analysis shows that macrorealism is violated even with measurements of classically smooth observables that do not resolve quantum levels. We propose an experimental test of macr…
We describe a new and experimentally feasible protocol for performing fundamental tests of quantum mechanics with massive objects. In our approach a single two level system is used to probe the motion of a nanomechanical resonator via multiple Ramsey interference measurements. This scheme enables the measurement of modular variables of macroscopic continuous variable systems and we show that correlations thereof violate a Leggett-Garg inequality and can be applied for tests of quantum contextuality. Our method can be implemented with a variety of different solid state or photonic qubit-resonat…
The Caldeira-Leggett Hamiltonian (Eq. (1) below) describes the interaction of a discrete harmonic oscillator with a continuous bath of harmonic oscillators. This system is a standard model of dissipation in macroscopic low temperature physics, and has applications to superconductors, quantum computing, and macroscopic quantum tunneling. The similarities between the Caldeira-Leggett model and the linearized Vlasov-Poisson equation are analyzed, and it is shown that the damping in the Caldeira-Leggett model is analogous to that of Landau damping in plasmas [1]. An invertible linear transformatio…
We present a unified approach, based on the use of quantum uncertainty relations, for arriving at criteria for the demonstration of the EPR paradox and macroscopic superpositions. We suggest to view each criterion as a means to demonstrate an EPR-type paradox, where there is an inconsistency between the assumptions of a form of realism, either macroscopic realism (MR) or local realism (LR), and the completeness of quantum mechanics.
Macroscopic realism is the name for a class of modifications to quantum theory that allow macroscopic objects to be described in a measurement-independent manner, while largely preserving a fully quantum mechanical description of the microscopic world. Objective collapse theories are examples which aim to solve the quantum measurement problem through modified dynamical laws. Whether such theories describe nature, however, is not known. Here we describe and implement an experimental protocol capable of constraining theories of this class, that is more noise tolerant and conceptually transparent…
Ontological theories of quantum mechanics provide a realistic description of single systems by means of well-defined quantities conditioning the measurement outcomes. In order to be complete, they should also fulfil the minimal condition of macroscopic realism. Under the assumption of outcome determinism and for Hilbert space dimension greater than two, they were all proved to be contextual for projective measurements. In the recent years a generalized concept of non-contextuality was introduced that applies also to the case of outcome indeterminism and unsharp measurements. It was pointed out…
