We analyse interaction-free measurements on classical and quantum objects. We show the transition from a classical interaction free measurement to a quantum non-demolition measurement of atom number, and discuss the mechanism of the enforcement of complementarity in atom interferometric interaction-free measurements.
Complementarity lies at the heart of conceptual foundation of orthodox quantum mechanics. The wave-particle duality makes it impossible to tell which slit each particle passes through and still observe an interference pattern in a Young's double-slit experiment. In this paper, this duality is appraised under the standard formulation of quantum mechanics for atom interferometers. It is found that the internal freedoms like electronic states of an atom can be used to detect the which-path information of each atom while uphold the interference pattern of atoms when the center-of-mass motion of at…
An experimental test of quantum complementarity principle based on single neutral atom trapped in a blue detuned bottle trap was here performed. A Ramsey interferometer was used to assess the wavelike behavior or particle-like behavior with second $π/2$-rotation on or off. The wavelike behavior or particle-like behavior is characterized by the visibility $V$ of the interference or the predictability $P$ of which-path information, respectively. The measured results fulfill the complementarity relation $P^2+V^2\leq1$. Imbalance losses were deliberately introduced to the stem and find the complem…
We develop an information theoretic interpretation of the number-phase complementarity in atomic systems, where phase is treated as a continuous positive operator valued measure (POVM). The relevant uncertainty principle is obtained as an upper bound on a sum of knowledge of these two observables for the case of two-level systems. A tighter bound characterizing the uncertainty relation is obtained numerically in terms of a weighted knowledge sum involving these variables. We point out that complementarity in these systems departs from mutual unbiasededness in two signalificant ways: first, the…
The interference pattern of the resonance fluorescence from a J=1/2 to J=1/2 transition of two identical atoms confined in a three-dimensional harmonic potential is calculated. Thermal motion of the atoms is included. Agreement is obtained with experiments [Eichmann et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2359 (1993)]. Contrary to some theoretical predictions, but in agreement with the present calculations, a fringe visibility greater than 50% can be observed with polarization-selective detection. The dependence of the fringe visibility on polarization has a simple interpretation, based on whether or not…
Anderson localisation -- the inhibition of wave propagation in disordered media -- is a surprising interference phenomenon which is particularly intriguing in two-dimensional (2D) systems. While an ideal, non-interacting 2D system of infinite size is always localised, the localisation length-scale may be too large to be unambiguously observed in an experiment. In this sense, 2D is a marginal dimension between one-dimension, where all states are strongly localised, and three-dimensions, where a well-defined phase transition between localisation and delocalisation exists as the energy is increas…
The interference contrast observed in coherent backscattering by cold atoms is drastically reduced with respect to classical disordered media. We study the impact of the degeneracy of the resonant atomic dipole transition on multiple scattering of polarised photons. An analytical treatment allows to derive the diffusion coefficient and depolarisation times for the average light intensity, and dephasing times for the weak localisation corrections. The calculated CBS signals reproduce the experimental results.
Here I provide additional experimental information and criticise the analysis, modelling, interpretation and claims presented in the recent paper [Nature Communications 11, 4942 (2020)]. I argue that the authors have no clear experimental evidence of Anderson localisation (as they claim) and their numerical simulations are very far indeed from reproducing the experiment, as stated in their article. Furthermore, some effects that are ascribed to real physical mechanisms are revealed to be simply artefacts.
We develop a unified, information theoretic interpretation of the number-phase complementarity that is applicable both to finite-dimensional (atomic) and infinite-dimensional (oscillator) systems, with number treated as a discrete Hermitian observable and phase as a continuous positive operator valued measure (POVM). The relevant uncertainty principle is obtained as a lower bound on {\it entropy excess}, $X$, the difference between the entropy of one variable, typically the number, and the knowledge of its complementary variable, typically the phase, where knowledge of a variable is defined as…
We present a new, falsifiable, quantum theory of gravity, which we name Non-commutative Matter-Gravity. The commutative limit of the theory is classical general relativity. In the first two papers of this series, we have introduced the concept of an atom of space-time-matter [STM], which is described by the spectral action in non-commutative geometry, corresponding to a classical theory of gravity. We used the Connes time parameter, along with the spectral action, to incorporate gravity into trace dynamics. We then derived the spectral equation of motion for the gravity part of the STM atom, w…
It had been a long standing problem that there is no consistent definition of photon position operator nor photon number density in the context of quantum theory. In this paper we derive the photon detection operator, which defines location of photon absorption, by applying the theory of indirect measurement to quantum electrodynamics. It is shown that the photon detection probability depends on electric properties of a photon-absorbing atom, in particular, on both electric and magnetic dipole moments of the atom. An experiment is proposed, in which the complementarity of wave-particle nature …
Nowadays the most intriguing features of wave particle complementarity of single photon is exemplified by the famous Wheeler's delayed choice experiment in linear optics, nuclear magnetic resonance and integrated photonic device systems. Studying the wave particle behavior in light and matter interaction at single photon level is challenging and interesting, which gives how single photons complement in light and matter interaction. Here, we demonstrate a Wheeler's delayed choice experiment in an interface of light and atomic memory, in which the cold atomic memory makes the heralded single pho…
A growing number of commentators have, in recent years, noted the important affinities in the views of Immanuel Kant and Niels Bohr. While these commentators are correct, the picture they present of the connections between Bohr and Kant is painted in broad strokes; it is open to the criticism that these affinities are merely superficial. In this essay, I provide a closer, structural, analysis of both Bohr's and Kant's views that makes these connections more explicit. In particular, I demonstrate the similarities between Bohr's argument, on the one hand, that neither the wave nor the particle d…
We investigate the interplay of localization, interactions and (pseudo)spin degrees of freedom on quantum states of particles on the lattice. Our results show that breaking the paradigm density-density interaction $U_0\gg$ (pseudo)spin-(pseudo)spin interaction $U_s$ will drive the sequence of quantum phase transitions (QPT), where (pseudo)spin state and particle ordering, in case of several particle species, on the lattice are strongly changed. QPT driven by competing interactions, $|U_s|\sim U_0$, manifest itself in singularities of effective exchange integrals. $|U_s|\sim U_0$ implies a frus…
We study the dynamical entanglement distribution in a multipartite system. The initial state is a maximally entangled two level atom with a single photon field. Next a sequence of atoms are sent, one at the time, and interact with the field. We show that the which way information initially stored only in the field is now distributed among the parties of the global system. We obtain the corresponding complementarity relations in analytical form. We show that this dynamics may lead to a quantum eraser phenomenon provided that measurements of the probe atoms are performed in a basis which maximiz…
The periodically kicked quantum rotor is known for non-classical effects such as quantum localisation in angular momentum space or quantum resonances in rotational excitation. These phenomena have been studied in diverse systems mimicking the kicked rotor, such as cold atoms in optical lattices, or coupled photonic structures. Recently, it was predicted that several solid state quantum localisation phenomena - Anderson localisation, Bloch oscillations, and Tamm-Shockley surface states - may manifest themselves in the rotational dynamics of laser-kicked molecules. Here, we report the first obse…
The phenomenon of many-body localised (MBL) systems has attracted significant interest in recent years, for its intriguing implications from a perspective of both condensed-matter and statistical physics: they are insulators even at non-zero temperature and fail to thermalise, violating expectations from quantum statistical mechanics. What is more, recent seminal experimental developments with ultra-cold atoms in optical lattices constituting analog quantum simulators have pushed many-body localised systems into the realm of physical systems that can be measured with high accuracy. In this wor…
We investigate the parametric fluctuations in the quantum survival probability of an open version of the delta-kicked rotor model in the deep quantum regime. Spectral arguments [Guarneri I and Terraneo M 2001 Phys. Rev. E vol. 65 015203(R)] predict the existence of parametric fractal fluctuations owing to the strong dynamical localisation of the eigenstates of the kicked rotor. We discuss the possibility of observing such dynamically-induced fractality in the quantum survival probability as a function of the kicking period for the atom-optics realisation of the kicked rotor. The influence of t…
Interference is central to quantum physics and occurs when indistinguishable paths exist, like in a double-slit experiment. Replacing the two slits with two single atoms introduces optical non-linearities for which nontrivial interference phenomena are predicted. Their observation, however, has been hampered by difficulties in preparing the required atomic distribution, controlling the optical phases and detecting the faint light. Here we overcome all of these experimental challenges by combining an optical lattice for atom localisation, an imaging system with single-site resolution, and an op…
Results of the welcher Weg experiment of Duerr, Nonn and Rempe are explained by using ray representations of the Galilei group. The key idea is that the state of the incoming atom be regarded as belonging to an irreducible unitary ray representation of this group. If this is the case, interaction with an interferometer with a which-way detector must split this state into the direct sum of two states belonging to representations with different internal energies. (While the zero of internal energy is arbitrary, the difference between two internal energies is well-defined and is invariant under u…
We consider a hybrid atom-ion system consisting of a pair of bosons interacting with a single ion in a quasi-one-dimensional trapping geometry. Building upon a model potential for the atom-ion interaction developed in earlier theoretical works, we investigate the behaviour of the low-energy eigenstates for varying contact interaction strength $g$ among the atoms. In particular, we contrast the two cases of a static and a mobile ion. Our study is carried out by means of the Multi-Layer Multi-Configuration Time-Dependent Hartree method for Bosons, a numerically-exact $\textit{ab initio}$ method …
We give an explicit stochastic Hamiltonian model of discontinuous unitary evolution for quantum spontaneous jumps like in a system of atoms in quantum optics, or in a system of quantum particles that interacts singularly with "bubbles" which admit a continual counting observation. This model allows to watch a quantum trajectory in a photodetector or in a cloud chamber by spontaneous localisations of the momentums of the scattered photons or bubbles. Thus, the continuous reduction and spontaneous localization theory is obtained from a Hamiltonian singular interaction as a result of quantum filt…
Individual quantum systems may be interacting with surrounding environments having a small number of degrees of freedom. It is therefore relevant to understand the extent to which such small (but uncontrollable) environments could affect the quantum properties of the system of interest. Here we discuss a simple system-environment toy model, constituted by a two-level atom (atom 1) interacting with a single mode cavity field. The field is also assumed to be (weakly) coupled to an external noisy subsystem, the small environment, modeled as a second two-level atom (atom 2). We investigate the act…
The gravitational interaction is generally considered to be too weak to be easily submitted to systematic experimental investigation in the quantum, microscopic, domain. In this paper we attempt to remedy this situation by considering the gravitational influence exerted by a crystalline nanosphere of mesoscopic size on itself, in the semi-classical, mean field, regime. We study in depth the self-localisation process induced by the corresponding non-linear potential of (gravitational) self-interaction. In particular, we characterize the stability of the associated self-collapsed ground state an…
One of the fundamental problems with the interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, according to Bohr, is the fact that "our usual description of physical phenomena is based entirely on the idea that the phenomena concerned may be observed without disturbing them appreciably". Furthermore in his articles discussing the subject Bohr argues that the action of the probe will be affected by the system and inasmuch the system will be affected by the probe. Specifically in Gedanken experiments he tests the wave-particle duality of the system and implicitly assumes that the probe is also a quantum system. …
In our recently proposed quantum theory of gravity, the universe is made of `atoms' of space-time-matter (STM). Planck scale foam is composed of STM atoms with Planck length as their associated Compton wave-length. The quantum dispersion and accompanying spontaneous localisation of these STM atoms amounts to a cancellation of the enormous curvature on the Planck length scale. However, an effective dark energy term arises in Einstein equations, of the order required by current observations on cosmological scales. This happens if we propose an extremely light particle having a mass of about $10^…
We study the dynamics of the quantum phase distribution associated with the reduced density matrix of a system for a number of situations of practical importance, as the system evolves under the influence of its environment, interacting via a quantum nondemoliton type of coupling, such that there is decoherence without dissipation, as well as when it interacts via a dissipative interaction, resulting in decoherence as well as dissipation. The system is taken to be either a two-level atom (or equivalently, a spin-1/2 system) or a harmonic oscillator, and the environment is modeled as a bath of …
We recall a classical theory of torsion gravity with an asymmetric metric, sourced by a Nambu-Goto + Kalb-Ramond string . We explain why this is a significant gravitational theory, and in what sense classical general relativity is an approximation to it. We propose that a non-commutative generalisation of this theory (in the sense of Connes' non-commutative geometry and Adler's Trace Dynamics) is a `quantum theory of gravity'. The theory is in fact a classical matrix dynamics with only two fundamental constants -- the square of the Planck length and the speed of light, along with the two strin…
In our quantum mechanics courses, measurement is usually taught in passing, as an ad-hoc procedure involving the ugly collapse of the wave function. No wonder we search for more satisfying alternatives to the Copenhagen interpretation. But this overlooks the fact that the approach fits very well with modern measurement theory with its notions of the conditioned state and quantum trajectory. In addition, what we know of as the Copenhagen interpretation is a later 1950's development and some of the earlier pioneers like Bohr did not talk of wave function collapse. In fact, if one takes these ear…