We introduce a family of criteria to detect quantum non-Gaussian states of a harmonic oscillator, that is, quantum states that can not be expressed as a convex mixture of Gaussian states. In particular we prove that, for convex mixtures of Gaussian states, the value of the Wigner function at the origin of phase space is bounded from below by a non-zero positive quantity, which is a function only of the average number of excitations (photons) of the state. As a consequence, if this bound is violated then the quantum state must be quantum non-Gaussian. We show that this criterion can be further generalized by considering additional Gaussian operations on the state under examination. We then apply these criteria to various non-Gaussian states evolving in a noisy Gaussian channel, proving that the bounds are violated for high values of losses, and thus also for states characterized by a positive Wigner function.

Abstract. Highly quantum non-linear interactions between different bosonic modes lead to the generation of quantum non-Gaussian states, i.e. states that cannot be written as mixtures of Gaussian states. A paradigmatic example is given by Schrödinger's cat states, that is coherent superpositions of coherent states with opposite amplitude. We here consider a novel quantum non-Gaussianity criterion recently proposed in the literature and prove its effectiveness on Schrödinger cat states evolving in a lossy bosonic channel. We prove that quantum non-Gaussianity can be effectively detected for high values of losses and for large coherent amplitudes of the cat states. arXiv:1309.4221v3 [quant-ph] 2 Jul 2014Detecting quantum non-Gaussianity of noisy Schrödinger cat states 2