Certifying Quantum Signatures in Thermodynamics and Metrology via Contextuality of Quantum Linear Response

Lostaglio, Matteo

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.125.230603

Cited by 57 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Our preferred notion of classicality also satisfies two other reasonable desiderata for any notion of classicality: it is empirically testable [45,[48][49][50][51][52], and possession of a resource of nonclassicality (by its lights) is associated to having a quantum-over-classical advantage for information processing [53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65].…”

Section: A Proposal About Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Why interference phenomena do not capture the essence of quantum theory

Catani¹,

Leifer²,

Schmid³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Quantum interference phenomena are widely viewed as posing a challenge to the classical worldview. Feynman even went so far as to proclaim that they are the only mystery and the basic peculiarity of quantum mechanics. Many have also argued that such phenomena force us to accept a number of radical interpretational conclusions, including: that a photon is neither a particle nor a wave but rather a schizophrenic sort of entity that toggles between the two possibilities, that reality is observer-dependent, and that systems either do not have properties prior to measurements or else have properties that are subject to nonlocal or backwards-in-time causal influences. In this work, we show that such conclusions are not, in fact, forced on us by the phenomena. We do so by describing an alternative to quantum theory, a statistical theory of a classical discrete field (the 'toy field theory') that reproduces the relevant phenomenology of quantum interference while rejecting these radical interpretational claims. It also reproduces a number of related interference experiments that are thought to support these interpretational claims, such as the Elitzur-Vaidman bomb tester, Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment, and the quantum eraser experiment. The systems in the toy field theory are field modes, each of which possesses, at all times, both a particle-like property (a discrete occupation number) and a wave-like property (a discrete phase). Although these two properties are jointly possessed, the theory stipulates that they cannot be jointly known. The phenomenology that is generally cited in favour of nonlocal or backwards-in-time causal influences ends up being explained in terms of inferences about distant or past systems, and all that is observer-dependent is the observer's knowledge of reality, not reality itself.

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Section: A Proposal About Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Why interference phenomena do not capture the essence of quantum theory

Catani¹,

Leifer²,

Schmid³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…not only for sharp measurements but for all procedures, including unsharp measurements, preparations, and transformations. It has been found to subsume many other notions of classicality [6][7][8][9][10] and to shed light on the resource of nonclassicality underlying the quantum advantages known to exist for many information processing tasks [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Section: Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are many known examples of such proofs [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][28][29][30][31][32][33]; however, to the best of our knowledge, all previous proofs have involved a set of measurements that manifest some incompatibility.…”

Section: Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextuality without incompatibility

Selby¹,

Schmid²,

Wolfe³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…Furthermore, other key indicators of nonclassicality, such as violations of local causality [23] or observations of anomalous weak values under some conditions [24,25], are also instances of generalized contextuality. Finally, generalized contextuality has been proven to be a resource for information processing [26][27][28][29][30], computation [31], state discrimination [32], cloning [33], and metrology [34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accessible fragments of generalized probabilistic theories, cone equivalence, and applications to witnessing nonclassicality

Selby¹,

Schmid²,

Wolfe³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The formalism of generalized probabilistic theories (GPTs) was originally developed as a way to characterize the landscape of conceivable physical theories. Thus, the GPT describing a given physical theory necessarily includes all physically possible processes. We here consider the question of how to provide a GPT-like characterization of a particular experimental setup within a given physical theory. We show that the resulting characterization is not generally a GPT in and of itself-rather, it is described by a more general mathematical object that we introduce and term an accessible GPT fragment. We then introduce an equivalence relation, termed cone equivalence, between accessible GPT fragments (and, as a special case, between standard GPTs). We give a number of examples of experimental scenarios that are best described using accessible GPT fragments, and where moreover cone-equivalence arises naturally. We then prove that an accessible GPT fragment admits of a classical explanation if and only if every other fragment that is cone-equivalent to it also admits of a classical explanation. Finally, we leverage this result to prove several fundamental results regarding the experimental requirements for witnessing the failure of generalized noncontextuality. In particular, we prove that neither incompatibility among measurements nor the assumption of freedom of choice is necessary for witnessing failures of generalized noncontextuality, and, moreover, that such failures can be witnessed even using arbitrarily inefficient detectors.

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Certifying Quantum Signatures in Thermodynamics and Metrology via Contextuality of Quantum Linear Response

Cited by 57 publications

References 27 publications

Why interference phenomena do not capture the essence of quantum theory

Why interference phenomena do not capture the essence of quantum theory

Contextuality without incompatibility

Accessible fragments of generalized probabilistic theories, cone equivalence, and applications to witnessing nonclassicality

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