No Arabic abstract
In the present work we propose that two-time correlations of Majorana edge localized fermions constitute a novel and versatile toolbox for assessing the topological phases of 1D open lattices. Using analytical and numerical calculations on the Kitaev model, we uncover universal relationships between the decay of the short-time correlations and a particular family of out-of-time-ordered correlators, which provide direct experimental alternatives to the quantitative analysis of the system regime, either normal or topological. Furthermore we show that the saturation of two-time correlations possesses features of an order parameter. Finally, we find that violations of Leggett-Garg inequalities can indicate the topological-normal phase transition by looking at different qubits formed by pairing local and non-local edge Majorana fermions.
The Leggett-Garg inequality, an analogue of Bells inequality involving correlations of measurements on a system at different times, stands as one of the hallmark tests of quantum mechanics against classical predictions. The phenomenon of neutrino oscillations should adhere to quantum-mechanical predictions and provide an observable violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality. We demonstrate how oscillation phenomena can be used to test for violations of the classical bound by performing measurements on an ensemble of neutrinos at distinct energies, as opposed to a single neutrino at distinct times. A study of the MINOS experiments data shows a greater than $6{sigma}$ violation over a distance of 735 km, representing the longest distance over which either the Leggett-Garg inequality or Bells inequality has been tested.
Neutrino oscillations occur due to non-zero masses and mixings and most importantly they are believed to maintain quantum coherence even over astrophysical length scales. In the present study, we explore the quantumness of three flavour neutrino oscillations by studying the extent of violation of Leggett-Garg inequalities (LGI) if non-standard interactions are taken into account. We report an enhancement in violation of LGI with respect to the standard scenario for appropriate choice of NSI parameters.
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 potentially more macroscopic than other systems that have been used so far for testing the Leggett--Garg inequality, and open a route toward probing the boundaries of quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales. We find that, because of the non-trivial internal structure of such an ensemble, the behavior of different measurement schemes, under the influence of noise, can be surprising. We discuss which measurement schemes are optimal for flux qubits and NV centers, and some of the technological constraints and difficulties for observing such violations with present-day experiments.
By weakly measuring the polarization of a photon between two strong polarization measurements, we experimentally investigate the correlation between the appearance of anomalous values in quantum weak measurements, and the violation of realism and non-intrusiveness of measurements. A quantitative formulation of the latter concept is expressed in terms of a Leggett-Garg inequality for the outcomes of subsequent measurements of an individual quantum system. We experimentally violate the Leggett-Garg inequality for several measurement strengths. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrate that there is a one-to-one correlation between achieving strange weak values and violating the Leggett-Garg inequality.
Out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOC) have been proposed to characterize quantum chaos in generic systems. However, they can also show interesting behavior in integrable models, resembling the OTOC in chaotic systems in some aspects. Here we study the OTOC for different operators in the exactly-solvable one-dimensional quantum Ising spin chain. The OTOC for spin operators that are local in terms of the Jordan-Wigner fermions has a shell-like structure: after the wavefront passes, the OTOC approaches its original value in the long-time limit, showing no signature of scrambling; the approach is described by a $t^{-1}$ power law at long time $t$. On the other hand, the OTOC for spin operators that are nonlocal in the Jordan-Wigner fermions has a ball-like structure, with its value reaching zero in the long-time limit, looking like a signature of scrambling; the approach to zero, however, is described by a slow power law $t^{-1/4}$ for the Ising model at the critical coupling. These long-time power-law behaviors in the lattice model are not captured by conformal field theory calculations. The mixed OTOC with both local and nonlocal operators in the Jordan-Wigner fermions also has a ball-like structure, but the limiting values and the decay behavior appear to be nonuniversal. In all cases, we are not able to define a parametrically large window around the wavefront to extract the Lyapunov exponent.