No Arabic abstract
Device independent protocols based on Bell nonlocality, such as quantum key distribution and randomness generation, must ensure no adversary can have prior knowledge of the measurement outcomes. This requires a measurement independence assumption: that the choice of measurement is uncorrelated with any other underlying variables that influence the measurement outcomes. Conversely, relaxing measurement independence allows for a fully `causal simulation of Bell nonlocality. We construct the most efficient such simulation, as measured by the mutual information between the underlying variables and the measurement settings, for the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) scenario, and find that the maximal quantum violation requires a mutual information of just $sim 0.080$ bits. Any physical device built to implement this simulation allows an adversary to have full knowledge of a cryptographic key or `random numbers generated by a device independent protocol based on violation of the CHSH inequality. We also show that a previous model for the CHSH scenario, requiring only $sim 0.046$ bits to simulate the maximal quantum violation, corresponds to the most efficient `retrocausal simulation, in which future measurement settings necessarily influence earlier source variables. This may be viewed either as an unphysical limitation of the prior model, or as an argument for retrocausality on the grounds of its greater efficiency. Causal and retrocausal models are also discussed for maximally entangled two-qubit states, as well as superdeterministic, one-sided and zigzag causal models.
As with entanglement, different forms of Bell nonlocality arise in the multipartite scenario. These can be defined in terms of relaxations of the causal assumptions in local hidden-variable theories. However, a characterisation of all the forms of multipartite nonlocality has until now been out of reach, mainly due to the complexity of generic multipartite causal models. Here, we employ the formalism of Bayesian networks to reveal connections among different causal structures that make a both practical and physically meaningful classification possible. Our framework holds for arbitrarily many parties. We apply it to study the tripartite scenario in detail, where we fully characterize all the nonlocality classes. Remarkably, we identify new highly nonlocal causal structures that cannot reproduce all quantum correlations. This shows, to our knowledge, the strongest form of quantum multipartite nonlocality known to date. Finally, as a by-product result, we derive a non-trivial Bell-type inequality with no quantum violation. Our findings constitute a significant step forward in the understanding of multipartite Bell nonlocality and open several venues for future research.
Incompatibility of observables, or measurements, is one of the key features of quantum mechanics, related, among other concepts, to Heisenbergs uncertainty relations and Bell nonlocality. In this manuscript we show, however, that even though incompatible measurements are necessary for the violation of any Bell inequality, some relevant Bell-like inequalities may be obtained if compatibility relations are assumed between the local measurements of one (or more) of the parties. Hence, compatibility of measurements is not necessarily a drawback and may, however, be useful for the detection of Bell nonlocality and device-independent certification of entanglement.
In a recent work, it was shown by one of us (EGC) that Bell-Kochen-Specker inequality violations in phenomena satisfying the no-disturbance condition (a generalisation of the no-signalling condition) cannot in general be explained with a faithful classical causal model -- that is, a classical causal model that satisfies the assumption of no fine-tuning. The proof of that claim however was restricted to Bell scenarios involving 2 parties or Kochen-Specker-contextuality scenarios involving 2 measurements per context. Here we show that the result holds in the general case of arbitrary numbers of parties or measurements per context; it is not an artefact of the simplest scenarios. This result unifies, in full generality, Bell nonlocality and Kochen-Specker contextuality as violations of a fundamental principle of classical causality. We identify, however, an implicit assumption in the former proof, making it explicit here: that certain operational symmetries of the phenomenon are reflected in the model, rather than requiring fine-tuned choices of model parameters. This clarifies a subtle but important distinction between Bell nonlocality and Kochen-Specker contextuality.
We discuss the connection between the incompatibility of quantum measurements, as captured by the notion of joint measurability, and the violation of Bell inequalities. Specifically, we present explicitly a given a set of non jointly measurable POVMs $mathcal{M}_A$ with the following property. Considering a bipartite Bell test where Alice uses $mathcal{M}_A$, then for any possible shared entangled state $rho$ and any set of (possibly infinitely many) POVMs $mathcal{N}_B$ performed by Bob, the resulting statistics admits a local model, and can thus never violate any Bell inequality. This shows that quantum measurement incompatibility does not imply Bell nonlocality in general.
Bells theorem proves that quantum theory is inconsistent with local physical models. It has propelled research in the foundations of quantum theory and quantum information science. As a fundamental feature of quantum theory, it impacts predictions far beyond the traditional scenario of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox. In the last decade, the investigation of nonlocality has moved beyond Bells theorem to consider more sophisticated experiments that involve several independent sources which distribute shares of physical systems among many parties in a network. Network scenarios, and the nonlocal correlations that they give rise to, lead to phenomena that have no counterpart in traditional Bell experiments, thus presenting a formidable conceptual and practical challenge. This review discusses the main concepts, methods, results and future challenges in the emerging topic of Bell nonlocality in networks.