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Register a new userExperimental test of non-local quantum correlation in relativistic configurations
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We report on a new kind of experimental investigations of the tension between quantum nonlocally and relativity. Entangled photons are sent via an optical fiber network to two villages near Geneva, separated by more than 10 km where they are analyzed by interferometers. The photon pair source is set as precisely as possible in the center so that the two photons arrive at the detectors within a time interval of less than 5 ps (corresponding to a path length difference of less than 1 mm). One detector is set in motion so that both detectors, each in its own inertial reference frame, are first to do the measurement! The data always reproduces the quantum correlations, making it thus more difficult to consider the projection postulate as a compact description of real collapses of the wave-function.
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Most working scientists hold fast to the concept of realism - a viewpoint according to which an external reality exists independent of observation. But quantum physics has shattered some of our cornerstone beliefs. According to Bells theorem, any theory that is based on the joint assumption of realism and locality (meaning that local events cannot be affected by actions in space-like separated regions) is at variance with certain quantum predictions. Experiments with entangled pairs of particles have amply confirmed these quantum predictions, thus rendering local realistic theories untenable. Maintaining realism as a fundamental concept would therefore necessitate the introduction of spooky actions that defy locality. Here we show by both theory and experiment that a broad and rather reasonable class of such non-local realistic theories is incompatible with experimentally observable quantum correlations. In the experiment, we measure previously untested correlations between two entangled photons, and show that these correlations violate an inequality proposed by Leggett for non-local realistic theories. Our result suggests that giving up the concept of locality is not sufficient to be consistent with quantum experiments, unless certain intuitive features of realism are abandoned.
In this paper we describe a test of Bell inequalities using a non- maximally entangled state, which represents an important step in the direction of eliminating the detection loophole. The experiment is based on the creation of a polarisation entangled state via the superposition, by use of an appropriate optics, of the spontaneous fluorescence emitted by two non-linear crystals driven by the same pumping laser.
Since Bells theorem, it is known that the concept of local realism fails to explain quantum phenomena. Indeed, the violation of a Bell inequality has become a synonym of the incompatibility of quantum theory with our classical notion of cause and effect. As recently discovered, however, the instrumental scenario -- a tool of central importance in causal inference -- allows for signatures of nonclassicality that do not hinge on this paradigm. If, instead of relying on observational data only, we can also intervene in our experimental setup, quantum correlations can violate classical bounds on the causal influence even in scenarios where no violation of a Bell inequality is ever possible. That is, through interventions, we can witness the quantum behaviour of a system that would look classical otherwise. Using a photonic setup -- faithfully implementing the instrumental causal structure and allowing to switch between the observational and interventional modes in a run to run basis -- we experimentally observe this new witness of nonclassicality for the first time. In parallel, we also test quantum bounds for the causal influence, showing that they provide a reliable tool for quantum causal modelling.
The Leggett-Garg inequality attempts to classify experimental outcomes as arising from one of two possible classes of physical theories: those described by macrorealism (which obey our intuition about how the macroscopic classical world behaves), and those that are not (e.g., quantum theory). The development of cloud-based quantum computing devices enables us to explore the limits of macrorealism in new regimes. In particular, here we take advantage of the properties of the programmable nature of the IBM quantum experience to observe the violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality (in the form of a ``quantum witness) as a function of the number of constituent systems (qubits), while simultaneously maximizing the `disconnectivity, a potential measure of macroscopicity, between constituents. Our results show that two-qubit and four-qubit ``cat states (which have large disconnectivity) are seen to violate the inequality, and hence can be classified as nonmacrorealistic. In contrast, a six-qubit cat state does not violate the ``quantum-witness beyond a so-called clumsy invasive-measurement bound, and thus is compatible with ``clumsy macrorealism. As a comparison, we also consider un-entangled product states with n = 2, 3, 4, and 6 qubits, in which the disconnectivity is low.
Quantum mechanics provides a statistical description about nature, and thus would be incomplete if its statistical predictions could not be accounted for some realistic models with hidden variables. There are, however, two powerful theorems against the hidden-variable theories showing that certain quantum features cannot be reproduced based on two rationale premises of classicality, the Bell theorem, and noncontextuality, due to Bell, Kochen and Specker (BKS) . Tests of the Bell inequality and the BKS theorem are both of fundamental interests and of great significance . The Bell theorem has already been experimentally verified extensively on many different systems , while the quantum contextuality, which is independent of nonlocality and manifests itself even in a single object, is experimentally more demanding. Moreover, the contextuality has been shown to play a critical role to supply the `magic for quantum computation, making more extensive experimental verifications in potential systems for quantum computing even more stringent. Here we report an experimental verification of quantum contextuality on an individual atomic nuclear spin-1 system in solids under ambient condition. Such a three-level system is indivisible and thus the compatibility loophole, which exists in the experiments performed on bipartite systems, is closed. Our experimental results confirm that the quantum contextuality cannot be explained by nonlocal entanglement, revealing the fundamental quantumness other than locality/nonlocality within the intrinsic spin freedom of a concrete natural atomic solid-state system at room temperature.
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