On the role of entanglement in Schrödinger’s cat paradox

In this paper we re-investigate the core of Schrödinger’s “cat paradox”. We argue that one has to distinguish clearly between superpositions of macroscopic cat states |?〉 + |?〉 and superpositions of entangled states |?, ↑〉 + |?, ↓〉 which comprise both the state of the cat (?=alive, ?=dead) and the radioactive substance (↑=not decayed, ↓=decayed). It is shown, that in the case of the cat experiment recourse to decoherence or other mechanisms is not necessary in order to explain the absence of macroscopic superpositions. Additionally, we present modified versions of two quantum optical experiments as experimenta crucis. Applied rigorously, quantum mechanical formalism reduces the problem to a mere pseudo-paradox.     

Towards an experimental test of gravity-induced quantum state reduction

Modern developments in condensed matter and cold atom physics have made the realization of macroscopic quantum states in the laboratory everyday practice. The ready availability of these states suggests the possibility of experimentally investigating different proposals for the mechanism of quantum state reduction. One such proposal is the hypothesis of Penrose and Diósi, according to which quantum state reduction is a manifestation of the incompatibilty of general relativity and the unitary time evolution of quantum physics. Dimensional analysis suggests that Schrödinger cat type states should collapse on measurable time-scales when masses and lengths of the order of bacterial scales are involved. We analyse this hypothesis in the context of the modern experimental realizations of macroscopic quantum states. First we consider ‘micromechanical’ quantum states, analysing the capacity of an atomic force microscopy based single spin detector to measure the gravitational state reduction, but we conclude that it seems impossible to suppress environmental decoherence to the required degree. We subsequently discuss ‘split’ cold atom condensates to find out that these are at present lacking the required mass-scale by many orders of magnitude. We then extend Penrose's analysis to superpositions of mass current carrying states, and we apply this to the flux quantum bits realized in superconducting circuits. We find that the flux qubits approach the scale where gravitational state reduction should become measurable, but bridging the few remaining orders of magnitude appears to be very difficult with present day technology.     

Observing superpositions of different number states

The formal structure of quantum mechanics allows systems to exist in a superposition of different states. A curious feature is that while some superpositions, such as position or momentum, are routinely observed, others such as mass or charge are not. This anomaly is at least partly due to the fact that it is much easier to carry out interference experiments for certain observables than others. Here we focus particularly on the superposition of two different number states for photons or bosonic atoms. This can equally well be thought of as a superposition of different masses in the case of atoms. We present different interferometry schemes that should, at least in principle, allow us to observe interference between these states. This would provide evidence of a superposition that we would normally consider to be prevented by superselection rules.     

The Observer in the Quantum Experiment

A goal of most interpretations of quantum mechanics is to avoid the apparent intrusion of the observer into the measurement process. Such intrusion is usually seen to arise because observation somehow selects a single actuality from among the many possibilities represented by the wavefunction. The issue is typically treated in terms of the mathematical formulation of the quantum theory. We attempt to address a different manifestation of the quantum measurement problem in a theory-neutral manner. With a version of the two-slit experiment, we demonstrate that an enigma arises directly from the results of experiments. Assuming that no observable physical phenomena exist beyond those predicted by the theory, we argue that no interpretation of the quantum theory can avoid a measurement problem involving the observer.     

Nonlinear quantum mechanics,the superposition principle,and the quantum measurement problem

There are four reasons why our present knowledge and understanding of quantum mechanics can be regarded as incomplete. (1) The principle of linear superposition has not been experimentally tested for position eigenstates of objects having more than about a thousand atoms. (2) There is no universally agreed upon explanation for the process of quantum measurement. (3) There is no universally agreed upon explanation for the observed fact that macroscopic objects are not found in superposition of position eigenstates. (4) Most importantly, the concept of time is classical and hence external to quantum mechanics: there should exist an equivalent reformulation of the theory which does not refer to an external classical time. In this paper we argue that such a reformulation is the limiting case of a nonlinear quantum theory, with the nonlinearity becoming important at the Planck mass scale. Such a nonlinearity can provide insights into the aforesaid problems. We use a physically motivated model for a nonlinear Schr?dinger equation to show that nonlinearity can help in understanding quantum measurement. We also show that while the principle of linear superposition holds to a very high accuracy for atomic systems, the lifetime of a quantum superposition becomes progressively smaller, as one goes from microscopic to macroscopic objects. This can explain the observed absence of position superpositions in macroscopic objects (lifetime is too small). It also suggests that ongoing laboratory experiments may be able to detect the finite superposition lifetime for mesoscopic objects in the near future.     

Objective Quantum Fields,Retrocausality and Ontology

We compare different approaches to quantum ontology. In particular, we discuss an interpretation of quantum mechanics that we call objective quantum field theory (OQFT), which involves retrocausal fields. Here, objective implies the existence of fields independent of an observer, but not that the results of conjugate measurements are predetermined: the theory is contextual. The ideas and analyses of Einstein and Bohr through to more recent approaches to objective realism are discussed. We briefly describe measurement induced projections, the guided wave interpretation, many-universes, consistent histories and modal theories. These earlier interpretations are compared with OQFT. We argue that this approach is compatible both with Bohr’s quantum complementarity and Einstein’s objective realism.     

Measurement-Based Quantum Computation and Undecidable Logic

We establish a connection between measurement-based quantum computation and the field of mathematical logic. We show that the computational power of an important class of quantum states called graph states, representing resources for measurement-based quantum computation, is reflected in the expressive power of (classical) formal logic languages defined on the underlying mathematical graphs. In particular, we show that for all graph state resources which can yield a computational speed-up with respect to classical computation, the underlying graphs—describing the quantum correlations of the states—are associated with undecidable logic theories. Here undecidability is to be interpreted in a sense similar to Gödel’s incompleteness results, meaning that there exist propositions, expressible in the above classical formal logic, which cannot be proven or disproven.     

Hidden Vacuum Rabi Oscillations:Dynamical Quantum Superpositions of On/Off Interaction between a Single Quantum Dot and a Microcavity

We show that it is possible to realize quantum superpositions of switched-on and-off strong light-matter interaction in a single quantum dot-semiconductor microcavity system.Such superpositions enable the observation of counterintuitive quantum conditional dynamics effects.Situations are possible where cavity photons as well as the emitter luminescence display exponential decay but their joint detection probability exhibits vacuum Rabi oscillations.Remarkably,these quantum correlations are also present in the nonequilibrium steady state spectra of such coherently driven dissipative quantum systems.     

Universality of decoherence

We consider environment induced decoherence of quantum superpositions to mixtures in the limit in which that process is much faster than any competing one generated by the Hamiltonian H(sys) of the isolated system. While the golden rule then does not apply we can discard H(sys). By allowing for couplings to different reservoirs, we reveal decoherence as a universal short-time phenomenon independent of the character of the system as well as the bath and of the basis the superimposed states are taken from. We discuss consequences for the classical behavior of the macroworld and quantum measurement: For decoherence of superpositions of macroscopically distinct states H(sys) is always negligible.     

Total correlations and mutual information

In quantum information theory it is generally accepted that quantum mutual information is an information-theoretic measure of total correlations of a bipartite quantum state. We argue that there exist quantum states for which quantum mutual information cannot be considered as a measure of total correlations. Moreover, for these states we propose a different way of quantifying total correlations.     

Empirical consequences of the scientific construction: The program of local hidden-variables theories in quantum mechanics

We claim that physics has been constructed because three “philosophical” principles have been respected, namely, realism, locality, and consistency. These principles lead to an interpretation of quantum mechanics (QM) in terms of local hidden-variables theories (LHV). In order to prove that LHV have not been refuted, we analyze the empirical proofs of Bell's inequalities and we argue that none is loophole-free. Then we propose a restricted QM that does not contain measurement postulates and that does not claim that all state vectors (self-adjoint operators) are states (observables). The contradiction of such restricted QM with Bell's inequality cannot be shown as a theorem, but only by the design of a loophole-free experiment. Finally, we argue that noise has been underestimated in quantum theory. It does not appear in QM, but it is essential in quantum field theory. We conjecture that noise will prevent the violation of Bell's inequality.     

Quantum Entanglement in Concept Combinations

Research in the application of quantum structures to cognitive science confirms that these structures quite systematically appear in the dynamics of concepts and their combinations and quantum-based models faithfully represent experimental data of situations where classical approaches are problematical. In this paper, we analyze the data we collected in an experiment on a specific conceptual combination, showing that Bell’s inequalities are violated in the experiment. We present a new refined entanglement scheme to model these data within standard quantum theory rules, where ‘entangled measurements and entangled evolutions’ occur, in addition to the expected ‘entangled states’, and present a full quantum representation in complex Hilbert space of the data. This stronger form of entanglement in measurements and evolutions might have relevant applications in the foundations of quantum theory, as well as in the interpretation of nonlocality tests. It could indeed explain some non-negligible ‘anomalies’ identified in EPR-Bell experiments.     

Einstein–Podolski–Rosen paradox,non-commuting operator,complete wavefunction and entanglement

Einstein, Podolski and Rosen (EPR) have shown that any wavefunction (subject to the Schrödinger equation) can describe the physical reality completely, and any two observables associated with two non-commuting operators can have simultaneous reality. In contrast, quantum theory claims that the wavefunction can capture the physical reality completely, and the physical quantities associated with two non-commuting operators cannot have simultaneous reality. The above contradiction is known as the EPR paradox. Here, we unambiguously expose that there is a hidden assumption made by EPR, which gives rise to this famous paradox. Putting the assumption right this time leads us not to the paradox, but only reinforces the correctness of the quantum theory. However, it is shown here that the entanglement phenomenon between two physically separated particles (they were entangled prior to separation) can only be proven to exist with a ‘proper’ measurement.     

Deriving relativistic Bohmian quantum potential using variational method and conformal transformations

In this paper we shall argue that conformal transformations give some new aspects to a metric and changes the physics that arises from the classical metric. It is equivalent to adding a new potential to relativistic Hamilton–Jacobi equation. We start by using conformal transformations on a metric and obtain modified geodesics. Then, we try to show that extra terms in the modified geodesics are indications of a background force. We obtain this potential by using variational method. Then, we see that this background potential is the same as the Bohmian non-local quantum potential. This approach gives a method stronger than Bohm’s original method in deriving Bohmian quantum potential. We do not use any quantum mechanical postulates in this approach.     

Effect of one-, two-, and three-body atom loss processes on superpositions of phase states in Bose-Josephson junctions

In a two-mode Bose-Josephson junction formed by a binary mixture of ultracold atoms, macroscopic superpositions of phase states are produced during the time evolution after a sudden quench to zero of the coupling amplitude. Using quantum trajectories and an exact diagonalization of the master equation, we study the effect of one-, two-, and three-body atom losses on the superpositions by analyzing separately the amount of quantum correlations in each subspace with fixed atom number. The quantum correlations useful for atom interferometry are estimated using the quantum Fisher information. We identify the choice of parameters leading to the largest Fisher information, thereby showing that, for all kinds of loss processes, quantum correlations can be partially protected from decoherence when the losses are strongly asymmetric in the two modes.     

Potential wells for classical acoustic waves

The acceleration theorem of Bloch waves is utilized to construct random potential wells for classical acoustic waves in systems composed of alternating‘cavities’and‘couplers’.One prominent advantage of this method is these‘cavities’and‘couplers’are all monolayer structures.It allows forming more compact classical potential wells,which leads to the miniaturization of acoustic devices.We systematically investigate properties of harmonic,tangent,hyperbolic function,and square classical potential wells in quasi-periodic superlattices.Results show these classical potential wells are analogues of quantum potential wells.Thus some technologies and concepts in quantum potential well fields may be generalized to classical acoustic wave fields.In addition,some abnormal cases regarding forming classical potential wells are also found.     

On the Possibility of Measuring the Unruh Effect

There is a persistent state of confusion regarding the nature of the Unruh effect. We will argue that, in contrast to some interpretations thereof, the effect does not represent any novel physics and that, by its very nature, the effect is fundamentally unmeasurable in all experiments of the kind that have been contemplated until now. Also, we discuss what aspects connected with this effect one might consider as possibilities to be explored empirically and what their precise meaning may be regarding the issue at hand.     

Time evolution of the classical and quantum mechanical versions of diffusive anharmonic oscillator: an example of Lie algebraic techniques

We present the general solutions for the classical and quantum dynamics of the anharmonic oscillator coupled to a purely diffusive environment. In both cases, these solutions are obtained by the application of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff (BCH) formulas to expand the evolution operator in an ordered product of exponentials. Moreover, we obtain an expression for the Wigner function in the quantum version of the problem. We observe that the role played by diffusion is to reduce or to attenuate the the characteristic quantum effects yielded by the nonlinearity, as the appearance of coherent superpositions of quantum states (Schr?dinger cat states) and revivals.