Weakly nonlocal irreversible thermodynamics

Weakly nonlocal thermodynamic theories are critically revisited. A relocalized, irreversible thermodynamic theory of nonlocal phenomena is given, based on a modified form of the entropy current and new kind of internal variables, the so called current multipliers. The treatment is restricted to deal with nonlocality connected to dynamic thermodynamic variables. Several classical equations are derived, including Guyer‐Krumhansl, Ginzburg‐Landau and Cahn‐Hilliard type equations.     

Single photon and nonlocality

In a paper by Home and Agarwal [1], it is claimed that quantum nonlocality can be revealed in a simple interferometry experiment using only single particles. A critical analysis of the concept of hidden variable used by the authors of [1] shows that the reasoning is not correct.      

Welcher Weg? A Trajectory Representation of a Quantum Young’s Diffraction Experiment

The double slit problem is idealized by simplifying each slit by a point source. A composite reduced action for the two correlated point sources is developed. Contours of the reduced action, trajectories and loci of transit times are developed in the region near the two point sources. The trajectory through any point in Euclidean 3-space also passes simultaneously through both point sources.     

Comments on “quantum theory does not require action at a distance”

Kraus claims that the argument for action at a distance depends upon the classical prejudice that a measurement always measures something that already exists. It is shown that in the example considered by Kraus no assumption about pre-existing results is needed. A criterion proposed by Kraus for a theory to be compatible with locality is shown to be untenable.     

Demonstrating nonlocality-induced teleportation through Majorana bound states in a semiconductor nanowire

It was predicted by Tewari et al. (2008) [15] that a teleportation-like electron transfer phenomenon is one of the novel consequences of the existence of Majorana fermion, because of the inherently nonlocal nature. In this work we consider a concrete realization and measurement scheme for this interesting behavior, based on a setup consisting of a pair of quantum dots which are tunnel-coupled to a semiconductor nanowire and are jointly measured by two point-contact detectors. We analyze the teleportation dynamics in the presence of measurement back-action and discuss how the teleportation events can be identified from the current trajectories of strong response detectors.     

Nonlocality Without Nonlocality

Bell’s theorem is purported to demonstrate the impossibility of a local “hidden variable” theory underpinning quantum mechanics. It relies on the well-known assumption of ‘locality’, and also on a little-examined assumption called ‘statistical independence’ (SI). Violations of this assumption have variously been thought to suggest “backward causation”, a “conspiracy” on the part of nature, or the denial of “free will”. It will be shown here that these are spurious worries, and that denial of SI simply implies nonlocal correlation between spacelike degrees of freedom. Lorentz-invariant theories in which SI does not hold are easily constructed: two are exhibited here. It is conjectured, on this basis, that quantum-mechanical phenomena may be modeled by a local theory after all. This paper is dedicated to the memory of John A. Wheeler.     

Violation of the Bell inequality in quantum critical random spin-1/2 chains

We investigate the entanglement and nonlocality properties of two random XX spin-1/2 critical chains, in order to better understand the role of breaking translational invariance to achieve nonlocal states in critical systems. We show that breaking translational invariance is a necessary but not sufficient condition for nonlocality, as the random chains remain in a local ground state up to a small degree of randomness. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the random dimer model does not have the same nonlocality properties of the translationally invariant chain, even though they share the same universality class for a certain range of randomness.     

Experimental investigation of tripartite entanglement and nonlocality in three-qubit generalized Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger states

We investigate theoretically and experimentally the tripartite entanglement defined by V. Coffman [Phys. Rev. A 61 (2000) 052306] and nonlocality expressed by the Mermin inequality [Phys. Rev. Lett. 65 (1990) 1838] in three-qubit generalized Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GGHZ) states. Using our GGHZ states with fidelity ∼0.84, we demonstrate experimentally the theoretical results of tripartite entanglement and the Mermin theorem successfully. It is shown that the experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.     

Nonlocality and entanglement via the Unruh effect

Modeling the qubit by a two-level semiclassical detector coupled to a massless scalar field, we investigate how the Unruh effect affects the nonlocality and entanglement of two-qubit and three-qubit states when one of the entangled qubits is accelerated. Two distinct differences with the results of free field model in non-inertial frames are (i) for the two-qubit state, the CHSH inequality cannot be violated for sufficiently large but finite acceleration, furthermore, the concurrence will experience “sudden death”; and (ii) for the three-qubit state, not only does the entanglement vanish in the infinite acceleration limit, but also the Svetlichny inequality cannot be violated in the case of large acceleration.