An influential theorem by Satosi Wantabe convinced many that there can be no genuinely probabilistic theory with both non-trivial forward and backward transition probabilities. We show that this conclusion does not follow from the theorem. We point out the flaw in the argument, and we showcase examples of theories with well-defined backward and forward transition probabilities.
Quantum theory is in principle compatible with processes that violate causal inequalities, an analogue of Bell inequalities that constrain the correlations observed by a set of parties operating in a definite order. Since the introduction of causal inequalities, determining their maximum quantum violation, analogue to Tsirelson’s bound, has remained an open problem. Here we provide a general method for bounding the violation of causal inequalities by arbitrary quantum processes with indefinite causal order. We prove that the maximum violation is generally smaller than the algebraic maximum, and determine a Tsirelson-like bound for the paradigmatic example of the Oreshkov-Brukner-Costa causal inequality. Surprisingly, we find that the algebraic maximum of arbitrary causal inequalities can be achieved by a new type of processes that allow for information to flow in an indefinite direction within the parties’ laboratories. In the classification of the possible correlations, these processes play a similar role as the no-signalling processes in Bell scenarios.
Experimental proposals for testing quantum gravity-induced entanglement of masses (QGEM) typically involve two interacting masses which are each in a spatial superposition state. Here, we propose a QGEM experiment with two particles which are each in a superposition of rotational states, this amounts to a superposition of mass through mass-energy equivalence. Our proposal relies on the fact that rotational energy gravitates. This approach would test a feature unique to gravity since it amounts to sourcing a spacetime in superposition due to a superposition of ‘charge’. We propose and analyse a concrete experimental protocol and discuss challenges.
Null infinity (Scri) arises as a boundary of the Penrose conformal completion of an asymptotically flat physical space-time. We first note that Scri is a weakly isolated horizon (WIH), and then show that its familiar properties can be derived from the general WIH framework. This seems quite surprising because physics associated with black hole (and cosmological) WIHs is very different from that extracted at Scri. We show that these differences can be directly traced back to the fact that Scri is a WIH in the conformal completion rather than the physical space-time. In particular, the BMS group at Scri stems from the symmetry group of WIHs. We also introduce a unified procedure to arrive at fluxes and charges associated with the BMS symmetries at Scri and those associated with black hole (and cosmological) horizons. This procedure differs from those commonly used in the literature and its novel elements seem interesting in their own right. The fact that is there is a single mathematical framework underlying black hole (and cosmological) horizons and Scri paves the way to explore the relation between horizon dynamics in the strong field region and waveforms at infinity. It should also be useful in the analysis of black hole evaporation in quantum gravity.
A key challenge in realizing fault-tolerant quantum computers is circuit optimization. Focusing on the most expensive gates in fault-tolerant quantum computation (namely, the T gates), we address the problem of T-count optimization, i.e., minimizing the number of T gates that are needed to implement a given circuit. To achieve this, we develop AlphaTensor-Quantum, a method based on deep reinforcement learning that exploits the relationship between optimizing T-count and tensor decomposition. Unlike existing methods for T-count optimization, AlphaTensor-Quantum can incorporate domain-specific knowledge about quantum computation and leverage gadgets, which significantly reduces the T-count of the optimized circuits. AlphaTensor-Quantum outperforms the existing methods for T-count optimization on a set of arithmetic benchmarks (even when compared without making use of gadgets). Remarkably, it discovers an efficient algorithm akin to Karatsuba’s method for multiplication in finite fields. AlphaTensor-Quantum also finds the best human-designed solutions for relevant arithmetic computations used in Shor’s algorithm and for quantum chemistry simulation, thus demonstrating it can save hundreds of hours of research by optimizing relevant quantum circuits in a fully automated way.
We study homogenous and isotropic quantum cosmology using the spinfoam formalism of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). We define a coupling of a scalar field to the 4-dimensional Lorentzian Engle-Pereira-Rovelli-Livine (EPRL) spinfoam model. We employ the numerical method of complex critical points to investigate the model on two different simplicial complexes: the triangulations of a single hypercube and two connected hypercubes. We find nontrivial implications for the effective cosmological dynamics. In the single-hypercube model, the numerical results suggest an effective Friedmann equation with a scalar density that contains higher-order derivatives and a scalar potential. The scalar potential plays a role similar to a positive cosmological constant and drives an accelerated expansion of the universe. The double-hypercubes model resembles a symmetric cosmic bounce, and a similar effective Friedmann equation emerges with higher-order derivative terms in the effective scalar density, whereas the scalar potential becomes negligible.
Quantum Cellular Automaton (QCA) is a model for universal quantum computation and a natural candidate for digital quantum simulation of relativistic quantum fields. Here we introduce the first photonic platform for implementing QCA-simulation of a free relativistic Dirac quantum field in 1+1 dimension, through a Dirac Quantum Cellular Automaton (DQCA). Encoding the field position degree of freedom in the Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) of single photons, our state-of-the-art setup experimentally realizes 8 steps of a DQCA, with the possibility of having complete control over the input OAM state preparation and the output measurement making use of two spatial light modulators. Therefore, studying the distribution in the OAM space at each step, we were able to reproduce the time evolution of the free Dirac field observing, the Zitterbewegung, an oscillatory movement extremely difficult to see in real case experimental scenario that is a signature of the interference of particle and antiparticle states. The accordance between the expected and measured Zitterbewegung oscillations certifies the simulator performances, paving the way towards the application of photonic platforms to the simulation of more complex relativistic effects.
The study of quantum reference frames (QRFs) is motivated by the idea of taking into account the quantum properties of the reference frames that we use, explicitly or implicitly, in our description of physical systems. Like a classical reference frame, a QRF can be used to define physical quantities such as time, position, momentum, and spin relationally. Unlike its classical analogue, it relativises the notions of superposition and entanglement. Here, we provide a novel explanation for the frame-dependence of superposition and entanglement by tracing it back to the question of how configurations or locations are identified across different branches in superposition. We show that, in the presence of symmetries, whether a system is in ‘the same’ or ‘different’ configurations across the branches depends on the choice of QRF. Thus, sameness and difference-and, as a result, superposition and entanglement-lose their absolute meaning. We apply these ideas to semi-classical spacetimes in superposition and use coincidences of four scalar fields to construct a comparison map between the spacetime points in the different branches. This allows us to determine whether a given event is located at ‘the same’ or ‘different’ points in the superposed spacetimes. Since this feature depends on the choice of QRF, we argue that the localisation of an event should not be seen as an inherent property. This alleviates previously voiced concerns that QRF changes could have empirical consequences for interference experiments, such as the BMV proposal. Moreover, it implies that the number of events is equal in both the flat and the curved spacetime implementations of indefinite causal order. We conclude with the ‘quantum hole argument’ as a generalisation of Einstein’s hole argument, arguing that not just spacetime points but also their identification across a superposition lose their absolute physical meaning.
Recent progress in table-top experiments offers the opportunity to show for the first time that gravity is not compatible with a classical description. In all current experimental proposals, such as the generation of gravitationally induced entanglement between two quantum sources of gravity, gravitational effects can be explained with the Newton potential, namely in a regime that is consistent with the weak-field limit of general relativity and does not probe the field nature of gravity. Hence, the Newtonian origin of the effects is a limitation to the conclusions on the nature of gravity that can be drawn from these experiments. Here, we identify two effects that overcome this limitation: they cannot be reproduced using the Newton potential and are independent of graviton emission. First, we show that the interaction between a generic quantum source of gravity, e.g. in a wide Gaussian state, and a test particle cannot be reproduced with the Newton potential nor with a known classical theory or gravity. Hence, observing the form of this interaction would require either a modification to classical gravity or its quantum description. Second, we show that the quantum commutator between the gravitational field and its canonically conjugate momentum appears as an additional term in the relative phase of a generic quantum source interacting with a test particle. Observing this term in the phase would be a test of the gravitational field as a quantum mediator. Identifying stronger quantum aspects of gravity than those reproducible with the Newton potential is crucial to prove the nonclassicality of the gravitational field and to plan a new generation of experiments testing quantum aspects of gravity in a broader sense than what proposed so far.
We demonstrate that the recently introduced evanescent particles of a massive scalar field can be emitted and absorbed by an Unruh-DeWitt detector. In doing so the particles carry away from or deposit on the detector a quantized amount of energy, in a manner quite analogous to ordinary propagating particles. In contradistinction to propagating particles the amount of energy is less than the mass of the field, but still positive. We develop relevant methods and provide a study of the detector emission spectrum, emission probability and absorption probability involving both propagating and evanescent particles.
