Qiss

Continuous Time Limit of the DTQW in 2D+1 and Plasticity

A Plastic Quantum Walk admits both continuous time and continuous spacetime. The model has been recently proposed by one of the authors in cite{molfetta2019quantum}, leading to a general quantum simulation scheme for simulating fermions in the relativistic and non relativistic regimes. The extension to two physical dimensions is still missing and here, as a novel result, we demonstrate necessary and sufficient conditions concerning which discrete time quantum walks can admit plasticity, showing the resulting Hamiltonians. We consider coin operators as general $4$ parameter unitary matrices, with parameters which are function of the lattice step size $varepsilon$. This dependence on $varepsilon$ encapsulates all functions of $varepsilon$ for which a Taylor series expansion in $varepsilon$ is well defined, making our results very general.

Stable Facts, Relative Facts

Facts happen at every interaction, but they are not absolute: they are relative to the systems involved in the interaction. Stable facts are those whose relativity can effectively be ignored. In this work, we describe how stable facts emerge in a world of relative facts and discuss their respective roles in connecting quantum theory and the world. The distinction between relative and stable facts resolves the difficulties pointed out by the no-go theorems of Frauchiger and Renner, Brukner, Bong et. al.. Basing the ontology of the theory on relative facts clarifies the role of decoherence in bringing about the classical world and solves the apparent incompatibility between the `linear evolution’ and `projection’ postulates.

Edge modes of gravity — I: Corner potentials and charges

This is the first paper in a series devoted to understanding the classical and quantum nature of edge modes and symmetries in gravitational systems. The goal of this analysis is to: i) achieve a clear understanding of how different formulations of gravity provide non-trivial representations of different sectors of the corner symmetry algebra, and ii) set the foundations of a new proposal for states of quantum geometry as representation states of this corner symmetry algebra. In this first paper we explain how different formulations of gravity, in both metric and tetrad variables, share the same bulk symplectic structure but differ at the corner, and in turn lead to inequivalent representations of the corner symmetry algebra. This provides an organizing criterion for formulations of gravity depending on how big the physical symmetry group that is non-trivially represented at the corner is. This principle can be used as a “treasure map” revealing new clues and routes in the quest for quantum gravity. Building up on these results, we perform a detailed analysis of the corner symplectic potential and symmetries of Einstein-Cartan-Holst gravity in [1], use this to provide a new look at the simplicity constraints in [2], and tackle the quantization in [3].

Contextuality in entanglement-assisted one-shot classical communication

We consider the problem of entanglement-assisted one-shot classical communication. In the zero-error regime, entanglement can increase the one-shot zero-error capacity of a family of classical channels following the strategy of Cubitt et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 230503 (2010). This strategy uses the Kochen-Specker theorem which is applicable only to projective measurements. As such, in the regime of noisy states and/or measurements, this strategy cannot increase the capacity. To accommodate generically noisy situations, we examine the one-shot success probability of sending a fixed number of classical messages. We show that preparation contextuality powers the quantum advantage in this task, increasing the one-shot success probability beyond its classical maximum. Our treatment extends beyond Cubitt et al. and includes, for example, the experimentally implemented protocol of Prevedel et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 110505 (2011). We then show a mapping between this communication task and a corresponding nonlocal game. This mapping generalizes the connection with pseudotelepathy games previously noted in the zero-error case. Finally, after motivating a constraint we term context-independent guessing, we show that contextuality witnessed by noise-robust noncontextuality inequalities obtained in R. Kunjwal, Quantum 4, 219 (2020), is sufficient for enhancing the one-shot success probability. This provides an operational meaning to these inequalities and the associated hypergraph invariant, the weighted max-predictability, introduced in R. Kunjwal, Quantum 3, 184 (2019). Our results show that the task of entanglement-assisted one-shot classical communication provides a fertile ground to study the interplay of the Kochen-Specker theorem, Spekkens contextuality, and Bell nonlocality.

Predictions of quantum gravity in inflationary cosmology: effects of the Weyl-squared term

We derive the predictions of quantum gravity with fakeons on the amplitudes and spectral indices of the scalar and tensor fluctuations in inflationary cosmology. The action is $R+R^{2}$ plus the Weyl-squared term. The ghost is eliminated by turning it into a fakeon, that is to say a purely virtual particle. We work to the next-to-leading order of the expansion around the de Sitter background. The consistency of the approach puts a lower bound ($ m_{chi }>m_{phi }/4$) on the mass $m_{chi }$ of the fakeon with respect to the mass $m_{phi }$ of the inflaton. The tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ is predicted within less than an order of magnitude ($4/3

The Multi-round Process Matrix

We develop an extension of the process matri(PM) framework for correlations between quantum operations with no causal order that allows multiple rounds of information exchange for each party compatibly with the assumption of well-defined causal order of events locally. We characterise the higher-order process describing such correlations, which we name the multi-round process matri(MPM), and formulate a notion of causal nonseparability for it that extends the one for standard PMs. We show that in the multi-round case there are novel manifestations of causal nonseparability that are not captured by a naive application of the standard PM formalism: we exhibit an instance of an operator that is both a valid PM and a valid MPM, but is causally separable in the first case and can violate causal inequalities in the second case due to the possibility of using a side channel.

Quantum and Classical Data Transmission through Completely Depolarising Channels in a Superposition of Cyclic Orders

Completely depolarising channels are often regarded as the prototype of physical processes that are useless for communication: any message that passes through them along a well-defined trajectory is completely erased. When two such channels are used in a quantum superposition of two alternative orders, they become able to transmit some amount of classical information, but still no quantum information can pass through them. Here we show that the ability to place N completely depolarising channels in a superposition of N alternative causal orders enables a high-fidelity, heralded transmission of quantum information with error vanishing as 1/N. This phenomenon highlights a fundamental difference with the N = 2 case, where completely depolarising channels are unable to transmit quantum data, even when placed in a superposition of causal orders. The ability to place quantum channels in a superposition of orders also leads to an increase of the classical communication capacity with N, which we rigorously prove by deriving an exact single-letter expression. Our results highlight the more complepatterns of correlations arising from multiple causal orders, which are similar to the more complepatterns of entanglement arising in multipartite quantum systems.

The Quantum Totalitarian Property and Exact Symmetries

We discuss a point, which from time to time has been doubted in the literature: all symmetries, such as those induced by the energy and momentum conservation laws, hold in quantum physics not just “on average”, as is sometimes claimed, but exactly in each “branch” of the wavefunction, expressed in the basis where the conserved observable is sharp. We note that for conservation laws to hold exactly for quantum systems in this sense (not just on average), it is necessary to assume the so-called “totalitarian property of quantum theory”, namely that any system capable of measuring a quantum observable must itself be quantised. Hence, if conservation laws are to hold exactly, the idea of a `classical measuring apparatus’ (i.e., not subject to the branching structure) is untenable. We also point out that any other principle having a well-defined formulation within classical physics, such as the Equivalence principle, is also to be extended to the quantum domain in exactly the same way, i.e., branch by branch.

Classical Communications with Indefinite Causal Order for $N$ completely depolarizing channels

If two identical copies of a completely depolarizing channel are put into a superposition of their possible causal orders, they can transmit non-zero classical information. Here, we study how well we can transmit classical information with $N$ depolarizing channels put in superposition of $M$ causal orders via quantum SWITCH. We calculate Holevo quantity if the superposition uses only cyclic permutations of channels and find that it increases with $M$ and it is independent of $N$. For a qubit it never reaches $1$ if we are increasing $M$. On the other hand, the classical capacity decreases with the dimension $d$ of the message system. Further, for $N=3$ and $N=4$ we studied superposition of all causal orders and uniformly superposed causal orders belonging to different cosets created by cyclic permutation subgroup.

Probing quantum coherence at a distance and Aharonov-Bohm non-locality

In a standard interfeQILab Rometry experiment, one measures the phase difference between two paths by recombining the two wave packets on a beam-splitter. However, it has been recently recognized that the phase can also be estimated via local measurements, by using an ancillary particle in a known superposition state. In this work, we further analyse these protocols for different types of particles (bosons or fermions, charged or uncharged), with a particular emphasis on the subtleties that arise when the phase is due to the coupling to an abelian gauge field. In that case, we show that the measurable quantities are spacetime loop integrals of the 4-vector potential, enclosed by two identical particles or by a particle-antiparticle pair. Furthermore, we generalize our considerations to scenarios involving an arbitrary number of parties performing local measurements on a general charged fermionic state. Finally, as a concrete application, we analyse a recent proposal by Marletto and Vedral (arXiv:1906.03440) involving the time-dependent Aharonov-Bohm effect.