Characterization of nonlocal correlations is one of the most attractive topics in quantum information theory. In this work, we develop the methods of detecting entanglement and steering based on the universal uncertainty relations and fine-grained uncertainty relations. According to the majorization form of the uncertainty relations, the uncertainty quantifier can be constructed by choosing Schur concave functions. Hence a large number of quantifier-independent entanglement and steering criteria are derived, from which many existing criteria based on different quantifiers can be rededuced. Finally, we show that entanglement and steering of pure states and some mixed states such as isotropic states can be always witnessed by some uncertainty quantifier.
Characterization of nonlocal correlations is one of the most attractive topics in quantum information theory. In this work, we develop the methods of detecting entanglement and steering based on the universal uncertainty relations and fine-grained uncertainty relations. According to the majorization form of the uncertainty relations, the uncertainty quantifier can be constructed by choosing Schur concave functions. Hence a large number of quantifier-independent entanglement and steering criteria are derived, from which many existing criteria based on different quantifiers can be rededuced. Finally, we show that entanglement and steering of pure states and some mixed states such as isotropic states can be always witnessed by some uncertainty quantifier.
Uncertainty relations are a distinctive characteristic of quantum theory that impose intrinsic limitations on the precision with which physical properties can be simultaneously determined. The modern work on uncertainty relations employs entropic measures to quantify the lack of knowledge associated with measuring noncommuting observables. However, there is no fundamental reason for using entropies as quantifiers; any functional relation that characterizes the uncertainty of the measurement outcomes defines an uncertainty relation. Starting from a very reasonable assumption of invariance under mere relabeling of the measurement outcomes, we show that Schur-concave functions are the most general uncertainty quantifiers. We then discover a fine-grained uncertainty relation that is given in terms of the majorization order between two probability vectors, significantly extending a majorization-based uncertainty relation first introduced in M. H. Partovi, Phys. Rev. A 84, 052117 (2011). Such a vector-type uncertainty relation generates an infinite family of distinct scalar uncertainty relations via the application of arbitrary uncertainty quantifiers. Our relation is therefore universal and captures the essence of uncertainty in quantum theory.
Abstract Nonlocality, which is the key feature of quantum theory, has been linked with the uncertainty principle by fine-grained uncertainty relations, by considering combinations of outcomes for different measurements. However, this approach assumes that information about the system to be fine-grained is local, and does not present an explicitly computable bound. Here, we generalize above approach to general quasi-fine-grained uncertainty relations (QFGURs) which applies in the presence of quantum memory and provides conspicuously computable bounds to quantitatively link the uncertainty to entanglement and Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) steering, respectively. Moreover, our QFGURs provide a framework to unify three important forms of uncertainty relations, i.e., universal uncertainty relations, the uncertainty principle in the presence of quantum memory, and fine-grained uncertainty relation. This result gives a direct significance to uncertainty principle, and allows us to determine whether a quantum measurement exhibits typical quantum correlations, meanwhile, it reveals a fundamental connection between basic elements of quantum theory, specifically, uncertainty measures, combined outcomes for different measurements, quantum memory, entanglement and EPR steering.
Quantum nonlocality is a prominent discrepancy when we compare quantum physics with classical physics, and it manifests in different forms, one of which is quantum steering. Quantum steering refers to a correlation produced from a bipartite entangled state between the local measurement outcomes of one party and the postmeasurement states of the other. Combining with uncertainty relation, local measurements can be used to distinguish whether a quantum state is steerable. Thus, this method can be treated as an effective steering criterion. In this work, we certify this steering criterion based on the local uncertainty relation by an all-optical setup with a mixed state which consists of two Bell-like states. Furthermore, we also testify that the quantum steering criterion based on the local uncertainty relation is not only superior to the linear steering criterion but also superior to the steering criterion based on the entropic uncertainty relation in our scenario. Our efforts may promote the use of this criterion in quantum information processing tasks.
Abstract Entanglement and Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) steering are nonlocal quantum correlations, which are relevant resources for quantum information protocols. EPR steering, or quantum steering, refers to the correlation where a party might ‘steer’, or modify, the state of another, which is spatially separated. Entanglement is a symmetric resource while steering is asymmetrical, since it depends on the direction of the effect. Due to these different characteristics and the therefore different possible applications, there has been both theoretical and experimental research on forms to certify the distinct quantum nonlocal correlations. In recent years, alongside the investigation on quantum correlations between two systems, there has been a great interest in investigating multipartite/multimode entanglement as well as steering, since they include a high dimension and it may be possible to store more information than in a single qubit. In this review, we will summarize the different criteria and measures that have been developed for the characterization of these two kinds of correlations. We first focus on bipartite entanglement and steering. We then review the progress that has been made in the investigation of multipartite quantum correlations. We revise the theoretical work in quantum nonlocal correlation witnesses and measures, which respectively allow one to certify that the system is entangled or presents EPR steering, and give a quantification of the content of these correlations in the system. Then, we briefly review the experiments that have been designed and that demonstrate multipartite quantum correlations. We also include applications in quantum information protocols, in particular in quantum teleportation and quantum cryptography.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, coherence, and Bell nonlocality have been individually examined through many experiments. In this Letter, we systematically characterize all of this quantumness in a unified manner. We first construct universal uncertainty relations to reveal intrinsic features of incompatible measurements, which include all the state-independent uncertainties as special cases. We further extend to witness both quantum coherence and Bell nonlocality. We finally perform experiments with unified two-photon states and validate the uncertainty principle, coherence, and Bell nonlocality within experimental error. Our methods for witnessing quantumness are valuable in characterizing quantum correlations in quantum information processing.
Quantum theory predicts an inherent joint unpredictability for some pairs of measurements. For example, Heisenberg showed that the more precisely the position of a quantum particle is known, the less precisely its momentum can be known and vice versa. Uncertainty relations (URs) are mathematical expressions quantifying the constraints between the output probability distributions of the given sets of measurements. Typically, URs are expressed in terms of uncertainty quantifiers such as entropies. Based on an information-theoretic approach, we discovered a characterization that unifies all uncertainty quantifiers and thus, generalizes a large class of URs into a single framework. We also prove new URs that are fundamentally different from typical URs in that they are fine-grained; i.e. they set restrictions directly on the output probability distributions without using any particular uncertainty quantifiers. We used Majorization theory and other techniques such as matrix analysis to prove our fine-grained uncertainty relations.