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arXiv:1705.10462

Wave-Particle-Mixedness Complementarity

Xiangdong Zhang, Jiahao Huang, Zhuang, Min, Xizhou Qin, Chaohong Lee

Published May 30, 2017• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Wave-particle duality, an important and fundamental concept established upon pure quantum systems, is central to the complementarity principle in quantum mechanics. However, due to the environment effects or even the entanglement between the quanton and the which-way detector (WWD), the quanton should be described by a mixed quantum state but not a pure quantum state. Although there are some attempts to clarify the complementarity principle for mixed quantum systems, it is still unclear how the mixedness affects the complementary relation. Here, we give a ternary complementary relation (TCR) among wave, particle and mixedness aspects for arbitrary multi-state systems, which are respectively quantified by the $l_1$ measure for quantum coherence, the which-path predictability, and the linear entropy. In particular, we show how a WWD can transform entropy into predictability and coherence. Through modifying the POVM (positive-operator valued measure) measurement on WWD, our TCR can be simplified as the wave-mixedness and particle-mixedness duality relations. Beyond enclosing the wave-particle duality relation [PRL 116, 160406 (2016)], our TCR relates to the wave-particle-entanglement complementarity relation [PRL 98, 250501 (2008); Opt. Commun. 283, 827 (2010)].

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1705.10462

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Wave-particle duality, an important and fundamental concept established upon pure quantum systems, is central to the complementarity principle in quantum mechanics. However, due to the environment effects or even the entanglement between the quanton and the which-way detector (WWD), the quanton should be described by a mixed quantum state but not a pure quantum state. Although there are some attempts to clarify the complementarity principle for mixed quantum systems, it is still unclear how the mixedness affects the complementary relation. Here, we give a ternary complementary relation (TCR) among wave, particle and mixedness aspects for arbitrary multi-state systems, which are respectively quantified by the l1l_1l1​ measure for quantum coherence, the which-path predictability, and the linear entropy. In particular, we show how a WWD can transform entropy into predictability and coherence. Through modifying the POVM (positive-operator valued measure) measurement on WWD, our TCR can be simplified as the wave-mixedness and particle-mixedness duality relations. Beyond enclosing the wave-particle duality relation [PRL 116, 160406 (2016)], our TCR relates to the wave-particle-entanglement complementarity relation [PRL 98, 250501 (2008); Opt. Commun. 283, 827 (2010)].
Abstract The wave-particle duality, as a manifestation of Bohr’s complementarity, is usually quantified in terms of path predictability and interference visibility. Various characterizations of the wave-particle duality have been proposed from an operational perspective, most of them are in forms of inequalities, and some of them are expressed in forms of equalities by incorporating entanglement or coherence. In this work, we shed different insights into the nature of the wave-particle duality by casting it into a form of information conservation in a multi-path interferometer, with uncertainty as a unified theme. More specifically, by employing the simple yet fundamental concept of variance, we establish a resolution of unity, which can be interpreted as a complementarity relation among wave feature, particle feature, and mixedness of a quantum state. This refines or reinterprets some conventional approaches to wave-particle duality, and highlights informational aspects of the issue. The key idea of our approach lies in that a quantum state, as a Hermitian operator, can also be naturally regarded as an observable, with measurement uncertainty (in a state) and state uncertainty (in a measurement) being exploited to quantify particle feature and wave feature of a quantum state, respectively. These two kinds of uncertainties, although both are defined via variance, have fundamentally different properties and capture different features of a state. Together with the mixedness, which is a kind of uncertainty intrinsic to a quantum state, they add up to unity, and thus lead to a characterization of the wave-particle-mixedness complementarity. This triality relation is further illustrated by examples and compared with some popular wave-particle duality or triality relations.
Abstract Complementarity relations for wave-particle duality are saturated only for pure, single-quanton, quantum states. For a completely incoherent state, it is known that wave and particle quantifiers can reach zero, and hence no information about the wave and particle aspects of the system can be obtained. This means that the information is being shared with other systems, and quantum correlations can be seen as responsible for the loss of purity of the quanton, provided that the quanton is part of a multipartite pure quantum system. In this paper, by exploring the purity of bi- and tri-partite pure quantum states, we show that it is possible to obtain complete complementarity relations. This procedure allows us to create a general framework for obtaining complete complementarity relations for a subsystem that belongs to an arbitrary multi-partite quantum system in a pure state. By some simple examples, we show that if the predictability measure is changed then the correlation measure must also be changed in order to obtain complete complementarity relations for pure cases.
The wave-particle duality, one of the expressions of Bohr complementarity, is usually quantified by path predictability and the visibility of interference fringes. With the development of quantum resource theory, quantitative analysis of wave-particle duality is increasing, most of which are expressed in the form of specific functions. In this paper, we obtain the path-information measure for pure states by converting the coherence measure for pure states into a symmetric concave function. Then we prove the function as a path-information measure is also valid for mixed states. Furthermore, we also establish a generalized wave-particle-mixedness triality. Although the mixedness proposed in the text is not a complete mixedness measure, it also satisfies some conditions of the mixedness measure. From the perspective of resource theory, the path information we establish can be used as the measure of the resource of predictability, and the triality relationship we establish reveals the relationship among coherence, predictability, purity, and mixedness degree to a certain extent. According to our method, given either the coherence measure or path information, a particular form of wave-particle-mixedness triality can be established. This will play an important role in establishing connections between wave, particle, and other physical quantifiers.
The wave-particle duality, as one of the expressions of Bohr complementarity, is usually quantified by path predictability and the visibility of interference fringes. With the development of quantum resource theory, the quantitative analysis of wave-particle duality is increasing, most of which are expressed in the form of specific functions. In this paper, we obtain the path information measure for pure states by converting the coherence measure for pure state into a symmetric concave function. Then we prove the function as a path information measure is also valid for mixed states. Furthermore, we also establish a generalized wave-particle-mixedness traility. Although the mixedness proposed in the text is not a complete mixedness measure, it also satisfies some conditions of mixdness measure. From the perspective of resource theory, the path information we establish can be used as the measure of the resource of predictability, and the triaility relationship we establish reveals the relationship among coherence, predictability, purity and mixdness degree to a certain extent. According to our method, given either coherence measure or path information, a particular form of wave-particle-mixedness traility can be established. This will play an important role in establishing connections between wave, particle and other physical quantifiers.
Abstract Wave-particle duality as one of the expression of Bohr complementarity is a significant concept in the field of quantum mechanics. Quantitative analysis of wave-particle duality aims to establish a complementary relation between the particle and wave properties. Beyond the conventional quantitative analysis depending on special choice of quantum information measures, we are aimed to provide a measure-independent complementary relation via coherence. By employing maximally coherent states in the set of all states with fixed diagonal elements, we give a measure-independent description of wave-particle-mixedness triality in d -path interferometers. Our complementary relations reveal the relationship between wave-particle duality and quantum coherence, and also give a justification to coherence as it truly brings out the wave nature of quantum systems at its heart.
Abstract Bohr’s complementarity and Schrödinger’s entanglement are two prominent physical characters of quantum systems. In this article, we formally connect them. It is known that complementarity relations for wave-particle duality are saturated only for pure, single-quanton, quantum states. For mixed states, the wave-particle quantifiers never saturate a complementarity relation and can even reach zero for a maximally mixed state. To fully characterize a quanton, it is not enough to consider its wave-particle aspect; we have also to regard its quantum correlations with other systems. Here we prove that for any complete complementarity relation involving predictability and visibility measures that satisfy the criteria established in the literature, the corresponding quantum correlations are entanglement monotones. Therefore, we formally connect entanglement monotones with complementarity relations without appealing to a particular measure.