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arXiv:1710.02445 · Physical Review A

Covariance Bell inequalities

Victor Pozsgay, Flavien Hirsch, Cyril Branciard, Nicolas Brunner

Published Dec 22, 2017• 24 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We introduce Bell inequalities based on covariance, one of the most common measures of correlation. Explicit examples are discussed, and violations in quantum theory are demonstrated. A crucial feature of these covariance Bell inequalities is their nonlinearity; this has nontrivial consequences for the derivation of their local bound, which is not reached by deterministic local correlations. For our simplest inequality, we derive analytically tight bounds for both local and quantum correlations. An interesting application of covariance Bell inequalities is that they can act as ``shared randomness witnesses'': specifically, the value of the Bell expression gives device-independent lower bounds on both the dimension and the entropy of the shared random variable in a local model.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.96.062128

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We introduce Bell inequalities based on covariance, one of the most common measures of correlation. Explicit examples are discussed, and violations in quantum theory are demonstrated. A crucial feature of these covariance Bell inequalities is their nonlinearity; this has nontrivial consequences for the derivation of their local bound, which is not reached by deterministic local correlations. For our simplest inequality, we derive analytically tight bounds for both local and quantum correlations. An interesting application of covariance Bell inequalities is that they can act as ``shared randomness witnesses'': specifically, the value of the Bell expression gives device-independent lower bounds on both the dimension and the entropy of the shared random variable in a local model.
It is one of the most remarkable features of quantum physics that measurements on spatially separated systems cannot always be described by a locally causal theory. In such a theory, the outcomes of local measurements are determined in advance solely by some unknown (or hidden) variables and the choice of local measurements. Correlations that are allowed within the framework of a locally causal theory are termed classical. Typically, the fact that quantum mechanics does not always result in classical correlations is revealed by the violation of Bell inequalities, which are constraints that have to be satisfied by any classical correlations. It has been known for a long time that entanglement is necessary to demonstrate nonclassical correlations, and hence a Bell inequality violation. However, since some entangled quantum states are known to admit explicit locally causal models, the exact role of entanglement in Bell inequality violation has remained obscure. This thesis provides both a comprehensive review on these issues as well as a report on new discoveries made to clarify the relationship between entanglement and Bell inequality violation. In particular, within the framework of a standard Bell experiment, i.e., a Bell inequality test that is directly performed on a single copy of a quantum state r, we have derived two algorithms to determine, respectively, a lower bound and an upper bound on the strength of correlations that r can offer for any given Bell inequality. Both of these algorithms make use convex optimization techniques in the form of a semidefinite program. By examples, we show that these algorithms can often be used in tandem, in conjunction with convexity arguments, to determine if a quantum state can offer nonclassical correlations and hence violates a given Bell inequality. On the other hand, since a standard Bell experiment typically involves measurements over many copies of the quantum systems, we have also investigated the possibility of enhancing the strength of nonclassical correlation by, instead, performing collective measurements on multiple copies of the quantum systems. Our findings show that even without postselection, such joint measurements may also lead to stronger nonclassical correlations, and hence a better Bell inequality violation. Meanwhile, previous studies have indicated that entangled state admitting locally causal models may still lead to observable nonclassical correlations if, prior to a standard Bell experiment, the state is subjected to some appropriate local preprocessing. This phenomenon of hidden nonlocality was discovered more than a decade ago, but to date, it is still not known if all entangled states can demonstrate nonclassical correlations through these more sophisticated Bell experiments. A key result in this thesis then consists of showing that for all bipartite entangled states, observable nonclassical correlations, in the form of a Bell-CHSH inequality violation, can indeed be derived if we allow both local preprocessing and the usage of shared ancillary state which by itself does not violate the Bell-CHSH inequality. This establishes a kind of equivalence between bipartite entanglement and states that cannot be simulated by classical correlations. In summary, for a standard Bell experiment where no local preprocessing on a quantum state r is allowed, we have provided two algorithms that can be used in tandem to determine if r can be simulated by a locally causal theory, whereas in the scenario where local preprocessing is allowed, we have demonstrated that bipartite entangled states are precisely those which cannot always be simulated classically.
Abstract Bell nonlocality refers to the nonlocal correlation strength among quantum systems that cannot be duplicated using local hidden variables, and uncertainty relations set the lower bound on the sum or product of variances for incompatible observables within a quantum system. In this work, the study of linking these two fundamental quantum features in terms of statistical characteristics within Bell tests is initiated. Two statistics determine the state‐dependent quantum upper bounds of the Bell values: the expectation values of local observables, and the joint uncertainty that is the product of local uncertainty. Specifically, it is showed that the joint measurement uncertainty determines the upper bounds of covariant Bell inequalities in the quantum region, with more joint measurement uncertainty required for more covariant correlation strengths. Conversely, the covariant Bell value defines the lower bound of joint uncertainty. In addition, given the maximally entangled states, Tsirelson's bounds of Bell inequalities can be achieved when the joint uncertainty reaches the maximum.
Bell inequalities have traditionally been used to demonstrate that quantum theory is nonlocal, in the sense that there exist correlations generated from composite quantum states that cannot be explained by means of local hidden variables. With the advent of device-independent quantum information protocols, Bell inequalities have gained an additional role as certificates of relevant quantum properties. In this work, we consider the problem of designing Bell inequalities that are tailored to detect maximally entangled states. We introduce a class of Bell inequalities valid for an arbitrary number of measurements and results, derive analytically their tight classical, nonsignaling, and quantum bounds and prove that the latter is attained by maximally entangled states. Our inequalities can therefore find an application in device-independent protocols requiring maximally entangled states.
It is not generally known that the inequality that Bell derived using three random variables must be identically satisfied by any three corresponding data sets of ±1’s that are writable on paper. This surprising fact is not immediately obvious from Bell’s inequality derivation based on causal random variables, but follows immediately if the same mathematical operations are applied to finite data sets. For laboratory data, the inequality is identically satisfied as a fact of pure algebra, and its satisfaction is independent of whether the processes generating the data are local, non-local, deterministic, random, or nonsensical. It follows that if predicted correlations violate the inequality, they represent no three cross-correlated data sets that can exist, or can be generated from valid probability models. Reported data that violate the inequality consist of probabilistically independent data-pairs and are thus inconsistent with inequality derivation. In the case of random variables as Bell assumed, the correlations in the inequality may be expressed in terms of the probabilities that give rise to them. A new inequality is then produced: The Wigner inequality, that must be satisfied by quantum mechanical probabilities in the case of Bell experiments. If that were not the case, predicted quantum probabilities and correlations would be inconsistent with basic algebra.
Bell inequality is a mathematical inequality derived using the assumptions of locality and realism. Its violation guarantees the existence of quantum correlations in a quantum state. Bell inequality acts as an entanglement witness in the sense that a pure bipartite quantum state, having nonvanishing entanglement, always violates a Bell inequality. We construct Bell-type inequalities for product states in quantum coherence theory for different measures of coherence, and find that the maximally entangled states violate these inequalities. We further show that Bell-type inequalities for relative entropy of coherence is violated by all two-qubit pure entangled states, serving as an entanglement witness.