In this thesis we focus on the influence of uniform acceleration on quantum states and their properties, as well as on quantum entanglement contained in the vacuum. First, we analyze a quantum clock measuring time in terms of the decay of an unstable particle. We compare the rate of ticking of a stationary clock to the one of a uniformly accelerating clock. We discover that there exists a deviation from what the discrepancy between those rates is predicted to be by special relativity. In a further part of this thesis we focus on the family of two-mode Gaussian states of two localized modes of a given quantum field. A general framework is developed for investigating the properties of such states, when observed by two uniformly accelerated observers, having access to another pair of localized modes. In particular, we focus on the vacuum state and examine the amount of quantum entanglement perceived by the observers. The framework is developed for three cases: the quantum scalar field in 1+1 and 3+1 dimensions and the Dirac spinor field in 1+1 dimensions. We find that in general more entanglement is seen when the accelerations of the observers increase and when the size of the modes of the observers and their central frequencies decrease. Furthermore, we extend our attention also to tripartite entanglement and investigate its extraction from the quantum vacuum by three particle detectors in a cavity, interacting with a quantum field for a finite time. Detailed maps of amounts of tripartite and bipartite entanglement extracted by the detectors, are produced and compared between two types of boundary conditions. It is found vacuum entanglement is most easily extracted in the case of periodic boundary conditions and it is easier to extract tripartite than bipartite entanglement.
In this thesis we focus on the influence of uniform acceleration on quantum states and their properties, as well as on quantum entanglement contained in the vacuum. First, we analyze a quantum clock measuring time in terms of the decay of an unstable particle. We compare the rate of ticking of a stationary clock to the one of a uniformly accelerating clock. We discover that there exists a deviation from what the discrepancy between those rates is predicted to be by special relativity. In a further part of this thesis we focus on the family of two-mode Gaussian states of two localized modes of a given quantum field. A general framework is developed for investigating the properties of such states, when observed by two uniformly accelerated observers, having access to another pair of localized modes. In particular, we focus on the vacuum state and examine the amount of quantum entanglement perceived by the observers. The framework is developed for three cases: the quantum scalar field in 1+1 and 3+1 dimensions and the Dirac spinor field in 1+1 dimensions. We find that in general more entanglement is seen when the accelerations of the observers increase and when the size of the modes of the observers and their central frequencies decrease. Furthermore, we extend our attention also to tripartite entanglement and investigate its extraction from the quantum vacuum by three particle detectors in a cavity, interacting with a quantum field for a finite time. Detailed maps of amounts of tripartite and bipartite entanglement extracted by the detectors, are produced and compared between two types of boundary conditions. It is found vacuum entanglement is most easily extracted in the case of periodic boundary conditions and it is easier to extract tripartite than bipartite entanglement.
This thesis considers entanglement, an important resource for quantum information processing tasks, while taking into account the theory of relativity. Not only is this a more complete description of quantum information, but it is necessary to fully understand quantum information processing tasks done by systems in arbitrary motion. \n \nIt is shown that accelerated measurements on the vacuum of a free Dirac spinor field results in an entangled state for an inertial observer. The physical mechanism at work is the Davies-Unruh effect. The entanglement produced increases as a function of the acceleration, reaching maximal entanglement in the asymptotic limit of infinite acceleration. \n \nThe dynamics of entanglement between two Unruh-DeWitt detectors, one stationary and the other undergoing non-uniform acceleration, was studied numerically. In the ultraweak coupling limit, the entanglement decreases as a function of time for the parameters considered and decreases faster than if the moving detector had had a uniform acceleration.
A central aim of relativistic quantum information (RQI) is the investigation of quantum information tasks and resources taking into account the relativistic aspects of nature. More precisely, it is of fundamental interest to understand how the storage, manipulation, and transmission of information utilizing quantum systems are influenced by the fact that these processes take place in a relativistic spacetime. In particular, many studies in RQI have been focused on the effects of non-uniform motion on entanglement, the main resource of quantum information protocols. Early investigations in this direction were performed in highly idealized settings that prompted questions as to the practical accessibility of these results. To overcome these limitations it is necessary to consider quantum systems that are in principle accessible to localized observers. In this thesis we present such a model, the rigid relativistic cavity, and its extensions, focusing on the effects of motion on entanglement and applications such as quantum teleportation. We study cavities in (1+1) dimensions undergoing non-uniform motion, consisting of segments of uniform acceleration and inertial motion of arbitrary duration that allow the involved velocities to become relativistic. The transitions between segments can be sharp or smooth and higher dimensions can be incorporated. The primary focus lies in the Bogoliubov transformations of the quantum fields, real scalar fields or Dirac fields, confined to the cavities. The Bogoliubov transformations change the particle content and the occupation of the energy levels of the cavity. We show how these effects generate entanglement between the modes of the quantum fields inside a single cavity for various initial states. The entanglement between several cavities, on the other hand, is degraded by the non-uniform motion, influencing the fidelity of tasks such as teleportation.
In this thesis we shall apply techniques from quantum information theory to the problem of measuring the structure of spacetime or equivalently measuring the gravitational field. In turn we will also look at how acceleration may effect quantum information techniques for processing and transmitting information. Measuring the structure of spacetime is a slight abuse of terminology as spacetime structure is not directly observable. We will be investigating the estimation of spacetime structure by making measurements on quantum systems which depend on the spacetime background. The structure of spacetime and the gravitational field will be treated in accordance with Einstein's general theory of relativity. This is currently the most accurately tested classical theory for gravity. It is widely believed that fundamentally, gravity should be treated within the framework of quantum mechanics, just like the other forces of nature. This is yet to be seen experimentally and a theory capable of falsifiable predictions is yet to be found. In this thesis we shall focus on the effects of gravity at the classical level, however we shall treat matter and non-gravitational energy using quantum mechanics. When looking at how gravity effects quantum information we will specifically be focusing on the simple case of acceleration, yet we shall treat it in this relativistic spacetime context. Knowing the structure of spacetime in general relativity amounts to knowing an object called the metric tensor. This object contains all the information about a spacetime. This may include local curvature, for instance around a star or black hole, gravitational radiation coming from a binary pulsar and even the large scale structure of the universe such as the rate of expansion. By performing local experiments one may attempt to extract this information. Fundamentally these experiments will be governed by quantum mechanics, hence the accuracy of the estimation will be fundamentally limited by the statistical nature of quantum theory. In this thesis we shall develop an equation which states just what accuracy one can ultimately achieve when attempting to measure the structure of spacetime. This equation will be shown to be a generalisation of known results for the accuracy to which one can ultimately measure position and momentum as well as time and energy. The result will be applied to a range of relativistic phenomena including acceleration in flat spacetime, the local curvature around a black hole, the amplitude of a gravitational wave and the expansion of the universe in a cosmological model. Following the use of quantum information theory to investigate gravity we shall look at how acceleration can effect quantum information. Firstly we shall see how quantum entanglement can be created and stored between two optical cavities when one is uniformly accelerating. This is in contrast to a number of results which predict that entanglement will be lost in the presence of acceleration. This loss of entanglement is predicted due to an as yet unobserved phenomena known as the Unruh effect. The Unruh effect states that an observer uniformly accelerating will see a thermal distribution of particles even if an inertial observer will see no particles at all. We will show how the use of optical cavities can prevent this effect from causing problems both for the storage and creation of entanglement. Finally we shall look at how a particular quantum detection scheme can be employed in the presence of acceleration. Our technique will emphasis the importance of locality, that is the localisation of physics in spacetime. We will also show how some commonly used approximations used to study the Unruh effect, can be avoided with our new formulation.
Quantum effects in non-inertial frames and curved space-time have been studied for decades. One of the most intriguing discoveries is the existence of virtual particles in the quantum vacuum. One example in which such particles can be observed is through the Unruh effect, which predicts that a uniformly accelerated observer would see a thermal bath of (virtual) particles in the quantum vacuum. Initial doubts on the existence of these virtual particles were allayed by the Unruh De-Witt (UDW) detector, which promoted these virtual particles to real excitations of the detector. Ever since, semiclassical approaches to relativistic quantum field theory (QFT) in flat and curved space-time have been predominantly analysed through a two-level Unruh De-Witt detector utilizing perturbation theory. It is noted, however, that the change of relativistic frame preserves Gaussian properties (e.g. Gaussian distribution of the Wigner function) of the system. In this thesis, we specifically explore the effects of relativistic (non-inertial) reference frames on QFT by considering relativistic QFT in flat-space time. These systems are analysed from the perspective of Gaussian quantum information, via homodyne detection and UDW detectors with a harmonic oscillator degree of freedom.Our project starts by reviewing and developing bipartite/multi-partite entanglement measures (specifically, entanglement of formation), in the hope that we can utilize these measures to understand the entanglement properties of the quantum vacuum. In general, these measure have infinite degrees of freedom and are incomputable. In this project the multi-partite entanglement measure is applied to the Gaussian regime, which reduces the number of degrees of freedom to a finite one, hence making it a computable measure.In our next project, we attempt to understand how relativistic reference frames affect the communication between different observers. To obtain an intuition of its effect, a passive (time-delay) signal sent from a uniformly accelerated observer to a stationary observer was analysed. When we naively implemented the self-homodyne detection scheme, the signal appeared noisy. This effect was referred to as apparent decoherence, and its effect could be traced back to our naive assumption that all of the signal’s information would be stored in the time-delayed mode; the vacuum entanglement that pre-existed before the (time-delay) signal was created must be accounted for. We follow by analysing the effects that emerge due to communication between different relativistic reference frames. We then develop a communication technique referred to as ideal-homodyne which is a homodyne detection scheme robust to these effects. We used this detection scheme to analyse the correlation/entanglement properties of an accelerated signal (created via accelerated mirror, squeezer and phase shifter) sent to an inertial observer.In our last project, we utilize the knowledge that was gained through the prior projects to analyse (subcycle) electro-optic sampling. In the literature, there were doubts as to whether electro-optic sampling were truly detecting virtual particles in the quantum vacuum, or particle excitations that were created as a by-product of the detection mechanism. We were able to pin-point some similarities between electro-optic sampling and subcycle probe via the UDW detector. The regime in which the electro-optic sampling directly maps virtual particles from the vacuum into real excitations of the probe field was identified by establishing an equivalence to the UDW detector in certain parameter regimes.
The performance of quantum information protocols can be impacted by the noninertial motion of parties such as in a gravitational field. Previous studies have primarily focused on the degradation of entanglement for global modes, revealing that bipartite entanglement vanishes in the limit of large acceleration, whereas tripartite entanglement does not. In this study, we examine the impact of acceleration on tripartite Gaussian resource states encoded in spatially localized wave packets. Contrarily to prior findings, we observe that genuine tripartite entanglement (GTE) vanishes in the limit of large acceleration for various initial states and observer trajectories.
We study the effects of acceleration on fermionic Gaussian states of localized modes of a Dirac field. We consider two wave packets in a Gaussian state and transform these to an accelerated frame of reference. In particular, we formulate the action of this transformation as a fermionic quantum channel. Having developed the general framework for fermions, we then investigate the entanglement of the vacuum, as well as the entanglement in Bell states. We find that with increasing acceleration vacuum entanglement increases, while the entanglement of Bell states decreases. Notably, our results have an immediate operational meaning given the localization of the modes.