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arXiv:2205.05098 · Quantum

Graph-theoretic approach to Bell experiments with low detection efficiency

Zhen‐Peng Xu, Jonathan Steinberg, Jaskaran Singh, Antonio J. López-Tarrida, José R. Portillo, Adán Cabello

Published Feb 16, 2023• 12 citations

Abstract

Bell inequality tests where the detection efficiency is below a certain threshold ηcrit can be simulated with local hidden-variable models. Here, we introduce a method to identify Bell tests requiring low ηcrit and relatively low dimension d of the local quantum systems. The method has two steps. First, we show a family of bipartite Bell inequalities for which, for correlations produced by maximally entangled states, ηcrit can be upper bounded by a function of some invariants of graphs, and use it to identify correlations that require small ηcrit . We present examples in which, for maximally entangled states, ηcrit≤0.516 for d=16 , ηcrit≤0.407 for d=28 , and ηcrit≤0.326 for d=32 . We also show evidence that the upper bound for ηcrit can be lowered down to 0.415 for d=16 and present a method to make the upper bound of ηcrit arbitrarily small by increasing the dimension and the number of settings. All these upper bounds for ηcrit are valid (as it is the case in the literature) assuming no noise. The second step is based on the observation that, using the initial state and measurement settings identified in the first step, we can construct Bell inequalities with smaller ηcrit and better noise robustness. For that, we use a modified version of Gilbert's algorithm that takes advantage of the automorphisms of the graphs used in the first step. We illustrate its power by explicitly developing an example in which ηcrit is 12.38% lower and the required visibility is 14.62% lower than the upper bounds obtained in the first step. The tools presented here may allow for developing high-dimensional loophole-free Bell tests and loophole-free Bell nonlocality over long distances.

DOI: 10.22331/q-2023-02-16-922

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Bell inequality tests where the detection efficiency is below a certain threshold ηcrit can be simulated with local hidden-variable models. Here, we introduce a method to identify Bell tests requiring low ηcrit and relatively low dimension d of the local quantum systems. The method has two steps. First, we show a family of bipartite Bell inequalities for which, for correlations produced by maximally entangled states, ηcrit can be upper bounded by a function of some invariants of graphs, and use it to identify correlations that require small ηcrit . We present examples in which, for maximally entangled states, ηcrit≤0.516 for d=16 , ηcrit≤0.407 for d=28 , and ηcrit≤0.326 for d=32 . We also show evidence that the upper bound for ηcrit can be lowered down to 0.415 for d=16 and present a method to make the upper bound of ηcrit arbitrarily small by increasing the dimension and the number of settings. All these upper bounds for ηcrit are valid (as it is the case in the literature) assuming no noise. The second step is based on the observation that, using the initial state and measurement settings identified in the first step, we can construct Bell inequalities with smaller ηcrit and better noise robustness. For that, we use a modified version of Gilbert's algorithm that takes advantage of the automorphisms of the graphs used in the first step. We illustrate its power by explicitly developing an example in which ηcrit is 12.38% lower and the required visibility is 14.62% lower than the upper bounds obtained in the first step. The tools presented here may allow for developing high-dimensional loophole-free Bell tests and loophole-free Bell nonlocality over long distances.

There are bipartite quantum nonlocal correlations requiring very low detection efficiency to reach the loophole-free regime but that need too many measurement settings to be practical for actual experiments. This leads to the general problem of what can be concluded about loophole-free Bell nonlocality if only a random subset of these settings is tested. Here we develop a method to address this problem. We show that, in some cases, it is possible to detect loophole-free Bell nonlocality by testing only a small random fraction of the settings. The consequence is a higher detection efficiency. The method allows for the design of loophole-free Bell tests in which, given a quantum correlation that violates a Bell inequality, one can calculate the minimum fraction of contexts needed to reach the detection-loophole-free regime. The results also enforce a different way of thinking about how local realistic models or classical communication can be used to simulate quantum nonlocal correlations, as it shows that the amount of resources that are needed can be made arbitrarily large simply by considering more contexts.

Bell's test, initially devised to distinguish quantum theory from local hidden variable models through {violations of local bounds}, is also a common tool for detecting entanglement. For this purpose, one can assume the quantum description of devices and use available information to strengthen the bound for separable states, which may go beyond the local bound, enabling more efficient entanglement detection. Here we present a systematic approach for strengthening Bell inequalities for qubit systems, using Mermin-Klyshko-Bell inequalities as examples, by considering measurement devices that are coarsely calibrated only by their ability to generate nonlocal correlations without requiring precise quantum characterization. In the case of bipartite and tripartite systems, we derive trade-offs between upper bounds for separable states and general states in terms of structure functions to optimize the entanglement detection. We then strengthen

n

-partite Bell inequalities for the detection of states exhibiting a diversity of entanglement structures such as genuine multipartite entanglement. For general Bell scenarios with some measurements characterized, we demonstrate that entanglement can also be detected with some local correlations by exploiting the Navascués-Pironio-Acín hierarchy of tests.

In this paper we investigate the critical efficiency of detectors in order to see Bell nonlocality using multiple copies of the two-qubit maximally entangled state and local Pauli measurements which act in the corresponding qubit subspaces. It is known that for the two-qubit maximally entangled state a symmetric detection efficiency of

82.84\%

can be tolerated using the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) Bell test. We show that this threshold can be lowered by using multiple copies of the two-qubit maximally entangled state. We get the upper bounds

80.86\%

,

73.99\%

and

69.29\%

on the symmetric detection efficiency threshold for two, three and four copies of the state, where the respective number of measurements per party are 4, 8 and 16. However, in the case of four copies the result is partly due to a heuristic method. In order to get the corresponding Bell inequalities we made use of linear programming for two copies of the state and convex optimization based on Gilbert algorithm for three and four copies of the state.

Abstract The non-locality of quantum correlations is a fundamental feature of quantum theory. The Bell inequality serves as a benchmark for distinguishing between predictions made by quantum theory and local hidden variable theory (LHVT). Recent advancements in photon-entanglement experiments have addressed potential loopholes and have observed significant violations of variants of Bell inequality. However, these violations do not completely disprove LHVT. To further rule out LHVT, experiments involving massive-entangled particles are necessary, in addition to those conducted with massless photons, which interact electromagnetically. In this study, we utilize (10.087±0.044)×10^{9} J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. We present the first non-local correlation test of spin entanglement using a massive Λ -Λ bipartite system, which is formed and decays through strong and weak interactions, respectively. Through measurements of the angular distribution of p anti-p in J/ψ→ γηc and subsequent ηc→Λ(pπ-)-Λ(-pπ+) cascade decays, a significant violation of LHVT predictions is observed in a loophole-free test of a variant of the Bell inequality, which is given by the Clauser-Horne inequality. The exclusion of LHVT is determined to be significant at a level of 5.2σ.

Bell inequality tests based on high-dimensional entanglement usually require measurements that can resolve multiple possible outcomes. However, the implementation of high-dimensional multi-outcome measurements is often only emulated via a collection of ``click or no-click'' measurements. This reduction of multi-outcome measurements to binary-outcome measurements opens a loophole in high-dimensional tests Bell inequalities which can be exploited by local hidden variable models [Tavakoli et al., Phys. Rev. A 111, 042433 (2025)]. Here, we close this loophole by using four-dimensional photonic path-mode entanglement and multi-outcome detection. We test both the well-known Collins-Gisin-Linden-Massar-Popescu inequality and a related Bell inequality tailored for maximally entangled states in high-dimension. We observe violations that are large enough to also rule out any quantum model based on entanglement of lower dimension, thereby demonstrating genuinely high-dimensional nonlocality free of the binarisation loophole.

Violation of Bell's inequalities shows strong conflict between quantum mechanics and local realism. Loophole-free Bell tests not only deepen understanding of quantum mechanics, but are also important foundations for device-independent (DI) tasks in quantum information. High-dimensional quantum systems offer a significant advantage over qubits for closing the detection loophole. In the symmetric scenario, a detection efficiency as low as 61.8% can be tolerated using four-dimensional states and a four-setting Bell inequality [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 060401 (2010)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.104.060401]. For the first time, we show that four-dimensional entangled photons violate a Bell inequality while closing the detection loophole in experiment. The detection efficiency of the four-dimensional entangled source is about 71.7%, and the fidelity of the state is 0.995±0.001. Combining the technique of multicore fibers, the realization of loophole-free high-dimensional Bell tests and high-dimensional quantum DI technologies are promising.