We employ the operational quasiprobability (OQ) as a work distribution, which reproduces the Jarzynski equality and yields the average work consistent with the classical definition. The OQ distribution can be implemented through two simple experimental settings: the end-point measurement and the two-point measurement. Using this framework, we demonstrate the explicit contribution of coherence to the work, which can be formulated by the second-law-type relation. In a two-level system, we show that nonjoint measurability, a generalized notion of measurement incompatibility, can increase the amount of extractable work beyond the classical bound imposed by jointly measurable measurements. We further prove that the real part of Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability (KDQ) and the OQ are equivalent in two-level systems, and they are non-negative for binary unbiased measurements if and only if the measurements are jointly measurable. In a three-level nitrogen-vacancy center system, the OQ and the KDQ exhibit different amounts of negativities while enabling the same work extraction, implying that the magnitude of negativity is not a faithful indicator of nonclassical work. These results highlight that coherence and nonjoint measurability play fundamental roles in the enhancement of work.
We employ the operational quasiprobability (OQ) as a work distribution, which reproduces the Jarzynski equality and yields the average work consistent with the classical definition. The OQ distribution can be implemented through two simple experimental settings: the end-point measurement and the two-point measurement. Using this framework, we demonstrate the explicit contribution of coherence to the work, which can be formulated by the second-law-type relation. In a two-level system, we show that nonjoint measurability, a generalized notion of measurement incompatibility, can increase the amount of extractable work beyond the classical bound imposed by jointly measurable measurements. We further prove that the real part of Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability (KDQ) and the OQ are equivalent in two-level systems, and they are non-negative for binary unbiased measurements if and only if the measurements are jointly measurable. In a three-level nitrogen-vacancy center system, the OQ and the KDQ exhibit different amounts of negativities while enabling the same work extraction, implying that the magnitude of negativity is not a faithful indicator of nonclassical work. These results highlight that coherence and nonjoint measurability play fundamental roles in the enhancement of work.
Abstract The Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability distribution, intimately connected with the quantum correlation function of two observables measured at distinct times, is becoming increasingly relevant for fundamental physics and quantum technologies. This quasiprobability distribution can take non-positive values, and its experimental reconstruction becomes challenging when expectation values of incompatible observables are involved. Here, we use an interferometric scheme aided by an auxiliary system to reconstruct the Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability distribution. We experimentally demonstrate this scheme in an electron-nuclear spin system associated with a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. By measuring the characteristic function, we reconstruct the quasiprobability distribution of work and analyze the behavior of its first and second moments. Our results clarify the physical meaning of the work quasiprobability distribution in the context of quantum thermodynamics. Finally, we study the uncertainty of measuring the Hamiltonian of the system at two times, via the Robertson-Schrödinger uncertainty relation, for different initial states.
Abstract Just a few years after the inception of quantum mechanics, there has been a research program using the nonclassical values of some quasiprobability distributions to delineate the nonclassical aspects of quantum phenomena. In particular, in Kirkwood–Dirac (KD) quasiprobability distribution, the distinctive quantum mechanical feature of noncommutativity which underlies many nonclassical phenomena, manifests in the nonreal values and/or the negative values of the real part. Here, we develop a faithful quantifier of quantum coherence based on the KD nonclassicality which captures simultaneously the nonreality and the negativity of the KD quasiprobability. The KD-nonclassicality coherence thus defined, is upper bounded by the uncertainty of the outcomes of measurement described by a rank-1 orthogonal projection-valued measure (PVM) corresponding to the incoherent orthonormal basis which is quantified by the Tsallis 1 2 -entropy. Moreover, they are identical for pure states so that the KD-nonclassicality coherence for pure state admits a simple closed expression in terms of measurement probabilities. We then use the Maassen–Uffink uncertainty relation for min-entropy and max-entropy to obtain a lower bound for the KD-nonclassicality coherence of a pure state in terms of optimal guessing probability in measurement described by a PVM noncommuting with the incoherent orthonormal basis. We also derive a trade-off relation for the KD-nonclassicality coherences of a pure state relative to a pair of noncommuting orthonormal bases with a state-independent lower bound. Finally, we sketch a variational scheme for a direct estimation of the KD-nonclassicality coherence based on weak value measurement and thereby discuss its relation with quantum contextuality.
In this tutorial, we present the definition, interpretation, and properties of some of the main quasiprobabilities that can describe the statistics of measurement outcomes evaluated at two or more times. Such statistics incorporate the incompatibility of the measurement observables and the state of the measured quantum system. We particularly focus on Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobabilities and related distributions. We also discuss techniques to experimentally access a quasiprobability distribution, ranging from the weak two-point measurement scheme, to a Ramsey-like interferometric scheme and procedures assisted by an external detector. Once defined the fundamental concepts following the standpoint of joint measurability in quantum mechanics, we illustrate the use of quasiprobabilities in quantum thermodynamics to describe the quantum statistics of work and heat, and to explain anomalies in the energy exchanges entailed by a given thermodynamic transformation. On the one hand, in work protocols, we show how absorbed energy can be converted to extractable work and vice versa due to Hamiltonian incompatibility at distinct times. On the other hand, in exchange processes between two quantum systems initially at different temperatures, we explain how quantum correlations in their initial state may induce cold-to-hot energy exchanges, which are unnatural between any pair of equilibrium nondriven systems. We conclude the tutorial by giving simple examples where quasiprobabilities are applied to many-body systems: scrambling of quantum information, sensitivity to local perturbations, and quantum work statistics in the quenched dynamics of models that can be mapped onto systems of free fermions, for instance, the Ising model with a transverse field. Throughout the tutorial, we meticulously present derivations of essential concepts alongside straightforward examples, aiming to enhance comprehension and facilitate learning. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Recent work has revealed the central role played by the Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability (KDQ) as a tool to properly account for non-classical features in the context of condensed matter physics (scrambling, dynamical phase transitions) metrology (standard and post-selected), thermodynamics (power output and fluctuation theorems), foundations (contextuality, anomalous weak values) and more. Given the growing relevance of the KDQ across the quantum sciences, our aim is two-fold: First, we highlight the role played by quasiprobabilities in characterizing the statistics of quantum observables and processes in the presence of measurement incompatibility. In this way, we show how the KDQ naturally underpins and unifies quantum correlators, quantum currents, Loschmidt echoes, and weak values. Second, we provide novel theoretical and experimental perspectives by discussing a wide variety of schemes to access the KDQ and its non-classicality features.
In quadratic fermionic models, we determine a quantum correction to the work statistics after both a sudden quench and a time-dependent driving. Such a correction lies in the noncommutativity of the initial quantum state and the time-dependent Hamiltonian, and is revealed via the Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability (KDQ) approach to two-times correlators. Thanks to the latter, one can assess the onset of nonclassical signatures in the KDQ distribution of work, in the form of negative and complex values that no classical theory can reveal. By applying these concepts on the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model, we relate nonclassical behaviors of the KDQ statistics of work in correspondence of the critical points of the model. Finally, we also prove the enhancement of the extracted work in nonclassical regimes where the noncommutativity takes a role.
The study of measurements in quantum mechanics exposes many of the ways in which the quantum world is different. For example, one of the hallmarks of quantum mechanics is that observables may be incompatible, implying among other things that it is not always possible to find joint probability distributions which fully capture the joint statistics of multiple measurements. Instead, one must employ more general tools such as the Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability (KDQ) distribution, which may exhibit negative or nonreal values heralding nonclassicality. In this paper, we consider the KDQ distributions describing arbitrary collections of measurements on disjoint components of some generic multipartite system. We show that the system dynamics ensures that these distributions are classical if and only if the Hamiltonian supports quantum Darwinism. Thus, we demonstrate a fundamental relationship between these two notions of classicality and their emergence in the quantum world.