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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences

Quantum computation, entanglement and state reduction

Roger Penrose

Published Aug 15, 1998• 501 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Some general foundational issues of quantum mechanics are considered and are related to aspects of quantum computation. The importance of quantum entanglement and quantum information is discussed and their curious acausal properties are addressed. The question of quantum state reduction is also considered, and a specific suggestion for a gravitational state–reduction scheme is put forward. A general proposal for an experiment to test this scheme is also suggested.

DOI
10.1098/rsta.1998.0256

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Finding a feasible scheme for testing the quantum mechanical nature of the gravitational interaction has been attracting an increasing level of attention. Gravity mediated entanglement generation so far appears to be the key ingredient for a potential experiment. In a recent proposal [D. Carney et al., PRX Quantum 2, 030330 (2021)] combining an atom interferometer with a low-frequency mechanical oscillator, a coherence revival test is proposed for verifying this entanglement generation. With measurements performed only on the atoms, this protocol bypasses the need for correlation measurements. Here, we explore formulations of such a protocol, and specifically find that in the envisioned regime of operation with high thermal excitation, semiclassical models, where there is no concept of entanglement, also give the same experimental signatures. We elucidate in a fully quantum mechanical calculation that entanglement is not the source of the revivals in the relevant parameter regime. We argue that, in its current form, the suggested test is only relevant if the oscillator is nearly in a pure quantum state, and in this regime the effects are too small to be measurable. We further discuss potential open ends. The results highlight the importance and subtleties of explicitly considering how the quantum case differs from the classical expectations when testing for the quantum mechanical nature of a physical system.