Inequivalence between various formulations of Leggett-Garg inequalities

Yuxia Zhang, Jian Zou, Bin Shao

Swati Kumari, A. K. Pan

Abstract In two-party, two-input and two-output measurement scenario only relevant Bell’s inequality is the Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt (CHSH) form. They also provide the necessary and sufficient conditions (NSCs) for local realism. Any other form, such as, Clauser–Horne and Wigner forms reduce to the CHSH one. The standard Leggett–Garg inequalities, proposed for testing incompatibility between macrorealism and quantum theory, are often considered to be the temporal analog of CHSH inequalities. However, they do not provide the NSCs for macrorealism. There is thus scope of formulating new macrorealist inequalities inequivalent and stronger than the standard Leggett–Garg inequalities. In this paper, we propose two different classes of macrorealistic inequalities. A class of inequalities which are equivalent to the standard ones in macrorealist model but inequivalent and stronger in quantum theory, and the other class of inequalities are inequivalent to the all the other formulations of Leggett–Garg inequalities both in macrorealist model and in quantum theory. The latter class of macrorealist inequalities reveals the incompatibility between macrorealism and quantum theory for specific cases even when any other formulation of Leggett–Garg inequalities fails to do so. We extend the formulations of inequivalent Leggett–Garg inequalities to the four-time and two-time measurement scenarios. Further, we provide a brief discussion about the alternative formulation of macrorealism known as the no-signaling in time (NSIT) conditions.

Eduard Bordas Marchante

Swati Kumari, A. K. Pan

It remains an open question how a realist view of the macroscopic world emerges from a quantum formalism. For testing the macrorealism in the quantum domain, an interesting approach was put forward by Leggett and Garg in 1985, by formulating a suitable inequality valid for any macrorealistic theory. Recently, by following the Wigner idea of local realist inequality, a probabilistic version of standard Leggett-Garg inequalities has also been proposed. While the Wigner form of local realist inequalities is equivalent to the two-party, two-measurements and two-outcomes CHSH inequalities, in this paper we provide a generic proof to demonstrate that the Wigner form of Leggett-Garg inequalities is not only inequivalent to the standard ones, but also stronger than the latter. This is demonstrated by quantifying the amount of disturbance caused by a priori measurement to the subsequent measurements. In this connection, the relation between LGIs and another formulation of macrorealism known as no-signaling in time is examined.

Biswaranjan Panda

Javid Naikoo, Swati Kumari, Subhashish Banerjee +1 more

Abstract We study various formulations of Leggett–Garg inequality (LGI), specifically, the Wigner and Clauser–Horne forms of LGI, in the context of subatomic systems, in particular, three flavor neutrino as well as meson systems. The optimal forms of various LGIs for either neutrinos or mesons are seen to depend on measurement settings. For the neutrinos, some of these inequalities can be written completely in terms of experimentally measurable probabilities. Hence, the Wigner and Clauser–Horne forms of LGI are found to be more suitable as compared to the standard LGI from the experimental point of view for the neutrino system. Further, these inequalities exhibit maximum quantum violation around the energies roughly corresponding to the maximum neutrino flux. The Leggett–Garg type inequality is seen to be more suited for the meson dynamics. The meson system being inherently a decaying system allows one to see the effect of decoherence on the extent of violation of various inequalities. Decoherence is observed to reduce the degree of violation, and hence the nonclassical nature of the system.