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Bulletin of the American Physical Society

Measuring the past of quantum systems: from counting quantum pigeons to watching atoms as they tunnel

Aephraim M. Steinberg

Published Mar 6, 2018• 0 citations
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We implement a variant of the quantum pigeonhole paradox thought experiment to study whether classical counting principles survive in the quantum domain. We observe strong measurements significantly violate the pigeonhole principle (that among three pigeons in two holes, at least one pair must be in the same hole) and the sum rule (that the number of pigeon pairs in the same hole is the sum of the number of pairs across each of the holes) in an ensemble that is pre- and postselected into particular separable states. To investigate whether measurement disturbance is a viable explanation for these counterintuitive phenomena, we employ a we employ variable-strength nonlocal measurements. As we decrease the measurement strength, we find the violation of the sum rule decreases, yet the pigeonhole principle remains violated. In the weak limit, the sum rule is restored due to the cancellation between two weak values with equal and opposite imaginary parts. We observe the same kind of cancellation at higher measurement strengths, thus raising the question: do strong measurements have imaginary parts?

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Quantum pigeonhole principle states that if there are three pigeons and two boxes then there are instances where no two pigeons are in the same box which seems to defy classical pigeonhole counting principle. Here, we investigate the quantum pigeonhole effect on the ibmqx2 superconducting chip with five physical qubits. We also observe the same effect in a proposed non-local circuit which avoid any direct physical interactions between the qubits which may lead to some unknown local effects. We use the standard quantum gate operations and measurement to construct the required quantum circuits on IBM quantum experience platform. We perform the experiment and simulation which illustrates the fact that no two qubits (pigeons) are in the same quantum state (boxes). The experimental results obtained using IBM quantum computer are in good agreement with theoretical predictions.

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Investigation of quantum pigeonhole effect in IBM quantum computer

Narendra N. Hegade, Antariksha Das, Swarnadeep Seth +1 more

Quantum pigeonhole principle states that if there are three pigeons and two boxes then there are instances where no two pigeons are in the same box which seems to defy classical pigeonhole counting principle. Here, we investigate the quantum pigeonhole effect on the ibmqx2 superconducting chip with five physical qubits. We also observe the same effect in a proposed non-local circuit which avoid any direct physical interactions between the qubits which may lead to some unknown local effects. We use the standard quantum gate operations and measurement to construct the required quantum circuits on IBM quantum experience platform. We perform the experiment and simulation which illustrates the fact that no two qubits (pigeons) are in the same quantum state (boxes). The experimental results obtained using IBM quantum computer are in good agreement with theoretical predictions.

•Apr 27, 2019•3 citations
We implement a variant of the quantum pigeonhole paradox thought experiment to study whether classical counting principles survive in the quantum domain. We observe strong measurements significantly violate the pigeonhole principle (that among three pigeons in two holes, at least one pair must be in the same hole) and the sum rule (that the number of pigeon pairs in the same hole is the sum of the number of pairs across each of the holes) in an ensemble that is pre- and postselected into particular separable states. To investigate whether measurement disturbance is a viable explanation for these counterintuitive phenomena, we employ a we employ variable-strength nonlocal measurements. As we decrease the measurement strength, we find the violation of the sum rule decreases, yet the pigeonhole principle remains violated. In the weak limit, the sum rule is restored due to the cancellation between two weak values with equal and opposite imaginary parts. We observe the same kind of cancellation at higher measurement strengths, thus raising the question: do strong measurements have imaginary parts?
Quantum pigeonhole principle states that if there are three pigeons and two boxes then there are instances where no two pigeons are in the same box which seems to defy classical pigeonhole counting principle. Here, we investigate the quantum pigeonhole effect on the ibmqx2 superconducting chip with five physical qubits. We also observe the same effect in a proposed non-local circuit which avoid any direct physical interactions between the qubits which may lead to some unknown local effects. We use the standard quantum gate operations and measurement to construct the required quantum circuits on IBM quantum experience platform. We perform the experiment and simulation which illustrates the fact that no two qubits (pigeons) are in the same quantum state (boxes). The experimental results obtained using IBM quantum computer are in good agreement with theoretical predictions.
Quantum pigeonhole principle states that if there are three pigeons and two boxes then there are instances where no two pigeons are in the same box which seems to defy classical pigeonhole counting principle. Here, we investigate the quantum pigeonhole effect on the ibmqx2 superconducting chip with five physical qubits. We also observe the same effect in a proposed non-local circuit which avoid any direct physical interactions between the qubits which may lead to some unknown local effects. We use the standard quantum gate operations and measurement to construct the required quantum circuits on IBM quantum experience platform. We perform the experiment and simulation which illustrates the fact that no two qubits (pigeons) are in the same quantum state (boxes). The experimental results obtained using IBM quantum computer are in good agreement with theoretical predictions.