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npj Quantum Information

Multi-time quantum correlations with no spatial analog

Martin Ringbauer, Fabio Costa, M. E. Goggin, Andrew G. White, Alessandro Fedrizzi

Published Jul 25, 2018• 31 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Multipartite quantum correlations are a powerful resource that underpins applications from quantum metrology to quantum computing. While most research has focused on spatial correlations, it is now becoming clear that a sequence of measurements on a single quantum system at different points in time reveals a similarly rich, yet fundamentally different structure of multipartite temporal correlations. Here we experimentally observe genuine multi-time correlations in a sequence of three generalized measurements on a single photon. These correlations, manifest by a simultaneous violation of all pairwise Bell inequalities, cannot be reproduced by any spatial quantum state of equal dimension. Our work lays the foundation for the exploration of temporal correlations arising in quantum networks for quantum information applications.

DOI
10.1038/s41534-018-0086-y

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Abstract Multipartite quantum correlations are a powerful resource that underpins applications from quantum metrology to quantum computing. While most research has focused on spatial correlations, it is now becoming clear that a sequence of measurements on a single quantum system at different points in time reveals a similarly rich, yet fundamentally different structure of multipartite temporal correlations. Here we experimentally observe genuine multi-time correlations in a sequence of three generalized measurements on a single photon. These correlations, manifest by a simultaneous violation of all pairwise Bell inequalities, cannot be reproduced by any spatial quantum state of equal dimension. Our work lays the foundation for the exploration of temporal correlations arising in quantum networks for quantum information applications.
Measurements on a single quantum system at different times reveal rich nonclassical correlations similar to those observed in spatially separated multipartite systems. Here we introduce a theory framework that unifies the description of temporal, spatial, and spatiotemporal resources for quantum correlations. We identify and experimentally demonstrate simple cases where an exact mapping between the domains is possible. We then identify correlation resources in arbitrary situations, where not all spatial quantum states correspond to a process and not all temporal measurements have a spatial analog. These results provide a starting point for the systematic exploration of multipoint temporal correlations as a powerful resource for quantum information processing.
In quantum mechanics, spatial correlations arising from measurements at separated particles are well studied. This is not the case, however, for the temporal correlations arising from a single quantum system subjected to a sequence of generalized measurements. We first characterize the polytope of temporal quantum correlations coming from the most general measurements. We then show that if the dimension of the quantum system is bounded, only a subset of the most general correlations can be realized and identify the correlations in the simplest scenario that can not be reached by two-dimensional systems. This leads to a temporal inequality for a dimension test, and we discuss a possible implementation using nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond.
In this paper we focus on the underlying quantum structure of temporal correlations and show their peculiar nature which differentiate them from spatial quantum correlations. We show rigorously that a particular entangled history, which can be associated with a quantum propagator, is monogamous to conserve its consistency throughout time. Yet evolving systems violate monogamous Bell-like multi-time inequalities. This dichotomy, being a novel feature of temporal correlations, has its roots in the measurement process itself which is discussed by means of the bundles of entangled histories. We introduce and discuss a concept of a probabilistic mixture of quantum processes by means of which we clarify why the spatial-like Bell-type monogamous inequalities are further violated. We prove that Tsirelson bound on temporal Bell-like inequalities can be derived from the entangled histories approach and as a generalization, we derive the quantum bound for multi-time Bell-like inequalities. It is also pointed out that what mimics violation of monogamy of temporal entanglement is actually just a kind of polyamory in time but monogamy of entanglement for a particular evolution still holds.
Abstract Bell experiments measure correlations between outcomes of a number of observers measuring on a shared physical state emitted from a single source. Quantum correlations arising in such Bell experiments have been intensively studied over the last decades. Much less is known about the nature of quantum correlations arising in network structures beyond Bell experiments. Such networks can involve many independent sources emitting states to observers in accordance with the network configuration. Here, we will study classical and quantum correlations in a family of networks which can be regarded as compositions of several independent multipartite Bell experiments connected together through a central node. For such networks we present tight Bell-type inequalities which are satisfied by all classical correlations. We study properties of the violations of our inequalities by probability distributions arising in quantum theory.
While spatial quantum correlations have been studied in great detail, much less is known about the genuine quantum correlations that can be exhibited by temporal processes. Employing the quantum comb formalism, processes in time can be mapped onto quantum states, with the crucial difference that temporal correlations have to satisfy causal ordering, while their spatial counterpart is not constrained in the same way. Here, we exploit this equivalence and use the tools of multipartite entanglement theory to provide a comprehensive picture of the structure of correlations that (causally ordered) temporal quantum processes can display. First, focusing on the case of a process that is probed at two points in time -- which can equivalently be described by a tripartite quantum state -- we provide necessary as well as sufficient conditions for the presence of bipartite entanglement in different splittings. Next, we connect these scenarios to the previously studied concepts of quantum memory, entanglement breaking superchannels, and quantum steering, thus providing both a physical interpretation for entanglement in temporal quantum processes, and a determination of the resources required for its creation. Additionally, we construct explicit examples of W-type and GHZ-type genuinely multipartite entangled two-time processes and prove that genuine multipartite entanglement in temporal processes can be an emergent phenomenon. Finally, we show that genuinely entangled processes across multiple times exist for any number of probing times.