Inside quantum black boxes

Wenyu Jiang, Gregory Armstrong, Lulu Han +10 more

Multiphoton light-matter interactions invoke a so-called "black box" in which the experimental observations contain the quantum interference between multiple pathways. Here, we employ polarization-controlled attosecond photoelectron metrology with a partial wave manipulator to deduce the pathway interference within this quantum 'black box" for the two-photon ionization of neon atoms. The angle-dependent and attosecond time-resolved photoelectron spectra are measured across a broad energy range. Two-photon phase shifts for each partial wave are reconstructed through the comprehensive analysis of these photoelectron spectra. We resolve the quantum interference between the degenerate p→d→p and p→s→p two-photon ionization pathways, in agreement with our theoretical simulations. Our approach thus provides an attosecond time-resolved microscope to look inside the "black box" of pathway interference in ultrafast dynamics of atoms, molecules, and condensed matter.

Antonio Acín, Miguel Navascués

Giuseppe Castagnoli

We investigate the reason for the quantum speedup -- quantum algorithms requiring fewer computation steps than their classical counterparts. We extend their representation to the process of setting the problem. The initial measurement selects a setting at random, Bob (the problem setter) unitarily changes it into the desired one. This representation is to Bob and any external observer, it cannot be to Alice (the problem solver). It would tell her the function computed by the black box, which to her should be hidden inside it. We resort to relational quantum mechanics. To Alice, the projection of the quantum state due to the initial measurement is retarded at the end of her problem solving action. To her, the algorithm input state remains one of complete ignorance of the setting. By black box computations, she unitarily sends it into the output state that, for each possible setting, encodes the corresponding solution, acquired by the final measurement. We show that we can ascribe to the final measurement the selection of any part -- say the R-th part -- of the random outcome of the initial measurement. This projects the input state to Alice on a state of lower entropy where she knows a corresponding part of the problem setting. The quantum algorithm is a sum over classical histories in each of which Alice, knowing in advance one of the R-th parts of the setting, performs the black box computations still required to identify the solution. Given an oracle problem and a value of R, this retrocausality model provides the number of black box computations required to solve it. Conversely, given a known quantum algorithm, it yields the value of R that explains its speed up. R = 1/2 always yields the number of black box computations required by an existing quantum algorithm and the order of magnitude of the number required by optimal one.

Anonymous

Barry R. Clarke

Daniel Klaus Burgarth, Kazuya Yuasa

The aim of quantum system identification is to estimate the ingredients inside a black box, in which some quantum-mechanical unitary process takes place, by just looking at its input-output behavior. Here we establish a basic and general framework for quantum system identification, that allows us to classify how much knowledge about the quantum system is attainable, in principle, from a given experimental setup. We show that controllable closed quantum systems can be estimated up to unitary conjugation. Prior knowledge on some elements of the black box helps the system identification. We present an example in which a Bell measurement is more efficient to identify the system. When the topology of the system is known, the framework enables us to establish a general criterion for the estimability of the coupling constants in its Hamiltonian.