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arXiv:quant-ph/0312117

The structure of Bell inequalities

Guenter Schachner

Published Dec 12, 2003• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We present an analysis of the structure of Bell inequalities, mainly for the case of N qubits with two observables each. We show that these inequalities are related to Hadamard matrices and define Bell polynomials (in one variable) as an additional tool. With these aids we raise several conditions the coefficients of Bell inequalities must satisfy, and recursively generate the whole set of inequalities starting from N=1. Moreover, we prove some characteristic features of this set, such as that most of the inequalities contain all expectation values under consideration. Finally, we show how the presented results can be used to construct Bell inequalities with certain properties. An outlook on further research topics concludes the paper.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0312117

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We present an analysis of the structure of Bell inequalities, mainly for the case of N qubits with two observables each. We show that these inequalities are related to Hadamard matrices and define Bell polynomials (in one variable) as an additional tool. With these aids we raise several conditions the coefficients of Bell inequalities must satisfy, and recursively generate the whole set of inequalities starting from N=1. Moreover, we prove some characteristic features of this set, such as that most of the inequalities contain all expectation values under consideration. Finally, we show how the presented results can be used to construct Bell inequalities with certain properties. An outlook on further research topics concludes the paper.
We give a multidimensional generalization of the complete set of Bell-correlation inequalities given by Werner and Wolf (2001 Phys. Rev. A 64 032112) and by Zˆukowski and Brukner (2002 Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 210401), for the two-dimensional case. Our construction applies to the n -party, two-observable case, where each observable is d -valued. The inequalities obtained involve homogeneous polynomials. They define the facets of a polytope in a complex vector space of dimension d n . We detail the inequalities obtained in the case d = 3 and, from them, we recover known inequalities. We finally explain how the violations of our inequalities by quantum mechanics can be computed and could be observed, when using unitary observables.
In this work we look for novel classes of Bell's inequalities and methods to produce them. We also find their quantum violations including, if possible, the maximum one. The Jordan bases method that we explain in Chapter 2 is about using a pair of certain type of orthonormal bases whose spans are subspaces related to measurement outcomes of incompatible quantities on the same physical system. Jordan vectors are the briefest way of expressing the relative orientation of any two subspaces. This feature helps us to reduce the dimensionality of the parameter space on which we do searches for optimization. The work is published in [24]. In Chapter 3, we attempt to find a connection between group theory and Bell's theorem. We devise a way of generating terms of a Bell's inequality that are related to elements of an algebraic group. The same group generates both the terms of the Bell's inequality and the observables that are used to calculate the quantum value of the Bell expression. Our results are published in [25][26]. In brief, Bell's theorem is the main tool of a research program that was started by Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen [19] and Bohr [8] in the early days of quantum mechanics in their discussions about the core nature of physical systems. These debates were about a novel type of physical states called superposition states, which are introduced by quantum mechanics and manifested in the apparent inevitable randomness in measurement outcomes of identically prepared systems. Bell's huge contribution was to find a means of quantifying the problem and hence of opening the way to experimental verification by rephrasing the questions as limits on certain combinations of correlations between measurement results of spatially separate systems [7]. Thanks to Bell, the fundamental questions related to the nature of quantum mechanical systems became quantifiable [6]. According to Bell's theorem, some correlations between quantum entangled systems that involve incompatible quantities are not allowed by classical mechanics, a feature that is called as "quantum nonlocality". An experimental observation of those correlations, in other words, a violation of the limits imposed by classical physics, implies the correctness of quantum description and invalidates the classical, local realistic models. The first Bell experiments were proposed by Clauser, Horne, Shimony, and Holt, who invented the most famous Bell's inequality [13]. Later, the Aspect experiments were satisfactory enough for the physics community to be conclusive about the validation of quantum mechanics [1][3][4][2]. Ekert's work on applications of quantum nonlocality to communication resulted in the new field of quantum communication and cryptography, and turned the research program into a practical one [20]. Pitowsky showed a method to find all expressions of limitations due to local realism, all Bell's inequalities, for a given physical scenario. He also proved that the problem is, unfortunately, NP-complete and hence as the scenarios get more complex, they also become computationally intractable [33][34]. Therefore, different methods for the solution of special cases of the problem are necessary. Inequalities found for those special cases can be called classes of Bell's inequalities. For example, Werner and Wolf [41] and Collins, Gisin, Linden, Massar, and Popescu [16] found classes that cover a wide range of scenarios. Our work is a similar kind of effort to produce and study new types of Bell's inequalities.
Specification of the strongest possible Bell inequalities for arbitrarily complicated physical scenarios -- any number of observers choosing between any number of observables with any number of possible outcomes -- is currently an open problem. Here I provide a new set of tools, which I refer to as "multideviations", for finding and analyzing these inequalities for the fully general case. In Part I, I introduce the multideviation framework and then use it to prove an important theorem: the Bell distributions can be generated from the set of joint distributions over all observables by deeming specific degrees of freedom unobservable. In Part II, I show how the theorem provides a new method for finding tight Bell inequalities. I then specify a set of new tight Bell inequalities for arbitrary event spaces -- the "even/odd" inequalities -- which have a straightforward interpretation when expressed in terms of multideviations. The even/odd inequalities concern degrees of freedom that are independent of those involved in parameter independence, raising the possibility of a new Bell's theorem with stronger philosophical implications. Also, contrary to expectations, the violation of the inequalities by quantum mechanics increases in size with the number of systems.
This work provides quantitative tests of the extent of violation of two inequalities applicable to qubits coupled into Bell states, using IBM's publicly accessible quantum computers. Violations of the inequalities are well established. Our purpose is not to test the inequalities, but rather to determine how well quantum mechanical predictions can be reproduced on quantum computers, given their current fault rates. We present results for the spin projections of two entangled qubits, along three axes A, B, and C, with a fixed angle θ between A and B and a range of angles θ' between B and C. For any classical object that can be characterized by three observables with two possible values, inequalities govern relationships among the probabilities of outcomes for the observables, taken pairwise. From set theory, these inequalities must be satisfied by all such classical objects; but quantum systems may violate the inequalities. We have detected clear-cut violations of one inequality in runs on IBM's publicly accessible quantum computers. The Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality governs a linear combination S of expectation values of products of spin projections, taken pairwise. Finding S > 2 rules out local, hidden variable theories for entangled quantum systems. We obtained values of S greater than 2 in our runs prior to error mitigation. To reduce the quantitative errors, we used a modification of the error-mitigation procedure in the IBM documentation. We prepared a pair of qubits in the state |00〉, found the probabilities to observe the states |00〉, |01〉, |10〉, and |11〉 in multiple runs, and used that information to construct the first column of an error matrix M. We repeated this procedure for states prepared as |01〉, |10〉, and |11〉 to construct the full matrix M, whose inverse is the filtering matrix. After applying filtering matrices to our averaged outcomes, we have found good quantitative agreement between the quantum computer output and the quantum mechanical predictions for the extent of violation of both inequalities as functions of θ'.
Introduction Annus mirabilis 1964 1964 was a wonderful year for physics. In this annus mirabilis, summarising and simplifying a little, the quark model was proposed by Gell-Mann and Zweig and charm and colour properties were introduced, Higgs published his work on the scalar boson, the _ boson and CP violation were discovered, cosmic background radiation was identified and, finally, Bell inequalities were suggested. Most of these works were later subjects of a Nobel prize. Unluckily John Bell left us too early for this achievement, but, at least in my opinion, his work [1] is probably the most fruitful among all these huge advances, since now we can recognise that it was the root of a fundamental change in our vision of the physical world, providing, on one hand, the possibility of a test of quantum mechanics against a whole class of theories (substantially all the theories that we could define as “classical”) and, on the other hand, introducing a clear notion of quantum nonlocality that represents not only a challenge in understanding quantum mechanics, but also one of the most important resources paving the way to quantum technologies that were developed in the last decades based on the quantum correlations discussed in the Bell paper. In the following we will present the experimental progress in testing Bell inequalities. Rather amazingly even 50 years after Bell's paper, a conclusive test of his proposal is still missing [2, 3]. Nevertheless, huge progress has been achieved with respect to the first experiments.We will discuss these developments and the remaining problems for a conclusive test of Bell inequalities in detail. The Bell Inequalities, Their Hypotheses and the Experimental Loopholes In order to understand the experimental difficulties in achieving a final test of Bell inequalities, let us analyse a little how these inequalities are derived and the explicit and implicit hypotheses they contain. The proof of Bell inequalities usually starts by considering two separated subsystems of an entangled state, which are addressed to two independent measurement apparatuses measuring the expectation values of two dichotomic observables, Aa and B b . a, b are two parameters describing the settings of the measuring apparatus A and B , respectively.
The Bell theorem and inequality were derived as consequences of seemingly reasonable physical and statistical hypotheses. Bell’s assumptions were used to deduce cross-correlations of three spin measurements on two entangled particles neglecting non-commutation. The assumed correlation functions, later confirmed for certain quantum measurements, violate the Bell inequality. The present paper reviews a more general derivation of the Bell inequality showing that it is identically satisfied by finite data sets whether deterministic or random, after assuming merely that they exist. It is thereafter concerned with the consequences of this result for interpretations of the inequality that result in its violation. A primary finding is that correlation functions have differing forms due to quantum commutation, non-commutation, and conditions of measurement, and result in satisfaction of the Bell inequality used consistently with its derivation. A stochastic process having the same correlation function for all variable pairs is shown to be inconsistent with experimentally reported data. The logic of the three and four variable inequalities is shown to be similar. Finally the inequalities in probabilities are shown to follow from those in correlations with quantum mechanical results satisfying either when properly implemented.