Is the dynamical quantum Cheshire cat detectable?

Jonte R Hance*, James A C Ladyman, John G Rarity

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
27 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

We explore how one might detect the dynamical quantum Cheshire cat proposed by Aharonov et al. We show that, in practice, we need to bias the initial state by adding/subtracting a small probability amplitude (`field') of the orthogonal state, which travels with the disembodied property, to make the effect detectable (i.e. if our initial state is $|\uparrow_z\rangle$, we need to bias this with some small amount $\delta$ of state $|\downarrow_z\rangle$). This biasing, which can be done either directly or via weakly entangling the state with a pointer, effectively provides a phase reference with which we can measure the evolution of the state. The outcome can then be measured as a small probability difference in detections in a mutually unbiased basis, proportional to this biasing $\delta$. We show this is different from counterfactual communication, which provably does not require any probe field to travel between sender Bob and receiver Alice for communication. We further suggest an optical polarisation experiment where these phenomena might be demonstrated in a laboratory.
Original languageEnglish
Article number073038
Number of pages11
JournalNew Journal of Physics
Volume26
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Jul 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd on behalf of the Institute of Physics and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.

Research Groups and Themes

  • Centre for Science and Philosophy
  • Photonics and Quantum
  • QITG
  • Bristol Quantum Information Institute

Keywords

  • quant-ph
  • physics.hist-ph

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