Jan-Åke Larsson

Significant-Loophole-Free Test of Bell's Theorem with Entangled Photons.

Local realism is the worldview in which physical properties of objects exist independently of measurement and where physical influences cannot travel faster than the speed of light. Bells theorem states that this worldview is incompatible with the predictions of quantum mechanics, as is expressed in Bells inequalities. Previous experiments convincingly supported the quantum predictions. Yet, every experiment requires assumptions that provide loopholes for a local realist explanation. Here, we report a Bell test that closes the most significant of these loopholes simultaneously. Using a well-optimized source of entangled photons, rapid setting generation, and highly efficient superconducting detectors, we observe a violation of a Bell inequality with high statistical significance. The purely statistical probability of our results to occur under local realism does not exceed 3.74×10^{-31}, corresponding to an 11.5 standard deviation effect.

Mutually unbiased bases and Hadamard matrices of order six

We report on a search for mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) in six dimensions. We find only triplets of MUBs, and thus do not come close to the theoretical upper bound 7. However, we point out that the natural habitat for sets of MUBs is the set of all complex Hadamard matrices of the given order, and we introduce a natural notion of distance between bases in Hilbert space. This allows us to draw a detailed map of where in the landscape the MUB triplets are situated. We use available tools, such as the theory of the discrete Fourier transform, to organize our results. Finally, we present some evidence for the conjecture that there exists a four dimensional family of complex Hadamard matrices of order 6. If this conjecture is true the landscape in which one may search for MUBs is much larger than previously thought.

A Kochen-Specker inequality

By probabilistic means, the concept of contextuality is extended so that it can be used in non-ideal situations. An inequality is presented, which at least in principle enables a test to discard non-contextual hidden-variable models at low error rates, in the spirit of the Kochen-Specker theorem. Assuming that the errors are independent, an explicit error bound of 1.42% is derived, below which a Kochen-Specker contradiction occurs.

Loopholes in Bell inequality tests of local realism

Bell inequalities are intended to show that local realist theories cannot describe the world. A local realist theory is one where physical properties are defined prior to and independent of measurement, and no physical influence can propagate faster than the speed of light. Quantum-mechanical predictions for certain experiments violate the Bell inequality while a local realist theory cannot, and this shows that a local realist theory cannot give those quantum-mechanical predictions. However, because of unexpected circumstances or ?loopholes? in available experiment tests, local realist theories can reproduce the data from these experiments. This paper reviews such loopholes, what effect they have on Bell inequality tests, and how to avoid them in experiment. Avoiding all these simultaneously in one experiment, usually called a ?loophole-free? or ?definitive? Bell test, remains an open task, but is very important for technological tasks such as device-independent security of quantum cryptography, and ultimately for our understanding of the world.This article is part of a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical devoted to ?50 years of Bell?s theorem?.

Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for an Extended Noncontextuality in a Broad Class of Quantum Mechanical Systems

The notion of (non)contextuality pertains to sets of properties measured one subset (context) at a time. We extend this notion to include so-called inconsistently connected systems, in which the measurements of a given property in different contexts may have different distributions, due to contextual biases in experimental design or physical interactions (signaling): a system of measurements has a maximally noncontextual description if they can be imposed a joint distribution on in which the measurements of any one property in different contexts are equal to each other with the maximal probability allowed by their different distributions. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of such a description in a broad class of systems including Klyachko-Can-Binicioğlu-Shumvosky-type (KCBS), EPR-Bell-type, and Leggett-Garg-type systems. Because these conditions allow for inconsistent connectedness, they are applicable to real experiments. We illustrate this by analyzing an experiment by Lapkiewicz and colleagues aimed at testing contextuality in a KCBS-type system.

Contextuality in Three Types of Quantum-Mechanical Systems

We present a formal theory of contextuality for a set of random variables grouped into different subsets (contexts) corresponding to different, mutually incompatible conditions. Within each context the random variables are jointly distributed, but across different contexts they are stochastically unrelated. The theory of contextuality is based on the analysis of the extent to which some of these random variables can be viewed as preserving their identity across different contexts when one considers all possible joint distributions imposed on the entire set of the random variables. We illustrate the theory on three systems of traditional interest in quantum physics (and also in non-physical, e.g., behavioral studies). These are systems of the Klyachko–Can–Binicioglu–Shumovsky-type, Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bell-type, and Suppes–Zanotti–Leggett–Garg-type. Listed in this order, each of them is formally a special case of the previous one. For each of them we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for contextuality while allowing for experimental errors and contextual biases or signaling. Based on the same principles that underly these derivations we also propose a measure for the degree of contextuality and compute it for the three systems in question.

Memory cost of quantum contextuality

The simulation of quantum effects requires certain classical resources, and quantifying them is an important step to characterize the difference between quantum and classical physics. For a simulation of the phenomenon of state-independent quantum contextuality, we show that the minimum amount of memory used by the simulation is the critical resource. We derive optimal simulation strategies for important cases and prove that reproducing the results of sequential measurements on a two-qubit system requires more memory than the information-carrying capacity of the system.

Minimum Detection Efficiency for a Loophole-Free Atom-Photon Bell Experiment

In Bell experiments, one problem is to achieve high enough photodetection to ensure that there is no possibility of describing the results via a local hidden-variable model. Using the Clauser-Horne inequality and a two-photon nonmaximally entangled state, a photodetection efficiency higher than 0.67 is necessary. Here we discuss atom-photon Bell experiments. We show that, assuming perfect detection efficiency of the atom, it is possible to perform a loophole-free atom-photon Bell experiment whenever the photodetection efficiency exceeds 0.50.

Two-Photon Franson-Type Experiments and Local Realism

The two-photon interferometric experiment proposed by J. D. Franson [Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 2205 (1989)] is often treated as a “Bell test of local realism.” However, it has been suggested that this i ...

Modeling the singlet state with local variables

A local-variable model yielding the statistics from the singlet state is presented for the case of inefficient detectors and/or lowered visibility. It has independent errors and the highest efficie ...