The Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph (PBR) no-go theorem provides an argument for the reality of the quantum state by ruling out $\psi$-epistemic ontological theories, in which the quantum state is of a statistical nature. It applies under an assumption of preparation independence, the validity of which has been subject to debate. We propose two plausible and less restrictive alternatives: a weaker notion allowing for classical correlations, and an even weaker, physically motivated notion of independence, which merely prohibits the possibility of superluminal causal influences in the preparation process. The latter is a minimal requirement for enabling a reasonable treatment of subsystems in any theory. It is demonstrated by means of an explicit $\psi$-epistemic ontological model that the argument of PBR becomes invalid under the alternative notions of independence. As an intermediate step, we recover a result which is valid in the presence of classical correlations. Finally, we obtain a theorem which holds under the minimal requirement, approximating the result of PBR. For this, we consider experiments involving randomly sampled preparations and derive bounds on the degree of $\psi$ epistemicity that is consistent with the quantum-mechanical predictions. The approximation is exact in the limit as the sample space of preparations becomes infinite.

We discuss ground-state factorization schemes in spin $S$ arrays with general quadratic couplings under general magnetic fields, not necessarily uniform or transverse. It is shown that, given arbitrary spin alignment directions at each site, nonzero $XYZ$ couplings between any pair and fields at each site always exist such that the ensuing Hamiltonian has an exactly separable eigenstate with the spins pointing along the specified directions. Furthermore, by suitable tuning of the fields this eigenstate can always be cooled down to a nondegenerate ground state. It is also shown that in open one-dimensional systems with fixed arbitrary first-neighbor couplings at least one separable eigenstate compatible with an arbitrarily chosen spin direction at one site is always feasible if the fields at each site can be tuned. We demonstrate as well that in the vicinity of factorization, i.e., for small perturbations in the fields or couplings, pairwise entanglement reaches full range. Some noticeable examples of factorized eigenstates are unveiled. The present results open the way for separable ground-state engineering. A notation to quantify the complexity of a given type of solution according to the required control on the system couplings and fields is introduced.

It is shown that transient spin-spin correlations in a one-dimensional spin $S\gg 1$ chain can be enhanced for initially factorized and individually squeezed spin states. Such correlation transfer from “internal” to “external” degrees of freedom can be well described by using a semiclassical phase-space approach.

Quantum information processing is expressed using quantum bits (qubits) and quantum gates which are arranged in terms of quantum circuits. Here, each qubit is associated with a quantum circuit wire which is used to conduct the desired operations. Most of the existing quantum circuits allocate a single quantum circuit wire for each qubit and hence introduce significant overhead. In fact, qubits are usually not needed during the entire computation, only between their initialization and measurement. Before and after that, corresponding wires may be used by other qubits. In this work, we propose a solution which exploits this fact in order to optimize the design of quantum circuits with respect to the required wires. To this end, we introduce a representation of the lifetimes of all qubits which is used to analyze the respective need for wires. Based on this analysis, a method is proposed which “recycles” the available wires and, as a result, reduces the size of the resulting circuit. Numerical tests based on established reversible and fault-tolerant quantum circuits confirm that the proposed solution reduces the number of wires by more than 90% compared to unoptimized quantum circuits.

We compare the effect of single qubit incoherent and coherent errors on the logical error rate of the Steane [[7,1,3]] quantum error correction code by performing an exact full-density-matrix simulation of an error correction step. We find that the effective 1-qubit process matrix at the logical level reveals the key differences between the error models and provides insight into why the Pauli twirling approximation is a good approximation for incoherent errors and a poor approximation for coherent ones. Approximate channels composed of Clifford operations and Pauli measurement operators that are pessimistic at the physical level result in pessimistic error rates at the logical level. In addition, we observe that the pseudothreshold can differ by a factor of 5 depending on whether the error is calculated using the fidelity or the distance.

Boson sampling is the problem of generating a multiphoton state whose counting probability is the permanent of an $n\times n$ matrix. This is created as the output $n$-photon coincidence rate of a prototype quantum computing device with $n$ input photons. It is a fundamental challenge to verify boson sampling, and therefore the question of how output count rates scale with matrix size $n$ is crucial. Here we apply results from random matrix theory as well as the characteristic function approach from quantum optics to establish analytical scaling laws for average count rates. We treat boson sampling experiments with arbitrary inputs, outputs, and losses. Using the scaling laws we analyze grouping of channel outputs and the count rates for this case.

We propose a scheme to actively cool the fundamental flexural (out-of-plane) mode of a graphene sheet via vacuum forces. Our setup consists of a cold-atom cloud placed close to a graphene sheet at distances of a few micrometers. The atoms couple to the graphene membrane via Casimir-Polder forces. By deriving a self-consistent set of equations governing the dynamics of the atomic gas and the flexural modes of the graphene, we show it is possible to cool graphene from room temperatures by actively (laser) cooling an atomic gas. By choosing the right set of experimental parameters we are able to cool a graphene sheet down to $\sim 60 \mu \mathrm{K}$.

We present a scheme to realize the (extended) Bose-Hubbard model in an $N$-coupled optomechanical system. By treating the cavities as intermediary and eliminating them adiabatically with the condition of large detuning or fast decay, we can obtain the effective Hamiltonian for the $N$ oscillators, with the regular terms in the Bose-Hubbard model, i.e., the pair tunnelings and the density-density interactions. Then we verify and provide the condition for our approximation with numerical results. Due to the existence of the pair tunnelings and the density-density interactions, we can investigate the density wave and supersolid phases in our model. Moreover, we also discuss the competition between the regular tunneling and the pair tunneling.

We examine the propagation of a weak probe light through a coherently driven $\mathsf{Y}\mathsf{\text{−}}\mathsf{type}$ system. Under the condition that the excited atomic levels decay via the same vacuum modes, the effects of quantum interference in decay channels are considered. It is found that the interference in decay channels results in a lossless anomalous dispersion between two gain peaks. We demonstrate that the probe pulse propagation can, in principle, be switched from subluminal to superluminal due to the decay-induced interference. We also show that the system exhibits a high index of refraction with negligible absorption for the driving fields. A dressed-state picture of the atom-light interaction is described to explain the numerical results.

Collective coupling between dipoles can dramatically modify the optical response of a medium. Such effects depend strongly on the geometry of the medium and the polarization of the light. Using a classical coupled dipole model, here we investigate the simplest case of one-dimensional arrays of interacting atomic dipoles driven by a weak laser field. Changing the polarization and direction of the driving field allows us to separately address superradiant, subradiant, redshifted, and blueshifted eigenmodes, as well as observe strong Fano-like interferences between different modes. The cooperative eigenvectors can be characterized by the phase difference between nearest-neighbor dipoles, ranging from all oscillating in phase to all oscillating out of phase with their nearest neighbors. Investigating the eigenvalue behavior as a function of atom number and lattice spacing, we find that certain eigenmodes of an infinite atomic chain have the same decay rate as a single atom between two mirrors. The effects we observe provide a framework for collective control of the optical response of a medium, giving insight into the behavior of more complicated geometries, as well as providing further evidence for the dipolar analog of cavity QED.

We study the angular deflection of the circularly polarized components of a linearly polarized probe field in a weakly birefringent atomic system in tripod configuration. A spatially inhomogeneous control field incident obliquely onto an atomic vapor cell facilitates a large angular divergence between circular components. We show that the angular resolution can be dynamically controlled by optimally choosing the angle of incidence and the transverse profile of the control beam. For instance, by employing a Laguerre-Gaussian profile of the control field, one can impart a large angular divergence to the circular components close to the entry face of the atomic vapor cell. We further demonstrate how such a medium causes the focusing and refocusing of the probe field, thereby acting as a lens with multiple foci. The absorption in the medium remains negligible at resonance due to electromagnetically induced transparency.

It is common knowledge that diffusion theory cannot describe light propagation in semitransparent media, i.e., media with a low optical thickness. However, even in an optically thin slab, late-time transport will be eventually determined by a multiple scattering process whose characteristics are still largely unexplored. We numerically demonstrate that, even for an optical thickness as low as 1, after a short transient, propagation along the slab plane becomes diffusive. Nonetheless, we show that such a diffusion process is governed by modified statistical distributions which result from a highly nontrivial interplay with boundary conditions.

In contrast to plane waves, twisted or vortex beams have a complex spatial structure. Both their intensity and energy flow vary within the wave front. Beyond that, polychromatic vortex beams, such as $X$ waves, have a spatially dependent energy distribution. We propose a method to measure this (local) energy spectrum. The method is based on the measurement of the energy distribution of photoelectrons from alkali-metal atoms. On the basis of our fully relativistic calculations, we argue that even ensembles of atoms can be used to probe the local energy spectrum of short twisted pulses.

We investigate sensing of magnetic fields using quantum spin chains at finite temperature and exploit quantum phase crossovers to improve metrological bounds on the estimation of the chain parameters. In particular, we start by analyzing the $XX$ spin chain. The magnetic sensitivity of this system is dictated by its magnetic susceptibility, which scales extensively (linearly) in the number of spins $N$. We introduce an iterative feed-forward protocol that actively exploits features of quantum phase crossovers to enable superextensive scaling of the magnetic sensitivity. Furthermore, we provide experimentally realistic observables to saturate the quantum metrological bounds. Finally, we extend our analysis on magnetic sensing to the Heisenberg $XY$ spin chain.

A universal approach to decoherence control combined with quantum estimation theory reveals a critical behavior, akin to a phase transition, of the information obtainable by a qubit probe concerning the memory time of environmental fluctuations of generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes. The criticality is intrinsic to the environmental fluctuations but emerges only when the probe is subject to suitable dynamical control aimed at inferring the memory time. A sharp transition is anticipated between two dynamical phases characterized by either a short or long memory time compared to the probing time. This phase transition of the environmental information is a fundamental feature that characterizes open quantum-system dynamics and is important for attaining the highest estimation precision of the environment memory time under experimental limitations.

We analyze a generalized quantum error-correction code against photon loss where a logical qubit is encoded into a subspace of a single oscillator mode that is spanned by distinct multicomponent cat states (coherent-state superpositions). We present a systematic code construction that includes the extension of an existing one-photon-loss code to higher numbers of losses. When subject to a photon loss (amplitude damping) channel, the encoded qubits are shown to exhibit a cyclic behavior where the code and error spaces each correspond to certain multiples of losses, half of which can be corrected. As another generalization we also discuss how to protect logical qudits against photon losses, and as an application we consider a one-way quantum communication scheme in which the encoded qubits are periodically recovered while the coherent-state amplitudes are restored as well at regular intervals.

Entanglement depth characterizes the minimal number of particles in a system that are mutually entangled. For symmetric states, there is a dichotomy for entanglement depth: An $N$-particle symmetric state is either fully separable or fully entangled—the entanglement depth is either 1 or $N$. We show that this dichotomy property for entangled symmetric states is even stable under nonsymmetric noise. We propose an experimentally accessible method to detect entanglement depth in atomic ensembles based on a bound on the particle number population of Dicke states, and demonstrate that the entanglement depth of some Dicke states, for example the twin Fock state, is very stable even under a large arbitrary noise. Our observation can be applied to atomic Bose-Einstein condensates to infer that these systems can be highly entangled with the entanglement depth that is on the order of the system size (i.e., several thousands of atoms).

We propose a scheme for quantum teleportation between two qubits, coupled sequentially to a cavity field. An implementation of the scheme is analyzed with superconducting qubits and a transmission line resonator, where measurements are restricted to continuous probing of the field leaking from the resonator rather than instantaneous projective Bell state measurement. We show that the past quantum state formalism S. Gammelmark, B. Julsgaard, and K. Mølmer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 160401 (2013) can be successfully applied to estimate what would have been the most likely Bell measurement outcome conditioned on our continuous signal record. This information determines which local operation on the target qubit yields the optimal teleportation fidelity. Our results emphasize the significance of applying a detailed analysis of quantum measurements in feedforward protocols in nonideal leaky quantum systems.