Quantum mechanics exhibits a wide range of nonclassical features, of which entanglement in multipartite systems takes a central place. In several specific settings, it is well known that nonclassicality (e.g., squeezing, spin squeezing, coherence) can be converted into entanglement. In this work, we present a general framework, based on superposition, for structurally connecting and converting nonclassicality to entanglement. In addition to capturing the previously known results, this framework also allows us to uncover new entanglement convertibility theorems in two broad scenarios, one which is discrete and one which is continuous. In the discrete setting, the classical states can be any finite linearly independent set. For the continuous setting, the pertinent classical states are “symmetric coherent states,” connected with symmetric representations of the group $SU(K)$. These results generalize and link convertibility properties from the resource theory of coherence, spin coherent states, and optical coherent states, while also revealing important connections between local and nonlocal pictures of nonclassicality.

We present one-shot compression protocols that optimally encode ensembles of $N$ identically prepared mixed states into $O(\log N)$ qubits. In contrast to the case of pure-state ensembles, we find that the number of encoding qubits drops down discontinuously as soon as a nonzero error is tolerated and the spectrum of the states is known with sufficient precision. For qubit ensembles, this feature leads to a 25% saving of memory space. Our compression protocols can be implemented efficiently on a quantum computer.

We consider quantum quenches from an ideal Bose condensate to the Lieb-Liniger model with an arbitrary attractive interaction strength. We focus on the properties of the stationary state reached at late times after the quench. Using recently developed methods based on integrability, we obtain an exact description of the stationary state for a large number of bosons. A distinctive feature of this state is the presence of a hierarchy of multiparticle bound states. We determine the dependence of their densities on interaction strength and obtain an exact expression for the stationary value of the local pair correlation $g_2$. We discuss ramifications of our results for cold atom experiments.

Quantifying entanglement in composite systems is a fundamental challenge, yet exact results are available in only a few special cases. This is because hard optimization problems are routinely involved, such as finding the convex decomposition of a mixed state with the minimal average pure-state entanglement, the so-called convex roof. We show that under certain conditions such a problem becomes trivial. Precisely, we prove by a geometric argument that polynomial entanglement measures of degree 2 are independent of the choice of pure-state decomposition of a mixed state, when the latter has only one pure unentangled state in its range. This allows for the analytical evaluation of convex roof extended entanglement measures in classes of rank-2 states obeying such a condition. We give explicit examples for the square root of the three-tangle in three-qubit states, and we show that several representative classes of four-qubit pure states have marginals that enjoy this property.

Using the weak-noise theory, we evaluate the probability distribution $\mathcal{P}(H,t)$ of large deviations of height $H$ of the evolving surface height $h(x,t)$ in the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation in one dimension when starting from a flat interface. We also determine the optimal history of the interface, conditioned on reaching the height $H$ at time $t$. We argue that the tails of $\mathcal{P}$ behave, at arbitrary time $t>0$, and in a proper moving frame, as $-\ln \mathcal{P}\sim |H{|}^{5/2}$ and $\sim |H{|}^{3/2}$. The $3/2$ tail coincides with the asymptotic of the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble Tracy-Widom distribution, previously observed at long times.

We propose a general framework for constructing universal steering criteria that are applicable to arbitrary bipartite states and measurement settings of the steering party. The same framework is also useful for studying the joint measurement problem. Based on the data-processing inequality for an extended Rényi relative entropy, we then introduce a family of steering inequalities, which detect steering much more efficiently than those inequalities known before. As illustrations, we show unbounded violation of a steering inequality for assemblages constructed from mutually unbiased bases and establish an interesting connection between maximally steerable assemblages and complete sets of mutually unbiased bases. We also provide a single steering inequality that can detect all bipartite pure states of full Schmidt rank. In the course of study, we generalize a number of results intimately connected to data-processing inequalities, which are of independent interest.

Nonlocal observables play an important role in quantum theory, from Bell inequalities and various postselection paradoxes to quantum error correction codes. Instantaneous measurement of these observables is known to be a difficult problem, especially when the measurements are projective. The standard von Neumann Hamiltonian used to model projective measurements cannot be implemented directly in a nonlocal scenario and can, in some cases, violate causality. We present a scheme for effectively generating the von Neumann Hamiltonian for nonlocal observables without the need to communicate and adapt. The protocol can be used to perform weak and strong (projective) measurements, as well as measurements at any intermediate strength. It can also be used in practical situations beyond nonlocal measurements. We show how the protocol can be used to probe a version of Hardy’s paradox with both weak and strong measurements. The outcomes of these measurements provide a nonintuitive picture of the pre- and postselected system. Our results shed new light on the interplay between quantum measurements, uncertainty, nonlocality, causality, and determinism.

Photons of a laser beam driving the upper motional sideband of an optomechanical cavity can decay into photon-phonon pairs by means of an optomechanical parametric process. The phononic state can subsequently be mapped to a photonic state by exciting the lower sideband, hence creating photon-photon pairs out of an optomechanical system. Here we show that these pairs can violate a Bell inequality when they are measured with photon counting techniques preceded by small displacement operations in phase space. The consequence of such a violation as well as the experimental requirements are intensively discussed.

Optomechanical and electromechanical systems offer an effective platform to test quantum theory and its predictions at macroscopic scales. To date, all experiments presuppose the validity of quantum mechanics, but could in principle be described by a hypothetical local statistical theory. Here we suggest a Bell test using the electromechanical Einstein-Podolski-Rosen entangled state recently generated by Palomaki et al., Science 342, 710 (2013), which would rule out any local and realistic explanation of the measured data without assuming the validity of quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales. It additionally provides a device-independent way to verify electromechanical entanglement. The parameter regime required for our scheme has been demonstrated or is within reach of current experiments.

The quantum measurement of entanglement is a demanding task in the field of quantum information. Here, we report the direct and scalable measurement of multiparticle entanglement with embedding photonic quantum simulators. In this embedding framework [R. Di Candia et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 240502 (2013)], the $N$-qubit entanglement, which does not associate with a physical observable directly, can be efficiently measured with only two (for even $N$) and six (for odd $N$) local measurement settings. Our experiment uses multiphoton quantum simulators to mimic dynamical concurrence and three-tangle entangled systems and to track their entanglement evolutions.

Measuring entanglement is a demanding task that usually requires full tomography of a quantum system, involving a number of observables that grows exponentially with the number of parties. Recently, it was suggested that adding a single ancillary qubit would allow for the efficient measurement of concurrence, and indeed any entanglement monotone associated with antilinear operations. Here, we report on the experimental implementation of such a device—an embedding quantum simulator—in photonics, encoding the entangling dynamics of a bipartite system into a tripartite one. We show that bipartite concurrence can be efficiently extracted from the measurement of merely two observables, instead of 15, without full tomographic information.

Hypergraph states form a family of multiparticle quantum states that generalizes the well-known concept of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, cluster states, and more broadly graph states. We study the nonlocal properties of quantum hypergraph states. We demonstrate that the correlations in hypergraph states can be used to derive various types of nonlocality proofs, including Hardy-type arguments and Bell inequalities for genuine multiparticle nonlocality. Moreover, we show that hypergraph states allow for an exponentially increasing violation of local realism which is robust against loss of particles. Our results suggest that certain classes of hypergraph states are novel resources for quantum metrology and measurement-based quantum computation.

We introduce and study the task of assisted coherence distillation. This task arises naturally in bipartite systems where both parties work together to generate the maximal possible coherence on one of the subsystems. Only incoherent operations are allowed on the target system, while general local quantum operations are permitted on the other; this is an operational paradigm that we call local quantum-incoherent operations and classical communication. We show that the asymptotic rate of assisted coherence distillation for pure states is equal to the coherence of assistance, an analog of the entanglement of assistance, whose properties we characterize. Our findings imply a novel interpretation of the von Neumann entropy: it quantifies the maximum amount of extra quantum coherence a system can gain when receiving assistance from a collaborative party. Our results are generalized to coherence localization in a multipartite setting and possible applications are discussed.

We identify a new universality class in one-dimensional driven open quantum systems with a dark state. Salient features are the persistence of both the microscopic nonequilibrium conditions as well as the quantum coherence of dynamics close to criticality. This provides a nonequilibrium analogue of quantum criticality, and is sharply distinct from more generic driven systems, where both effective thermalization as well as asymptotic decoherence ensue, paralleling classical dynamical criticality. We quantify universality by computing the full set of independent critical exponents within a functional renormalization group approach.

We propose how a fermionic quantum gas confined to an optical lattice and coupled to an optical cavity can self-organize into a state where the spontaneously emerging cavity field amplitude induces an artificial magnetic field. The fermions form either a chiral insulator or a chiral liquid carrying chiral currents. The feedback mechanism via the dynamical cavity field enables robust and fast switching in time of the chiral phases, and the cavity output can be employed for a direct nondestructive measurement of the chiral current.

We investigate the emergence of subdiffusive transport by obstruction in continuum models for molecular crowding. While the underlying percolation transition for the accessible space displays universal behavior, the dynamic properties depend in a subtle nonuniversal way on the transport through narrow channels. At the same time, the different universality classes are robust with respect to introducing correlations in the obstacle matrix as we demonstrate for quenched hard-sphere liquids as underlying structures. Our results confirm that the microscopic dynamics can dominate the relaxational behavior even at long times, in striking contrast to glassy dynamics.

Surface codes have emerged as promising candidates for quantum information processing. Building on the previous idea to realize the physical qubits of such systems in terms of Majorana bound states supported by topological semiconductor nanowires, we show that the basic code operations, namely projective stabilizer measurements and qubit manipulations, can be implemented by conventional tunnel conductance probes and charge pumping via single-electron transistors, respectively. The simplicity of the access scheme suggests that a functional code might be in close experimental reach.

Analyzing the noise in the momentum profiles of single realizations of one-dimensional Bose gases, we present the experimental measurement of the full momentum-space density correlations $⟨\delta n_p\delta n_{p^{\prime }}⟩$, which are related to the two-body momentum correlation function. Our data span the weakly interacting region of the phase diagram, going from the ideal Bose gas regime to the quasicondensate regime. We show experimentally that the bunching phenomenon, which manifests itself as super-Poissonian local fluctuations in momentum space, is present in all regimes. The quasicondensate regime is, however, characterized by the presence of negative correlations between different momenta, in contrast to the Bogolyubov theory for Bose condensates, predicting positive correlations between opposite momenta. Our data are in good agreement with ab initio calculations.