Quantum Foundations

Wheeler's delayed choice (WDC) is one of the "standard experiments in foundations". It aims at the puzzle of a photon simultaneously behaving as wave and particle. Bohr-Einstein debate on wave-particle duality prompted the introduction of Bohr's principle of complementarity, ---`.. the study of complementary phenomena demands mutually exclusive experimental arrangements" . In WDC experiment the mutually exclusive setups correspond to the presence or absence of a second beamsplitter in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). A choice of the setup determines the observed behaviour. The delay ensures that the behaviour cannot be adapted before the photon enters MZI. Using WDC as an example, we show how replacement of classical selectors by quantum gates streamlines experiments and impacts on foundational questions. We demonstrate measurements of complementary phenomena with a single setup, where observed behaviour of the photon is chosen after it has been already detected. Spacelike separation of the setup components becomes redundant. The complementarity principle has to be reformulated --- instead of complementarity of experimental setups we now have complementarity of measurement results. Finally we present a quantum-controlled scheme of Bell-type experiments.

Quantum correlations cannot be given any classical explanation that would satisfy Bell's local causality assumption. This quite intriguing feature of quantum theory, known as quantum non-locality, has fascinated physicists for years, and has more recently been proven to have interesting applications in quantum information processing. To properly understand the power of quantum non-locality, it is important to be able to quantify it. One way for that is to compare it to other "non-local resources", such as classical communication or "non-local Popescu-Rohrlich (PR) boxes", and try to use these alternative resources to reproduce the quantum correlations. I will review known results on this subject, and present new simulations of multipartite non-local correlations.

To model statistical correlations that violate Bell inequalities (such as singlet state correlations), one must relax at least one of three physically plausible postulates: measurement independence (experimenters can freely choose measurement settings independently of any underlying variables describing the system); no-signalling (underlying marginal distributions for one observer cannot depend on the measurement setting of a distant observer), and determinism (all outcomes can be fully determined by the values of underlying variables). It will be shown that, for any given model, one may quantify the degrees of measurement dependence, signalling and indeterminism, by three numbers M, S and I. It will further be shown how the Bell-CHSH inequality may be generalised to a "relaxed" Bell inequality, of the form ++-<=B(I,S,M), where the upper bound is tight and ranges between 2 and 4. The usual Bell-CHSH inequality corresponds to I=S=M=0. More generally, the bound B(I,S,M) quantifies the necessary mutual tradeoff between I, S and M that is required to model a given violation of the Bell-CHSH inequality. Some information-theoretic implications will be briefly described, as well as a no-signalling deterministic model of the singlet state that allows up to 86% experimental free will.

Karim Thebault Canonical quantization techniques are generally considered to provide one of the most rigorous methodologies for passing from a classical to a quantum description of reality. For classical Hamiltonian systems with constraints a number of such techniques are available (i.e. gauge fixing, Dirac constraint quantization, BRST quantization and geometric quantization) but all are arguably equivalent to the quantization of an underlying reduced phase space that parameterizes the "true degrees of freedom" and displays a symplectic geometric structure. The philosophical coherence of making any ontological investment in such a space for the case of canonical general relativity will be questioned here. Further to this, the particular example of Dirac quantization will be critically examined. Under the Dirac scheme the classical constraint functions are interpreted as quantum constraint operators restricting the allowed state vectors. For canonical general relativity this leads to the Wheeler-de Witt equation and the infamous problem of time but, prima facie, seems to rely on our interpretation of the classical Poisson bracket algebra of constraints as the phase space realization of the theory's local symmetries (i.e. the group of space-time diffeomorphisms). As with the construction of an interpretively viable symplectic reduced phase space, this straight forward connection between constraints and local symmetry will be questioned for the case of GR. These issues cast doubt on the basis behind the derivation of the so-called wave function of the universe and give us some grounds for re-examining the entire canonical quantum gravity program as currently constituted.

Shan Gao We investigate the validity of the field explanation of the wave function by analyzing the mass and charge density distributions of a quantum system. According to protective measurement, a charged quantum system has effective mass and charge density distributed in space, proportional to the square of the absolute value of its wave function. If the wave function is a description of a physical field, then the mass and charge density will be distributed in space simultaneously for a charged quantum system, and thus there will exist a remarkable electrostatic self-interaction of its wave function, though the gravitational self-interaction is too weak to be detected presently. This not only violates the superposition principle of quantum mechanics but also contradicts experimental observations.

Maki Takahashi We present a formalism describing the transport of the quantum spin state of massive fermions in curved space-time for the purpose of studying relativistic quantum information phenomena such as entanglement and teleportation. We are concerned with answering the elementary question of how the state of a qubit transforms as it moves through a curved space-time manifold. This transport equation takes the form of the Fermi-Walker transport of a two component spinor, which will be shown to be unitary in the spinor's rest frame. The talk will summarise key results and highlight foundational issues such as the absence of global parallelism and conceptual issues/difficulties regarding entanglement and teleportation.

Tony Downes The geometry of space-time can only be determined by making measurements on physical systems. The ultimate accuracy achievable is then determined by quantum mechanics which fundamentally governs these systems. In this talk I will describe uncertainty principles constraining how well we can estimate the components of a metric tensor describing a gravitational field. I shall outline a number of examples which can be easily constructed with a minimum of mathematical complexity. I will also attempt to derive a general bound on the uncertainty in any attempt to determine the metric tensor which is expected to hold in an arbitrary globally hyperbolic space-time. I shall use tools developed within the algebraic approach to quantum field theory on a classical space-time background. I shall not consider limits on estimating space-time metrics that might arise from a quantisation of gravity itself.

I will present a recent result showing that general relativity admits a dual description in terms of a 3D scale invariant theory. The dual theory was discovered by starting with the basic observation that, fundamentally, all observations can be broken down into local comparisons of spatial configurations. Thus, absolute local spatial size is unobservable. Inspired by this principle of "relativity of size", I will motivate a procedure that allows the refoliation invariance of general relativity to be traded for 3D local scale invariance. This trade does away with "many fingered time" and offers a new possibility for dealing with the many technical and conceptual difficulties associated with the Wheeler-DeWitt equation.

Basic epistemological considerations suggest that the laws of nature should be scale invariant and no fundamental length scale should exist in nature. Indeed, the standard model action contains only two terms that break scale invariance: the Einstein-Hilbert term and the Higgs mass term. We give a simple introduction to Weyl's 1918 scale invariant gravity based on basic epistemology and discuss the three main objections put forth by Einstein: 1) the hydrogen spectrum depends on their previous history of the atom (something which is empirically ruled out to a high precision), 2) there is no account for proper time in Weyl's theory, and 3) fieldequations are 4th order leading to Ostrogradsky-type instabilities. We show that the first two objections can readily be answered. In particular the second objection is answered by developing a physical model of an ideal clock from which proper time is identified as the reading of the clock. We then outline an attempt to tackle the third objection by breaking foliation invariance and so introduce a preferred simultaneity. We show that Lorentz invariance can still be maintained if only the gravitational sector is sensitive to the preferred foliation. We impose the restrictions I) the new theory should contain general relativity in the limit of zero scale curvature, II) no fundamental length scales should appear, III) the field equations should be of second order.

Tamara Davis The last decade of astrophysics has shown more than ever before that cosmology can teach us about the nuts-and-bolts of basic physics. This has been driven by the discovery of the accelerating universe (dark energy) --- the theories being proposed to explain dark energy often invoke new physics such as brane-worlds arising from fledgling models of quantum-gravity. It has become evident that the large timescales and spatial-scales probed by cosmology allow us to learn about fundamental physics in a way inaccessible to any earth-bound experiment. This talk will review my work as part of the ESSENCE and SDSS supernova surveys, and the WiggleZ Baryon Acoustic Oscillation survey, to test new fundamental physics. I'll present the latest data and discuss how the cosmological constraints will be improved in the future with more data, different types of data, and improved analysis techniques.

I will review some recent advances on the line of deriving quantum field theory from pure quantum information processing. The general idea is that there is only Quantum Theory (without quantization rules), and the whole Physics---including space-time and relativity---is emergent from the processing. And, since Quantum Theory itself is made with purely informational principles, the whole Physics must be reformulated in information-theoretical terms. Here's the TOC of the talk: a) Very short review of the informational axiomatization of Quantum Theory; b) How space-time and relativistic covariance emerge from the quantum computation; c) Special relativity without space: other ideas; d) Dirac equation derived as information flow (without the need of Lorentz covariance); e) Information-theoretical meaning of inertial mass and Planck constant; f) Observable consequences (at the Planck scale?); h) What about Gravity? Three alternatives as a start for a brainstorming.