Weakly measured while loops: peeking at quantum states

A while loop tests a termination condition on every iteration. On a quantum computer, such measurements perturb the evolution of the algorithm. We define a while loop primitive using weak measurements, offering a trade-off between the perturbation caused and the amount of information gained per iteration. This trade-off is adjusted with a parameter set by the programmer. We provide sufficient conditions that let us determine, with arbitrarily high probability, a worst-case estimate of the number of iterations the loop will run for. As an example, we solve Grover's search problem using a while loop and prove the quadratic quantum speed-up is maintained.

Generalising the Horodecki criterion to nonprojective qubit observables

The Horodecki criterion provides a necessary and sufficient condition for a two-qubit state to be able to manifest Bell nonlocality via violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality. It requires, however, the assumption that suitable projective measurements can be made on each qubit, and is not sufficient for scenarios in which noisy or weak measurements are either desirable or unavoidable. By characterising two-valued qubit observables in terms of strength, bias, and directional parameters, we address such scenarios by providing necessary and sufficient conditions for arbitrary qubit measurements having fixed strengths and relative angles for each observer. In particular, we find the achievable maximal values of the CHSH parameter for unbiased measurements on arbitrary states, and, alternatively, for arbitrary measurements on states with maximally-mixed marginals, and determine the optimal angles in some cases. We also show that for certain ranges of measurement strengths it is only possible to violate the CHSH inequality via biased measurements. Finally, we use the CHSH inequality to obtain a simple necessary condition for the compatibility of two qubit observables.

Relativistically invariant Bohmian trajectories of photons

Bohmian mechanics is a nonlocal hidden-variable interpretation of quantum theory which predicts that particles follow deterministic trajectories in spacetime. Historically, the study of Bohmian trajectories has been restricted to nonrelativistic regimes due to the widely held belief that the theory is incompatible with special relativity. Here we derive expressions for the relativistic velocity and spacetime trajectories of photons in a Michelson-Sagnac-type interferometer. The trajectories satisfy quantum-mechanical continuity, the relativistic velocity addition rule. Our new velocity equation can be operationally defined in terms of weak measurements of momentum and energy. We finally propose a modified Alcubierre metric which could give rise to these trajectories within the paradigm of general relativity.

Theory of neutrino detection: flavor oscillations and weak values

We revisit the theory of neutrino oscillations and describe it through the formalism of weak measurements with postselection. It is well understood that due to the large momentum uncertainty in detection, there is no collapse of the neutrino wavefunction in the momentum or energy basis, and the mass eigenstates are detected coherently. Here we show that postselection, which projects the system to a final flavor state, deforms the system wavefunction in such a way that the momentum detected is not the expectation value of the neutrino mass eigenstates momenta, but the corresponding weak value. We use the weak values to describe the intermediate state in the oscillation process, avoiding problems in defining probability currents for particle states with mass superposition.

Beating Standard Quantum Limit with Weak Measurement

Weak measurements have been under intensive investigation in both experiment and theory. Numerous experiments have indicated that the amplified meter shift is produced by the post-selection, yielding an improved precision compared to conventional methods. However, this amplification effect comes at the cost of a reduced rate of acquiring data, which leads to an increasing uncertainty to determine the level of meter shift. From this point of view, a number of theoretical works have suggested that weak measurements cannot improve the precision, or even damage the metrology information due to the post-selection. In this review, we give a comprehensive analysis of the weak measurements to justify their positive effect on prompting measurement precision. As a further step, we introduce two modified weak measurement protocols to boost the precision beyond the standard quantum limit. Compared to previous works beating the standard quantum limit, these protocols are free of using entangled or squeezed states. The achieved precision outperforms that of the conventional method by two orders of magnitude and attains a practical Heisenberg scaling up to n=106 photons.