Using the result of Navascues, Pironio and Acin [New J. Phys. 10, 073013 (2008)], we show that any causality respecting reversible theory, which is consistent with the non-demolition principle, has no predictions different from those of quantum theory. The non-demolition principle, which was quantified by Leggett and Garg [PRL 54, 857 (1985)], states that physical properties can be observed without irreversible disturbance. Quantum theory has a limit of weak measurements analyzed By Aharonov et. al, where sequential weak values [Mitchison, Jozsa and Popescu, PRA 76, 062105 (2007)] manifest all the conditions of the non-demolition principle. A theory which obeys the nondemolition principle automatically admits a local-hidden-variable description in the macroscopic limit.

We present rigorous performance bounds for the optimal dynamical decoupling pulse sequence protecting a quantum bit (qubit) against pure dephasing. Our bounds apply under the assumption of instantaneous pulses and of bounded perturbing environment and qubit-environment Hamiltonians. We show that if the total sequence time is fixed the optimal sequence can be used to make the distance between the protected and unperturbed qubit states arbitrarily small in the number of applied pulses. If, on the other hand, the minimum pulse interval is fixed and the total sequence time is allowed to scale with the number of pulses, then longer sequences need not always be advantageous. The rigorous bound may serve as testbed for approximate treatments of optimal decoupling in bounded models of decoherence.

The subtle and fundamental issue of indistinguishability and interference between independent pathways to the same target state is examined in the context of coherent control of atomic and molecular processes, with emphasis placed on possible "which-way" information due to quantum entanglement established in the quantum dynamics. Because quantum interference between independent pathways to the same target state occurs only when the independent pathways are indistinguishable, it is first shown that creating useful coherence (as defined in the paper) between nondegenerate states of a molecule for subsequent quantum interference manipulation cannot be achieved by collisions between atoms or molecules that are prepared in momentum and energy eigenstates. Coherence can, however, be transferred from light fields to atoms or molecules. Using a particular coherent control scenario, it is shown that this coherence transfer and the subsequent coherent phase control can be readily realized by the most classical states of light, i.e., coherent states of light. It is further demonstrated that quantum states of light may suppress the extent of phase-sensitive coherent control by leaking out some which-way information while "incoherent interference control" scenarios proposed in the literature have automatically ensured the indistinguishability of multiple excitation pathways. The possibility of quantum coherence in photodissociation product states is also understood in terms of the disentanglement between photodissociation fragments. Results offer deeper insights into quantum coherence generation in atomic and molecular processes.

We investigate a system consisting of a single, as well as two emitters strongly coupled to surface plasmon modes of a nano-wire using a Green function approach. Explicit expressions are derived for the spontaneous decay rate into the plasmon modes and for the atom-plasmon coupling as well as a plasmon-mediated atom-atom coupling. Phenomena due to the presence of losses in the metal are discussed. In case of two atoms, we observe Dicke sub- and superradiance resulting from their plasmon-mediated interaction. Based on this phenomenon, we propose a scheme for a deterministic two-qubit quantum gate. We also discuss a possible realization of interesting many-body Hamiltonians, such as the spin-boson model, using strong emitter-plasmon coupling.

The interpretation of quantum mechanics has been a problem since its founding days. A large contribution to the discussion of possible interpretations of quantum mechanics is given by the so-called impossibility proofs for hidden variable models; models that allow a realist interpretation. In this thesis some of these proofs are discussed, like von Neumann's Theorem, the Kochen-Specker Theorem and the Bell-inequalities. Some more recent developments are also investigated, like Meyer's nullification of the Kochen-Specker Theorem, the MKC-models and Conway and Kochen's Free Will Theorem. This last one is taken to suggest that the problems that arise for certain interpretations of quantum mechanics are not limited to realist interpretations only, but also affect certain instrumentalist interpretations. It is argued that one may arrive at a more satisfying interpretation of quantum mechanics if one adopts a logic that seems more compatible with the instrumentalist viewpoint namely, intuitionistic logic. The motivations for adopting this form of logic rather than classical logic or quantum logic are linked to some of the philosophical ideas of Bohr. In particular a new interpretation of Bohr's notion of complementarity is proposed. Finally some possibilities are explored for linking the intuitionistic interpretation of quantum mechanics to the mathematical formalism of the theory.

In 1960 Schwinger [J. Schwinger, Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci. 46 (1960) 570- 579] proposed the algorithm for factorization of unitary operators in the finite M dimensional Hilbert space according to a coprime decomposition of M. Using a special permutation operator A we generalize the Schwinger factorization to every decomposition of M. We obtain the factorized pairs of unitary operators and show that they obey the same commutation relations as Schwinger's. We apply the new factorization to two problems. First, we show how to generate two kq-like mutually unbiased bases for any composite dimension. Then, using a Harper-like Hamiltonian model in the finite dimension M = M1M2, we show how to design a physical system with M1 energy levels, each having degeneracy M2.

In Bell inequality tests, the evolution of the wavefunction is not covariant, i.e. not invariant under velocity boost that change the time ordering of events, but the laws that govern the probability distribution of possible results are. In this note I investigate what this could mean and whether there could be some covariant "real quantum stuff". This clarifies the implication of the Free Will Theorem and of relativistic spontaneous localization models based on the flash ontology (rGRWf). Some implications for the concept of time(s) are spelled out.

Local variables can't describe the quantum correlations observed in tests of Bell inequalities. Likewise, we show that nonlocal variables can't describe quantum correlations in a relativistic time-order invariant way.

We induce quantum jumps between the hyperfine ground states of one and two Cesium atoms, strongly coupled to the mode of a high-finesse optical resonator, and analyze the resulting random telegraph signals. We identify experimental parameters to deduce the atomic spin state nondestructively from the stream of photons transmitted through the cavity, achieving a compromise between a good signal-to-noise ratio and minimal measurement-induced perturbations. In order to extract optimum information about the spin dynamics from the photon count signal, a Bayesian update formalism is employed, which yields time-dependent probabilities for the atoms to be in either hyperfine state. We discuss the effect of super-Poissonian photon number distributions caused by atomic motion.

In this paper, we investigate the particle entanglement in 2D weakly-interacting rotating Bose and Fermi gases. We find that both particle localization and vortex localization can be indicated by particle entanglement. We also use particle entanglement to show the occurrence of edge reconstruction of rotating fermions. The different properties of condensate phase and vortex liquid phase of bosons can be reflected by particle entanglement and in vortex liquid phase we construct a trial wave function in the viewpoint of entanglement to relate the ground state with quantum Hall state. Finally, the relation between particle entanglement and interaction strength is studied.

We propose a new scheme for realizing a two-qubit controlled phase gate with superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) coupled to a superconducting resonator. In this scheme, the two lowest levels of each SQUID serve as the logical states and two intermediate levels of each SQUID are used for the gate realization. We show that neither adjustment of SQUID level spacings during the gate operation nor uniformity in SQUID parameters is required by this proposal. In addition, the present scheme does not require the adiabatic passage or a second-order detuning and thus the gate is much faster.

Complete information about the Hamiltonian of a quantum system is sufficient to predict its future behavior with arbitrary accuracy. There is presently no method for efficient estimation of Hamiltonian parameters due to the exponentially rising number of the required experimental configurations with respect to the system degrees of freedom and inherent nonlinear dependence of measurement outcomes on the Hamiltonian parameters. Here, we develop a compressed sensing method for scalable Hamiltonian identification of multipartite quantum systems. We demonstrate that with only O(s log(d)) random measurement settings one can estimate the Hamiltonian of a d-dimensional system, provided that the Hamiltonian is known to be almost s-sparse in a basis. This approach is robust to noise and experimental imperfections in data extraction. We numerically simulate the performance of this algorithm for three- and four-body interactions in spin-coupled quantum dots and atoms in optical lattices. Furthermore, we apply the algorithm to characterize Hamiltonian fine structure and system-bath couplings in open quantum systems.

We present simple protocols for oblivious transfer and password-based identification which are secure against general attacks in the noisy-quantum-storage model as defined in [KWW09]. We argue that a technical tool from [KWW09] suffices to prove security of the known protocols. Whereas the more involved protocol for oblivious transfer from [KWW09] requires less noise in storage to achieve security, our "canonical" protocols have the advantage of being simpler to implement and the security error is easier control. Therefore, our protocols yield higher OT-rates for many realistic noise parameters. Furthermore, the first proof of security of a direct protocol for password-based identification against general noisy-quantum-storage attacks is given.

Quantum coherence of open quantum systems is usually compromised because of the interaction with the ambient environment. A "decoherence-free subspace" (DFS) of the system Hilbert space is defined where the evolution remains unitary. In the absence of a priori existence of such subspaces, it seems natural that utilizing quantum control may help generate and/or retain a decoherence-free evolution. Here, we generalize the traditional notion of DFS, and introduce time-varying DFS wherein the system's density matrix has a unitarily evolving sub-density corresponding to some given set of its eigenvalues (which we aim to preserve). This subspace is characterized from both topological and algebraic perspectives. In particular, we show that this DFS admits a complex vector bundle structure over a real-analytic manifold (the decoherence-free manifold).

We give a theoretical description of a coherently driven opto-mechanical system with a single added photon. The photon source is modeled as a cavity which initially contains one photon and which is irreversibly coupled to the opto-mechanical system. We show that the probability for the additional photon to be emitted by the opto-mechanical cavity will exhibit oscillations under a Lorentzian envelope, when the driven interaction with the mechanical resonator is strong enough. Our scheme provides a feasible route towards quantum state transfer between optical photons and micromechanical resonators.

Here we show that by applying optimal control theory to the design of the refocusing pulses applied in the CPMG sequence we can extend the robust refocusing of the sequence to larger resonance offsets while simultaneously accounting for RF inhomogeneity. In order to compactly characterize the nature and severity of pulse errors that occur during the application of a large number of pulses, we introduce a model that describes the CPMG sequence as a dephasing channel.

We consider tunnelling of a non-relativistic particle across a potential barrier. It is shown that the barrier acts as an effective beam splitter which builds up the transmitted pulse from the copies of the initial envelope shifted in the coordinate space backwards relative to the free propagation. Although along each pathway causality is explicitly obeyed, in special cases reshaping can result an overall reduction of the initial envelope, accompanied by an arbitrary coordinate shift. In the case of a high barrier the delay amplitude distribution (DAD) mimics a Dirac $\delta$-function, the transmission amplitude is superoscillatory for finite momenta and tunnelling leads to an accurate advancement of the (reduced) initial envelope by the barrier width. In the case of a wide barrier, initial envelope is accurately translated into the complex coordinate plane. The complex shift, given by the first moment of the DAD, accounts for both the displacement of the maximum of the transmitted probability density and the increase in its velocity. It is argued that analysing apparent 'superluminality' in terms of spacial displacements helps avoid contradiction associated with time parameters such as the phase time.

The population distribution within the ground-state of an atomic ensemble is of large significance in a variety of quantum optics processes. We present a method to reconstruct the detailed population distribution from a set of absorption measurements with various frequencies and polarizations, by utilizing the differences between the dipole matrix elements of the probed transitions. The technique is experimentally implemented on a thermal rubidium vapor, demonstrating a population-based analysis in two optical pumping examples. The results are used to verify and calibrate an elaborated numerical model, and the limitations of the reconstruction scheme which result from the symmetry properties of the dipole matrix elements are discussed.

We report on the dissipative dynamics of an entangled, bipartite interacting system. We show how to induce and control the so-called early stage disentanglement (and the delayed entanglement generation) dynamics by means of a driving laser field. We demonstrate that some of the features currently associated with pure non-Markovian effects in such entanglement behavior can actually take place in Markovian environments if background noise QED fluctuations are considered. We illustrate this for the case of a dimer interacting molecular system for which emission rates, interaction strength, and radiative corrections have been previously measured. We also show that even in the absence of collective decay mechanisms and qubit-qubit interactions, the entanglement still exhibits collapse-revival behavior. Our results indicate that zero point energy fluctuations should be taken into account when formulating precise entanglement dynamics statements.

We propose and demonstrate scheme for direct experimental testing of quantum commutation relations for Pauli operators. The implemented device is an advanced quantum processor that involves two programmable quantum gates. Depending on a state of two-qubit program register, we can test either commutation or anti-commutation relations. Very good agreement between theory and experiment is observed, indicating high-quality performance of the implemented quantum processor and reliable verification of commutation relations for Pauli operators.

Standard Quantum Mechanics (QM) predicts an anti-intuitive fenomenon here referred to as "quantum autoscattering", which is excluded by Bhomian Mechanics. The scheme of a gedanken experiment testing the QM prediction is briefly discussed.

Measurement based quantum computation (MBQC), which requires only single particle measurements on a universal resource state to achieve the full power of quantum computing, has been recognized as one of the most promising models for the physical realization of quantum computers. Despite considerable progress in the last decade, it remains a great challenge to search for new universal resource states with naturally occurring Hamiltonians, and to better understand the entanglement structure of these kinds of states. Here we show that most of the resource states currently known can be reduced to the cluster state, the first known universal resource state, via adaptive local measurements at a constant cost. This new quantum state reduction scheme provides simpler proofs of universality of resource states and opens up plenty of space to the search of new resource states, including an example based on the one-parameter deformation of the AKLT state studied in [Commun. Math. Phys. 144, 443 (1992)] by M. Fannes et al. about twenty years ago.

The Pancharatnam phase was discovered in the context of amplitude interferometry of polarised light and anticipates Berry's discovery of the geometric phase. We propose a polarised intensity interferometry experiment which measures the nonlocal Pancharatnam phase acquired by a pair of Hanbury Brown-Twiss photons. The experimental setup involves two polarised thermal sources illuminating two polarised detectors. Varying the relative polarisation angle of the detectors introduces a geometric phase equal to half the solid angle traced out on the Poincare sphere by a pair of photons. Local measurements at either detector do not reveal the effects of the phase, which appears only in the coincidence counts of the two detectors and is a genuinely multiparticle and nonlocal effect. The phase is an optical analog of the multiparticle Aharonov-Bohm effect which has been measured in Quantum Hall systems.

The past decade has demonstrated increasing interests in using optimal control based methods within coherent quantum controllable systems. The versatility of such methods has been demonstrated with particular elegance within nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) where natural separation between coherent and dissipative spin dynamics processes has enabled coherent quantum control over long periods of time to shape the experiment to almost ideal adoption to the spin system and external manipulations. This has led to new design principles as well as powerful new experimental methods within magnetic resonance imaging, liquid-state and solid-state NMR spectroscopy. For this development to continue and expand, it is crucially important to constantly improve the underlying numerical algorithms to provide numerical solutions which are optimally compatible with implementation on current instrumentation and at same time are numerically stable and offer fast monotonic convergence towards the target. Addressing such aims, we here present a smoothing monotonically convergent algorithm for pulse sequence design in magnetic resonance which with improved optimization stability lead to smooth pulse sequence easier to implement experimentally and potentially understand within the analytical framework of modern NMR spectroscopy.

We show that the threshold error rates of preparation and measurement for fault tolerant quantum computing can be improved considerably. By removing the dependence on measurements & feedback in quantum error correction using gadgets based on coherent feedback, one can circumvent the problem of noisy and slow measurements present in many physical systems. We develop the method for the Bacon-Shor code, and show fault-tolerant universal quantum computing is achievable when gate error rates are below p_{(g)thresh} = 2.89 x 10^{-5} and, assuming the gate error rate is below the threshold, measurement and preparation error rates can be as high as p_{(p,m)thresh}~7%.

In this Comment, we reanalyze the experiments on the collision frequency shift of the b-c and a-d hyperfine transitions in three-dimensional atomic hydrogen in the presence of, respectively, a and b-state atoms. Accurate consideration of the symmetry of the spatial and spin part of the diatomic wavefunction yields the difference a_T-a_S=0.30(5) \AA between the triplet and singlet s-wave scattering lengths of hydrogen atoms. This corrects the factor-of two error of the commented work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 263003 (2008)].

We consider quantum enhanced measurements with initially mixed states. We show very generally that for any linear propagation of the initial state that depends smoothly on the parameter to be estimated, the sensitivity is bound by the maximal sensitivity that can be achieved for any of the pure states from which the initial density matrix is mixed. This provides a very general proof that purely classical correlations cannot improve the sensitivity of parameter estimation schemes in quantum enhanced measurement schemes.

We show how a single, harmonically trapped atom in a tailored magnetic field can be used for simulating the effects of a broad class of non-abelian gauge potentials. We demonstrate how to implement Rashba or Linear-Dresselhaus couplings, or observe {\em Zitterbewegung} of a Dirac particle.

Intense laser ionization expands Einstein's photoelectric effect rules giving a wealth of phenomena widely studied over the last decades. In all cases, so far, photons were assumed to carry one unit of angular momentum. However it is now clear that photons can possess extra angular momentum, the orbital angular momentum (OAM), related to their spatial profile. We show a complete description of photoionization by OAM photons, including new selection rules involving more than one unit of angular momentum. We explore theoretically the interaction of a single electron atom located at the center of an intense ultraviolet beam bearing OAM, envisaging new scenarios for quantum optics.

Fermionic condensate and the vacuum expectation values of the energy-momentum tensor are investigated for a massive spinor fields in higher-dimensional spacetimes with an arbitrary number of toroidally compactified spatial dimensions. By using the Abel-Plana summation formula and the zeta function technique we present the vacuum expectation values in two different forms. Applications of the general formulae to cylindrical and toroidal carbon nanotubes are given. We show that the topological Casimir energy is positive for metallic cylindrical nanotubes and is negative for semiconducting ones. The toroidal compactification of a cylindrical nanotube along its axis increases the Casimir energy for metallic-type (periodic) boundary conditions along its axis and decreases the Casimir energy for the semiconducting-type compactifications.

We investigate the Wightman function, the vacuum expectation values of the field squared and the energy-momentum tensor for a massless scalar field with general curvature coupling parameter in spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes with an arbitrary number of toroidally compactified dimensions. The topological parts in the expectation values are explicitly extracted and in this way the renormalization is reduced to that for the model with trivial topology. In the limit when the comoving lengths of the compact dimensions are very short compared to the Hubble length, the topological parts coincide with those for a conformal coupling and they are related to the corresponding quantities in the flat spacetime by standard conformal transformation. In the opposite limit of large comoving lengths of the compact dimensions, in dependence of the curvature coupling parameter, two regimes are realized with monotonic or oscillatory behavior of the vacuum expectation values. In the monotonic regime and for nonconformally and nonminimally coupled fields the vacuum stresses are isotropic and the equation of state for the topological parts in the energy density and pressures is of barotropic type. In the oscillatory regime, the amplitude of the oscillations for the topological part in the expectation value of the field squared can be either decreasing or increasing with time, whereas for the energy-momentum tensor the oscillations are damping.

The Casimir effect is investigated in cylindrical and toroidal carbon nanotubes within the framework of the Dirac-like model for the electronic states. The topological Casimir energy is positive for metallic cylindrical nanotubes and is negative for semiconducting ones. The toroidal compactification of a cylindrical nanotube along its axis increases the Casimir energy for metallic-type (periodic) boundary conditions along its axis and decreases the Casimir energy for the semiconducting-type compactifications. For finite length metallic nanotubes the Casimir forces acting on the tube edges are always attractive, whereas for semiconducting-type ones they are attractive for small lengths of the nanotube and repulsive for large lengths.

Careful exploration of the idea that equation for radial wave function must be compatible with the full Schrodinger equation shows appearance of the delta-function while reduction of full Schrodinger equation in spherical coordinates. Elimination of this extra term produces a boundary condition for the radial wave function, which is the same both for regular and singular potentials.

We derive the different forms of BRST symmetry by using the Batalin-Fradkin-Vilkovisky formalism in a rigid rotor. The so called "dual-BRST" symmetry is obtained from usual BRST symmetry by making a canonical transformation in the ghost sector. On the other hand, a canonical transformation in the sector involving Lagrange multiplier and its corresponding momentum leads to a new form of BRST as well as dual-BRST symmetry.

For scalar and electromagnetic fields we evaluate the vacuum expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor induced by a curved boundary in the Robertson--Walker spacetime with negative spatial curvature. In order to generate the vacuum densities we use the conformal relation between the Robertson-Walker and Rindler spacetimes and the corresponding results for a plate moving by uniform proper acceleration through the Fulling--Rindler vacuum. For the general case of the scale factor the vacuum energy-momentum tensor is presented as the sum of the boundary free and boundary induced parts.