XXXVI Reunión Bienal de la Real Sociedad Española de Física

Classical physics and the bounds of quantum correlations

17 Jul 2017, 18:15

25m

Aula Química General (Facultad Química (USC))

Oral parallel contribution Quantum Information Quantum Information

Description

The particular set of numerical bounds satisfied by quantum correlations has been intensively studied as a plausible gateway to the first principles of quantum theory, which up to date remain elusive. Here we show that these bounds are indeed not exclusive to quantum theory: for any abstract correlation scenario with compatible measurements, models built on classical waves produce events with probability distributions indistinguishable from those of quantum theory and, therefore, share the same bounds. We demonstrate this finding by implementing classical microwaves that propagate along meter-size transmission-line circuits and reproduce the probabilities of three emblematic quantum experiments [1]. Our results show that the "quantum" bounds would also occur in a classical universe without quanta, where classical fields would be the fundamental physical objects. The implications of this observation will be discussed [2]. [1] D. Frustaglia, J. P. Baltanás, M. C. Velázquez-Ahumada, A. Fernández-Prieto, A. Lujambio, V. Losada, M. J. Freire, and A. Cabello, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 250404 (2016). [2] L. Zyga, 'Quantum' bounds not so quantum after all, Phys.org (July 1st, 2016), https://phys.org/news/2016-07-quantum-bounds.html.