A quantum causal discovery algorithm

Finding a causal model for a set of classical variables is now a well-established task---but what about the quantum equivalent? Even the notion of a quantum causal model is controversial. Here, we present a causal discovery algorithm for quantum systems. The input to the algorithm is a process matrix describing correlations between quantum events. Its output consists of different levels of information about the underlying causal model. Our algorithm determines whether the process is causally ordered by grouping the events into causally-ordered non-signaling sets. It detects if all relevant common causes are included in the process, which we label Markovian, or alternatively if some causal relations are mediated through some external memory. For a Markovian process, it outputs a causal model, namely the causal relations and the corresponding mechanisms, represented as quantum states and channels. Our algorithm provides a first step towards more general methods for quantum causal discovery.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, revised to match published versio

Time-resolved detection of relative intensity squeezed nanosecond pulses in a Rb87 vapor

We present theoretical and experimental results on the generation and detection of pulsed, relative-intensity squeezed light in a hot Rb87 vapor. The intensity noise correlations between a pulsed probe beam and its conjugate, generated through nearly-degenerate four-wave mixing in a double-lambda system, are studied numerically and measured experimentally via time-resolved balanced detection. We predict and observe about -1 dB of time-resolved relative intensity squeezing with 50 nanosecond pulses at 1 MHz repetition rate. (-1.34 dB corrected for loss).Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Semi-device-independent certification of quantum non-Markovianity using sequential Random Access Codes

The characterization of multi-time correlations in open quantum systems is of fundamental importance. In this work, we investigate multi-time processes using the process matrix formalism and show that the presence of a quantum non-Markovian environment plays a significant role in enhancing the communication capacity in sequential prepare-transform-measure Quantum Random Access Codes (QRAC). The correlated environment enables a quantum advantage to multiple parties, even with projective measurements. In particular, we show that the Markovian and classical non-Markovian processes, i.e. quantum processes with classical feedback from the environment, do not yield sequential quantum advantage. In contrast, it is possible to achieve an advantage in the presence of a quantum non-Markovian environment. Therefore this approach allows a semi-device-independent certification of quantum non-Markovianity. As opposed to entanglement-detection criteria which require the knowledge of the complete process, this method allows to certify the presence of a quantum non-Markovian environment from the observed measurement statistics. Moreover, quantum memory ameliorates the unambiguous certifiable region of unsharp instruments in a semi-device-independent manner.Comment: 16 Pages, 9 figure

Witnessing causal nonseparability

Our common understanding of the physical world deeply relies on the notion that events are ordered with respect to some time parameter, with past events serving as causes for future ones. Nonetheless, it was recently found that it is possible to formulate quantum mechanics without any reference to a global time or causal structure. The resulting framework includes new kinds of quantum resources that allow performing tasks - in particular, the violation of causal inequalities - which are impossible for events ordered according to a global causal order. However, no physical implementation of such resources is known. Here we show that a recently demonstrated resource for quantum computation - the quantum switch - is a genuine example of "indefinite causal order". We do this by introducing a new tool - the causal witness - which can detect the causal nonseparability of any quantum resource that is incompatible with a definite causal order. We show however that the quantum switch does not violate any causal nequality.Comment: 15 + 12 pages, 5 figures. Published versio

Causal and causally separable processes

The idea that events are equipped with a partial causal order is central to our understanding of physics in the tested regimes: given two pointlike events A and B, either A is in the causal past of B, B is in the causal past of A, or A and B are space-like separated. Operationally, the meaning of these order relations corresponds to constraints on the possible correlations between experiments performed in the vicinities of the respective events: if A is in the causal past of B, an experimenter at A could signal to an experimenter at B but not the other way around, while if A and B are space-like separated, no signaling is possible in either direction. In the context of a concrete physical theory, the correlations compatible with a given causal configuration may obey further constraints. For instance, space-like correlations in quantum mechanics arise from local measurements on joint quantum states, while time-like correlations are established via quantum channels. Similarly to other variables, however, the causal order of a set of events could be random, and little is understood about the constraints that causality implies in this case. A main difficulty concerns the fact that the order of events can now generally depend on the operations performed at the locations of these events, since, for instance, an operation at A could influence the order in which B and C occur in A's future. So far, no formal theory of causality compatible with such dynamical causal order has been developed. Apart from being of fundamental interest in the context of inferring causal relations, such a theory is imperative for understanding recent suggestions that the causal order of events in quantum mechanics can be indefinite. Here, we develop such a theory in the general multipartite case. Starting from a background-independent definition of causality, we derive an iteratively formulated canonical decomposition of multipartite causal correlations. For a fixed number of settings and outcomes for each party, these correlations form a polytope whose facets define causal inequalities. The case of quantum correlations in this paradigm is captured by the process matrix formalism. We investigate the link between causality and the closely related notion of causal separability of quantum processes, which we here define rigorously in analogy with the link between Bell locality and separability of quantum states. We show that causality and causal separability are not equivalent in general by giving an example of a physically admissible tripartite quantum process that is causal but not causally separable. We also show that there are causally separable quantum processes that become non-causal if extended by supplying the parties with entangled ancillas. This motivates the concepts of extensibly causal and extensibly causally separable (ECS) processes, for which the respective property remains invariant under extension. We characterize the class of ECS quantum processes in the tripartite case via simple conditions on the form of the process matrix. We show that the processes realizable by classically controlled quantum circuits are ECS and conjecture that the reverse also holds.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Spatial modes for testing indefinite causal order

The fundamental notion of fixed order between two events is challenged by formulations of quantum mechanics that makes no reference to a global time. The indefinite causal order arising from these formalisms can be realised using the quantum switch, a device where two operations can act in two different orders simultaneously. Similar to entanglement verification which employ entanglement witness, we verify indefinite causal order using a causal witness. In our experiment, we use polarisation as a control for the order of the operations that act on the spatial mode of a photon. We measure a causal witness value of -0.16±0.013, below the threshold of zero, thus demonstrating indefinite causal order in the quantum switch