Nonclassicality of pure two-qutrit entangled states

We report an exhaustive numerical analysis of violations of local realism by two qutrits in all possible pure entangled states. In Bell type experiments we allow any pairs of local unitary U(3) transformations to define the measurement bases. Surprisingly, Schmidt rank-2 states, resembling pairs of maximally entangled qubits, lead to the most noise-robust violations of local realism. The phenomenon seems to be even more pronounced for four and five dimensional systems, for which we tested a few interesting examples.Comment: 6 pages, journal versio

Operationally Invariant Information in Quantum Measurements

A new measure of information in quantum mechanics is proposed which takes into account that for quantum systems the only feature known before an experiment is performed are the probabilities for various events to occur. The sum of the individual measures of information for mutually complementary observations is invariant under the choice of the particular set of complementary observations and conserved if there is no information exchange with an environment. That operational quantum information invariant results in N bits of information for a system consisting of N qubits.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

The puzzlingly large Ca II triplet absorption in dwarf elliptical galaxies

We present central CaT, PaT, and CaT* indices for a sample of fifteen dwarf elliptical galaxies (dEs). Twelve of these have CaT* ~ 7 A and extend the negative correlation between the CaT* index and central velocity dispersion sigma, which was derived for bright ellipticals (Es), down to 20 < sigma < 55 km/s. For five dEs we have independent age and metallicity estimates. Four of these have CaT* ~ 7 A, much higher than expected from their low metallicities (-1.5 < [Z/H] < -0.5). The observed anti-correlation of CaT* as a function of sigma or Z is in flagrant disagreement with theory. We discuss some of the amendments that have been proposed to bring the theoretical predictions into agreement with the observed CaT*-values of bright Es and how they can be extended to incorporate also the observed CaT*-values of dEs. Moreover, 3 dEs in our sample have CaT* ~ 5 A, as would be expected for metal-poor stellar systems. Any theory for dE evolution will have to be able to explain the co-existence of low-CaT* and high-CaT* dEs at a given mean metallicity. This could be the first direct evidence that the dE population is not homogeneous, and that different evolutionary paths led to morphologically and kinematically similar but chemically distinct objects.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Small-scale systems of galaxies. IV. Searching for the faint galaxy population associated with X-ray detected isolated E+S pairs

In hierarchical evolutionary scenarios, isolated, physical pairs may represent an intermediate phase, or "way station", between collapsing groups and isolated elliptical (E) galaxies (or fossil groups). We started a comprehensive study of a sample of galaxy pairs composed of a giant E and a spiral (S) with the aim of investigating their formation/evolutionary history from observed optical and X-ray properties. Here we present VLT-VIMOS observations designed to identify faint galaxies associated with the E+S systems from candidate lists generated using photometric criteria on WFI images covering an area of ~ 0.2 h^{-1} Mpc radius around the pairs. The results are discussed in the context of the evolution of poor galaxy group associations. A comparison between the Optical Luminosity Functions (OLFs) of our E+S systems and a sample of X-ray bright poor groups suggest that the OLF of X-ray detected poor galaxy systems is not universal. The OLF of our X-ray bright systems suggests that they are more dynamically evolved than our X-ray faint sample and some X-ray bright groups in the literature. However, we suggest that the X-ray faint E+S pairs represent a phase in the dynamical evolution of some X-ray bright poor galaxy groups. The recent or ongoing interaction in which the E member of the X-ray faint pairs is involved could have decreased the luminosity of any surrounding X-ray emitting gas.Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Comment on "Exclusion of time in the theorem of Bell" by K. Hess and W. Philipp

A recent Letter by Hess and Philipp claims that Bell's theorem neglects the possibility of time-like dependence in local hidden variables, hence is not conclusive. Moreover the authors claim that they have constructed, in an earlier paper, a local realistic model of the EPR correlations. However, they themselves have neglected the experimenter's freedom to choose settings, while on the other hand, Bell's theorem can be formulated to cope with time-like dependence. This in itself proves that their toy model cannot satisfy local realism, but we also indicate where their proof of its local realistic nature fails.Comment: Latex needs epl.cl

Experimental realization of Dicke states of up to six qubits for multiparty quantum networking

We report the first experimental generation and characterization of a six-photon Dicke state. The produced state shows a fidelity of F=0.56+/-0.02 with respect to an ideal Dicke state and violates a witness detecting genuine six-qubit entanglement by four standard deviations. We confirm characteristic Dicke properties of our resource and demonstrate its versatility by projecting out four- and five-photon Dicke states, as well as four-photon GHZ and W states. We also show that Dicke states have interesting applications in multiparty quantum networking protocols such as open-destination teleportation, telecloning and quantum secret sharing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX

Characterization of pure quantum states of multiple qubits using the Groverian entanglement measure

The Groverian entanglement measure, G(psi), is applied to characterize a variety of pure quantum states |psi> of multiple qubits. The Groverian measure is calculated analytically for certain states of high symmetry, while for arbitrary states it is evaluated using a numerical procedure. In particular, it is calculated for the class of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, the W states as well as for random pure states of n qubits. The entanglement generated by Grover's algorithm is evaluated by calculating G(psi) for the intermediate states that are obtained after t Grover iterations, for various initial states and for different sets of the marked states.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure

Information and The Brukner-Zeilinger Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: A Critical Investigation

In Brukner and Zeilinger's interpretation of quantum mechanics, information is introduced as the most fundamental notion and the finiteness of information is considered as an essential feature of quantum systems. They also define a new measure of information which is inherently different from the Shannon information and try to show that the latter is not useful in defining the information content in a quantum object. Here, we show that there are serious problems in their approach which make their efforts unsatisfactory. The finiteness of information does not explain how objective results appear in experiments and what an instantaneous change in the so-called information vector (or catalog of knowledge) really means during the measurement. On the other hand, Brukner and Zeilinger's definition of a new measure of information may lose its significance, when the spin measurement of an elementary system is treated realistically. Hence, the sum of the individual measures of information may not be a conserved value in real experiments.Comment: 20 pages, two figures, last version. Section 4 is replaced by a new argument. Other sections are improved. An appendix and new references are adde

On a linear optical implementation of non local product states and on their indistinguishability

In a recent paper Bennett et al.[Phys. Rev.A 59, 1070 (1999)] have shown the existence of a basis of product states of a bipartite system with manifest non-local properties. In particular these states cannot be completely discriminated by means of bilocal measurements. In this paper we propose an optical realization of these states and we will show that they cannot be completely discriminate by means of a global measurement using only optical linear elements, conditional transformation and auxiliary photons