arXiv subjects

Channa Hatharasinghe

Publications and source records attributed to Channa Hatharasinghe.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Q-based, objective-field model for wave-function collapse: Analyzing measurement on a macroscopic superposition state

In this paper, we examine measurement using the Q-based, objective-field model for quantum mechanics. Schrodinger considered a microscopic system prepared in a superposition of states which is then coupled to a macroscopic meter. We analyze the entangled meter and system, and measurements on it, by solving forward-backward stochastic differential equations for real amplitudes $x(t)$ and $p(t)$ that correspond to the phase-space variables of the Q function of the system at a time $t$. We model the system and meter as single-mode fields, and measurement of $\hat{x}$ by amplification of the amplitude $x(t)$. Our conclusion is that the outcome for the measurement is determined at (or by) the time $t_{m}$, when the coupling to the meter is complete, the meter states being macroscopically distinguishable. There is consistency with macroscopic realism. By evaluating the distribution of the amplitudes $x$ and $p$ postselected on a given outcome of the meter, we show how the $Q$-based model represents a more complete description of quantum mechanics: The variances associated with amplitudes $x$ and $p$ are too narrow to comply with the uncertainty principle, ruling out that the distribution represents a quantum state. We conclude that the collapse of the wavefunction occurs as a two-stage process: First there is an amplification that creates branches of amplitudes $x(t)$ of the meter, associated with distinct eigenvalues. The outcome of measurement is determined by $x(t)$ once amplified, explaining Born's rule. Second, the distribution that determines the final collapse is the state inferred for the system conditioned on the outcome of the meter: information is lost about the meter, in particular, about the complementary variable $p$.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Non-periodic Fourier propagation algorithms for partial differential equations

Spectral methods for partial differential equations (PDEs) with non-periodic boundary conditions arising in computational physics often use polynomial expansions on non-uniform grids. Here, we implement a Fourier method that employs fast trigonometric expansions on a uniform grid with non-periodic boundaries using fast discrete sine transforms (DST) or/and discrete cosine transforms (DCT) to solve parabolic PDEs. We implement this method in two ways: either using a Fourier spectral derivative or a Fourier interaction picture. Both methods can treat vector fields with a combination of Dirichlet and/or Neumann boundary conditions in one or more space dimensions. As examples, we use them to solve a variety of computational physics PDEs with analytical solutions, including the Peregrine solitary wave solution. For the 1D heat equation problem, our method with an interaction picture is accurate up to machine precision. Soluble examples of stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) with non-periodic boundaries in one and two space dimensions, with physics and interdisciplinary applications are also treated. We compare the results obtained from these algorithms with publicly available solvers that use polynomial spectral methods, and study their relative performance and error scaling. Polynomial methods with non-uniform spatial grids have lower spatial discretization errors when the solutions change slowly in space, typically with large spatial grids. For problems with rapid spatial variation, Fourier methods can outperform polynomial expansions, owing to their smaller maximum space interval, and are generally faster due to the computational efficiency of discrete Fourier transform methods. We verified this by making a complexity analysis in which we studied the total error at the optimum combination of time and space steps for a given resource use.

math.NA↗

arXiv2023

The Quantum and Stochastic Toolbox: xSPDE4.2

This is the fourth major release of the xSPDE toolbox, which solves stochastic partial and ordinary differential equations, with applications in biology, chemistry, engineering, medicine, physics and quantum technologies. It computes statistical averages, including time-step and sampling error estimation. xSPDE can provide higher order convergence, Fourier spectra and probability densities. The toolbox has graphical output and $\chi^{2}$ statistics, as well as weighted, projected, or forward-backward equations. It can generate input-output quantum spectra. The equations can have independent periodic, Dirichlet, and Neumann or Robin boundary conditions in any dimension, for any vector component, and at either end of any interval. xSPDE has functions that can numerically solve both ordinary and partial differential stochastic equations of any type, obtaining correlations, probabilities and averages. The toolbox has a core treating stochastic differential equations, with averages, probability distributions and full error estimates. There are stochastic extensions treating applications to partial differential equations, projected equations, quantum stochastic equations, master equations and quantum phase-space simulations including Gaussian boson sampling experiments.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Wigner's Friend paradoxes: consistency with weak-contextual and weak-macroscopic realism models

Wigner's friend paradoxes highlight contradictions between measurements made by Friends inside a laboratory and superobservers outside a laboratory, who have access to an entangled state of the measurement apparatus. The contradictions lead to no-go theorems for observer-independent facts, thus challenging concepts of objectivity. Here, we examine the paradoxes from the perspective of establishing consistency with macroscopic realism. We present versions of the Brukner-Wigner-friend and Frauchiger-Renner paradoxes in which the spin-$1/2$ system measured by the Friends corresponds to two macroscopically distinct states. The local unitary operations $U_{\theta}$ that determine the measurement setting $\theta$ are carried out using nonlinear interactions, thereby ensuring measurements need only distinguish between the macroscopically distinct states. The macroscopic paradoxes are perplexing, seemingly suggesting there is no objectivity in a macroscopic limit. However, we demonstrate consistency with a contextual weak form of macroscopic realism (wMR): The premise wMR asserts that the system can be considered to have a definite spin outcome $\lambda_{\theta}$, at the time after the system has undergone the unitary rotation $U_{\theta}$ to prepare it in a suitable pointer basis. We further show that the paradoxical outcomes imply failure of deterministic macroscopic local realism, and arise when there are unitary interactions $U_{\theta}$ occurring due to a change of measurement setting at both sites, with respect to the state prepared by each Friend. In models which validate wMR, there is a breakdown of a subset of the assumptions that constitute the Bell-Locality premise. A similar interpretation involving a weak contextual form of realism exists for the original paradoxes.

quant-ph↗