arXiv subjects

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Publications and source records attributed to Dipankar Home.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Quantum key distribution using intra-particle entanglement

We propose the use of intra-particle entanglement to enhance the security of a practical implementation of the Bennett-Brassard-1984 (BB84) quantum key distribution scheme. Intra-particle entanglement is an attractive resource since it can be easily generated using only linear optics. Security is studied under a simple model of incoherent attack for protocols involving two or all five mutually unbiased bases. In terms of efficiency of secret key generation and tolerable error rate, the latter is found to be superior to the former. We find that states that allow secrecy distillation are necessarily entangled, though they may be local. Since more powerful attacks by Eve obviously exist, our result implies that security is a strictly stronger condition than entanglement for these protocols.

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arXiv2013

A testable prediction of the no-signalling condition using a variant of the EPR-Bohm example

Predictive power of the no-signalling condition (NSC) is demonstrated in a testable situation involving a non-ideal Stern-Gerlach (SG) device in one of the two wings of the EPR-Bohm entangled pairs. In this wing, for two types of measurement in the other wing, we consider the spin state of a selected set of particles that are confined to a particular half of the plane while emerging from the SG magnetic field region. Due to non-idealness of the SG setup, this spin state will have superposing components involving a relative phase for which a testable quantitative constraint is obtained by invoking NSC, thereby providing a means for precision testing of this fundamentally significant principle.

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arXiv2011

Leggett-type nonlocal realist inequalities without any constraint on the geometrical alignment of measurement settings

Leggett-type nonlocal realist inequalities that have been derived to date are all contingent upon suitable geometrical constraints to be strictly satisfied by the spatial arrangement of the relevant measurement settings. This undesirable restriction is removed in the present work by deriving appropriate forms of nonlocal realist inequalities, one of which involve the least number of settings compared to all such inequalities derived earlier. The way such inequalities would provide a logically firmer basis for a clearer testing of Leggett-type nonlocal realist model vis-a-vis quantum mechanics is explained.

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arXiv2010

Communicating with a wave packet using quantum superarrival

An analytical treatment of a propagating wave packet incident on a transient barrier reveals a counterintuitive quantum mechanical effect in which, for a particular time interval, the time-varying transmission probability {\it exceeds} (`superarrival') that for the free propagation of the wave packet. It is found that the speed with which the information about the barrier perturbation propagates across the wave packet can exceed the group velocity of the wave packet. An interesting implication of this effect regarding information transfer is analyzed by showing one-to-one correspondence between the strength of the barrier and the magnitude of `superarrival'.

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arXiv2010

On the possibility of empirically probing the Bohmian model in terms of the testability of quantum arrival/transit time distribution

The present article focuses on studying the extent to which the nonuniqueness that is inherent in the standard quantum mechanical calculation of arrival/transit time distribution can be exploited to enable an empirical scrutiny of any causal trajectory model such as the Bohmian scheme. For this purpose, we consider the example of spin-1/2 neutral particles corresponding to a wave packet which passes through a spin rotator(SR) that contains constant magnetic field confined within a region - in such a case, the transit time distribution can be measured in terms of the spin distribution of particles emerging from the SR. In particular, we investigate the way one can compare the Bohmian predictions obtained for this example with that using one of the quantum approaches, say, the probability current density based scheme. Here the Bohmian calculational procedure involves a couple of critical subtleties that lead to some specific directions for further studies.

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arXiv2010

Quantum mechanical effect of path-polarization contextuality for a single photon

Using measurements pertaining to a suitable Mach-Zehnder(MZ) type setup, a curious quantum mechanical effect of contextuality between the path and the polarization degrees of freedom of a polarized photon is demonstrated, without using any notion of realism or hidden variables - an effect that holds good for the product as well as the entangled states. This form of experimental context-dependence is manifested in a way such that at \emph{either} of the two exit channels of the MZ setup used, the empirically verifiable \emph{subensemble} statistical properties obtained by an arbitrary polarization measurement depend upon the choice of a commuting(comeasurable) path observable, while this effect disappears for the \emph{whole ensemble} of photons emerging from the two exit channels of the MZ setup.

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arXiv2010

Information transfer using a single particle path-spin hybrid entangled state

The path-spin entangled state of a single spin-1/2 particle is considered which is generated by using a beam-spitter and a spin-flipper. Using this hybrid entanglement at the level of a single particle as a resource, we formulate a protocol for transferring of the state of an unknown qubit to a distant location. Our scheme is implemented by a sequence of unitary operations along with suitable spin-measurements, as well as by using classical communication between the two spatially separated parties. This protocol, thus, demonstrates the possibility of using intraparticle entanglement as a physical resource for performing information theoretic tasks.

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arXiv2010

Reply to the "Comment on 'Contextuality within quantum mechanics manifested in subensemble mean values[Phys. Lett. A 373(2009)3430, arXiv:0912.3570]' "

In this reply, we point out that the claim by De Zela[2] is unjustified because the setup he discusses is \emph{not} equivalent to the setup analysed in our paper[1]. Hence his subsequent argument claiming the reproducibility of our demonstrated quantum effect of path-spin contextuality by the Kochen-Specker realist model is \emph{not} relevant.

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arXiv2010

Swapping path-spin intraparticle entanglement onto spin-spin interparticle entanglement

Based on a scheme that produces an entanglement between the spin and the path variables of a single spin-1/2 particle (qubit) using a beam-splitter and a spin-flipper, we formulate a procedure for transferring this intraparticle hybrid entanglement to an interparticle entanglement between the spin variables of two other spatially separated spin-1/2 particles which never interact with each other during the entire process. This procedure of entanglement swapping is accomplished by a Mach-Zehnder setup in conjunction with the Stern-Gerlach measuring device, using suitable unitary operations. The proposed protocol, thus, enables the use of intraparticle entanglement as a resource - a feature that has remained unexplored.

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arXiv2009

Contextuality within quantum mechanics manifested in subensemble mean values

For spin-1/2 particles, using a suitable Mach-Zehnder-type setup with a spin-flipper, we argue that it is a direct consequence of the quantum mechanical treatment that an experimentally verifiable \textit{subensemble} mean of the measured values of an arbitrarily chosen spin variable exhibits dependence on the choice of a comeasurable `path' observable. This, in turn, enables inferring path-spin contextuality at the level of individual measured values of spin that are predetermined using a relevant hidden-variable model applied to our setup.

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arXiv2009

State-independent quantum violation of noncontextuality in four dimensional space using five observables and two settings

Recently, a striking experimental demonstration [G. Kirchmair \emph{et al.}, Nature, \textbf{460}, 494(2009)] of the state-independent quantum mechanical violation of non-contextual realist models has been reported for any two-qubit state using suitable choices of \emph{nine} product observables and \emph{six} different measurement setups. In this report, a considerable simplification of such a demonstration is achieved by formulating a scheme that requires only \emph{five} product observables and \emph{two} different measurement setups. It is also pointed out that the relevant empirical data already available in the experiment by Kirchmair \emph{et al.} corroborate the violation of the NCR models in accordance with our proof.

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arXiv2009

An interplay between nonlocality and quantum violation of path-spin noncontextuality

In terms of a suitable variant of the EPR-Bohm example, we argue that the quantum mechanically predicted and experimentally verified violation of a Bell-type path-spin noncontextual realist inequality for an `intraparticle' path-spin entanglement involving single neutrons can be used to infer a form of nonlocality, distinct from Bell-type nonlocality, that is required for any relevant hidden variable model to be compatible with the quantum mechanical treatment of an EPR-Bohm-type `interparticle' entanglement.

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arXiv2009

Using the no-signaling condition for constraining the nonidealness of a Stern-Gerlach setup

On the basis of a variant of the EPR-Bohm example, we show that the no-signaling condition can be employed as a useful tool for deriving a constraint on a suitably defined measure of the `nonidealness' of a Stern-Gerlach(SG) setup. In this demonstration, a key ingredient is provided by the characteristics of the exact solution of the time-dependent Schroedinger equation as applied to a most general SG setup.

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arXiv2009

Quantitative probing of quantum-classical transition for the arrival time distribution

The classical limit problem of quantum mechanics is revisited on the basis of a scheme that enables a quantitative study of the way the quantum-classical agreement emerges while going through the intermediate mass range between the microscopic and the macroscopic domains. As a specific application of such a scheme, we investigate the classical limit of a quantum time distribution - an area of study that has remained largely unexplored. For this purpose, we focus on the arrival time distribution in order to examine the way the observable results pertaining to the quantum arrival time distribution which is defined in terms of the probability current density gradually approach the relevant classical statistical results for an ensemble that corresponds to a Gaussian wave packet evolving in a linear potential.

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arXiv2009

Superdense coding using the quantum superposition principle

By sending a classical two-level system, one can transfer information about only \emph{two} distinguishable outcomes. Here we show that in quantum mechanics, using both the spin and path degrees of freedom of a spin-1/2 particle, and a Mach-Zehnder type interferometric arrangement with two suitable Stern-Gerlach detectors, it is possible to transfer information about \emph{four} distinguishable outcomes. This procedure does \emph{not} require using quantum entanglement as a resource as in the well-known protocol of dense coding, but instead hinges entirely on the quantum superposition principle. We also study probabilistic dense coding using our set-up and show that the dense coding scheme using quantum superposition cannot be optimized any further by extending the interferometric arrangement with more beam splitters.

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arXiv2008

Bell's Inequality, Quantum Measurement and Einstein Realism: A Unified Perspective

The logical foundations of Bell's inequality are reexamined. We argue that the form of the reality condition that underpins Bell's inequality comes from the requirement of solving the quantum measurement problem. Hence any violation of Bell's inequality necessarily implies nonlocality because of the measurement problem. The differences in the implications of deterministic and stochastic formulations of Bell's inequality are highlighted. The reality condition used in Bell's inequality is shown to be a generalisation of Einstein's later form of realism.

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arXiv2007

Distinguishability of apparatus states in quantum measurement in the Stern-Gerlach experiment

In the context of the quantum mechanical modelling of a measurement process using the Stern-Gerlach setup, we critically examine the relationship between the notion of `distinguishability' of apparatus states defined in terms of the inner product and spatial separation among the emerging wave packets. We show that, in general, the mutual orthogonality of these wave packets does not necessarily imply their unambiguous spatial separation even in the asymptotic limit. A testable scheme is formulated to quantify such departures from `idealness' for a range of relevant parameters.

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arXiv2007

Quantum time of flight distribution for cold trapped atoms

The time of flight distribution for a cloud of cold atoms falling freely under gravity is considered. We generalise the probability current density approach to calculate the quantum arrival time distribution for the mixed state describing the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of velocities for the falling atoms. We find an empirically testable difference between the time of flight distribution calculated using the quantum probability current and that obtained from a purely classical treatment which is usually employed in analysing time of flight measurements. The classical time of flight distribution matches with the quantum distribution in the large mass and high temperature limits.

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