arXiv subjects

R. M. Angelo

Publications and source records attributed to R. M. Angelo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Thermodynamic Geometry of Conditional Control

Information is widely regarded as the resource underlying the thermodynamic advantages enabled by conditional control. We show, however, that informational quantities such as Holevo information and accessible distinguishability, although constraining the achievable advantage, do not uniquely determine its thermodynamic value. The missing ingredient is a passive spectral rearrangement vector that characterizes the effect of conditioning on the ensemble. Specifically, the conditional-control advantage is exactly determined by the geometric pairing between this vector and the Hamiltonian energy-gap structure. This result reveals a thermodynamic geometry of conditional control, explains how informationally equivalent ensembles can possess different thermodynamic values, and identifies the passive spectral rearrangement vector as the minimal operational descriptor required to determine the thermodynamic value of conditional control for a fixed Hamiltonian.

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arXiv2025

Quantum observable's reality erasure with spacelike-separated operations

In 1935, Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen argued that quantum mechanics is incomplete based on the assumption that local actions cannot influence elements of reality at a distant location (local realism). In this work, using a recently defined quantum reality quantifier, we show that Alice's local quantum operations can be correlated with the erasure of the reality of observables in Bob's causally disconnected laboratory. To this end, we implement a modified optical quantum eraser experiment, ensuring that Alice's and Bob's measurements remain causally disconnected. Using an entangled pair of photons and quantum state tomography, we experimentally verify that, even with the total absence of any form of classical communication, the choice of quantum operation applied by Alice on her photon is correlated with the erasure of a spatial element of reality of Bob's photon. Our results reveal that Bob's photon can entangle two extra non-interacting degrees of freedom, thus confirming that Bob's photon path is not an element of physical reality.

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arXiv2025

Emergence of classical realism under successive noncommuting measurements

The problem of emergence of classicality from quantum mechanics has been addressed over time through numerous frameworks, from Bohr's correspondence principle to quantum Darwinism. Traditional approaches associate the emergence of classicality with the decoherence process induced by large reservoirs on the system's state. In this work, we present an effective mechanism by which classicality emerges through the establishment of elements of reality. This involves the process of successive monitoring of noncommuting observables. To assess physical reality, we employ the realism criterion introduced by Bilobran and Angelo [EPL, 112 (2015) 40005], as well as their quantifier for the violations of this criterion. With these tools, we formally demonstrate, for generic systems, that a quasi-classical regime can always be reached with a sufficiently large number of incompatible measurements. Thus, instead of diagnosing the emergence of the classical regime in terms of the resulting algebraic characteristics for the density operator under the action of large reservoirs, our results reveal that classicality can emerge, at the level of physical elements of reality, from the coupling of the system with environments of a few degrees of freedom.

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arXiv2024

Quantum violations of joint reality

With basis on (i) the physical principle of local causality and (ii) a certain notion of elements of reality, Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) put forward an argument showing that physical instances may exist in which two non-commuting observables can be joint elements of the physical reality. Here, we introduce a new criterion of joint reality. We demonstrate that, according to this criterion, quantum mechanics generally prevents non-commuting observables from having joint elements of reality. joint elements of reality. In addition, we introduce a measure to quantify the extent to which the criterion is violated and explore the implications of such a measure in connection with incompatibility and correlations. Our findings suggest new manners of interpreting quantum phenomena.

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arXiv2024

Theory-Independent Realism

The distinctive features of quantum mechanics, which set it apart from other physical theories, challenge our notions of realism. Recovering realism from purely philosophical grounds, a quantitative and operational criterion was proposed in the past, but solely for the context of quantum mechanics. We use a framework of generalized probabilistic theories to expand the notion of realism for a theory-independent context, providing a criterion uniquely based on the probabilities assigned to measurement outcomes. More so, using robustness and the Kullback-Leibler divergence, we propose quantifiers for the realism of arbitrary physical properties given a particular state of a generic physical theory. These theory-independent quantifiers are then employed in quantum mechanics and we investigate their relation with another well-established irrealism measure.

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arXiv2022

Quantum realism: axiomatization and quantification

The emergence of an objective reality in line with the laws of the microscopic world has been the focus of longstanding debates. Recent approaches seem to have reached a consensus at least with respect to one aspect, namely, that the encoding of information about a given observable in a physical degree of freedom is a necessary condition for such observable to become an element of the physical reality. Taking this as a fundamental premise and inspired by quantum information theory, here we build an axiomatization for quantum realism -- a notion of realism compatible with quantum theory. Our strategy consists of listing some physically-motivated principles able to characterize quantum realism in a ``metric'' independent manner. We introduce some criteria defining monotones and measures of realism and then search for potential candidates within some celebrated information theories -- those induced by the von Neumann, Rényi, and Tsallis entropies. We explicitly construct some classes of entropic quantifiers that are shown to satisfy (almost all of) the proposed axioms and hence can be taken as faithful estimates for the degree of reality (or definiteness) of a given physical observable. Hopefully, our framework may offer a formal ground for further discussions on foundational aspects of quantum mechanics.

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arXiv2020

Quantum Incompatibility of a Physical Context

Pivotal within quantum physics, the concept of quantum incompatibility is generally related to algebraic aspects of the formalism, such as commutation relations and unbiasedness of bases. Recently, the concept was identified as a resource in tasks involving quantum state discrimination and quantum programmability. Here we link quantum incompatibility with the amount of information that can be extracted from a system upon successive measurements of noncommuting observables, a scenario related to communication tasks. This approach leads us to characterize incompatibility as a resource encoded in a physical context, which involves both the quantum state and observables. Moreover, starting with a measure of context incompatibility we derive a measurement-incompatibility quantifier that is easily computable, admits a geometrical interpretation, and is maximum only if the eigenbases of the involved observables are mutually unbiased.

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arXiv2020

Information-based approach towards a unified resource theory

Resource theories play an important role in quantum information theory, as they identify resourceful states and channels that are potentially useful for the accomplishment of tasks that would be otherwise unreachable. The elementary structure of such theories, which is based on the definition of free states and free operations, successfully accommodates different nonclassical aspects, such as quantum coherence and entanglement, but it is still not clear whether and how far such formal framework can be extended. In this work, by taking information as the most primitive quantum resource and defining resource-destroying operations, we develop a unifying approach that proves able to encompass several nonclassical aspects, including the newly developed concepts of quantum irreality and realism-based nonlocality.

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arXiv2020

Hardy's paradox as a demonstration of quantum irrealism

Hardy's paradox was originally presented as a demonstration, without inequalities, of the incompatibility between quantum mechanics and the hypothesis of local causality. Equipped with newly developed tools that allow for a quantitative assessment of realism, here we revisit Hardy's paradox and argue that non-local causality is not mandatory for its solution; quantum irrealism suffices.

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arXiv2019

Nonlocality, quantum correlations, and violations of classical realism in the dynamics of two noninteracting quantum walkers

That quantum correlations can be generated over time between the spin and the position of a quantum walker is indisputable. The creation of bipartite entanglement has also been reported for two-walker systems. In this scenario, however, since the global state lies in a fourpartite Hilbert space, the question arises as to whether genuine multipartite entanglement may develop in time. Also, since the spatial degrees of freedom can be viewed as a noisy channel for the two-spin part, one may wonder how other nonclassical aspects, such as Bell nonlocality, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering, quantum discord, and symmetrical quantum discord, evolve in time during the walk. The lack of analytical and numerical evidences which would allow one to address these questions is possibly due to the usual computational difficulties associated with the recursive nature of quantum walks. Here, we work around this issue by introducing a simplified Gaussian model which proves to be very accurate within a given domain and powerful for analytical studies. Then, for an instance involving two noninteracting quantum walkers, whose spins start in the singlet state, we quantify the aforementioned nonclassical features as a function of time, and evaluate violations of both realism and related aspects of locality. In addition, we analyze situations in which the initial two-spin state is affected by white noise. The typical scenario found is such that while genuine fourpartite entanglement increases over time, all the investigated nonclassical features vanish (suddenly or asymptotically) except realism-based nonlocality. Moreover, realism is prevented for all finite times. Our findings open perspectives for the understanding of the dynamics of quantum resources in quantum walks.

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arXiv2019

Tripartite realism-based quantum nonlocality

From an operational criterion of physical reality, a quantifier of realism-based nonlocality was recently introduced for two-part quantum states. This measure has shown to capture aspects that are rather different from Bell nonlocality. Here we take a step further and introduce a tripartite realism-based nonlocality quantifier. We show that this measure reduces to genuine tripartite entanglement for a certain class of pure tripartite states and manifests itself in correlated mixed states even in the absence of quantum correlations. A case study for noisy GHZ and W states points out the existence of scenarios where the realism-based nonlocality is monogamous.

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arXiv2019

Quantifying continuous-variable realism

The debate instigated by the seminal works of Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen, and Bell, put the notions of realism and nonlocality at the core of almost all philosophical and physical discussions underlying the foundations of quantum mechanics. However, while experimental criteria and quantifiers are by now well established for nonlocality, there is no clear quantitative measure for the degree of reality associated with continuous variables such as position and momentum. This work aims at filling this gap. Considering position and momentum as effectively discrete observables, we implement an operational notion of projective measurement and, from that, a criterion of reality for theses quantities. Then, we introduce a quantifier for the degree of irreality of a discretized continuous variable which, when applied to the conjugated pair position-momentum, is shown to obey an uncertainty relation, this meaning that quantum mechanics prevents classical realism for conjugated quantities. As an application of our formalism, we study the emergence of elements of reality in an instance where a Gaussian state is submitted to the dissipative dynamics implied by the Caldirola-Kanai Hamiltonian. In particular, at the equilibrium, we make some links with the measurement problem and identify aspects that can be taken as the quantum counterpart for the notion of rest.

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arXiv2019

Resilience of realism-based nonlocality to local disturbance

Employing a procedure called monitoring---via a completely positive trace-preserving map that is able to interpolate between weak and projective measurements---we investigate the resilience of the recently proposed realism-based nonlocality to local and bilocal weak measurements. This analysis indicates realism-based nonlocality as the most ubiquitous and persistent form of quantumness within a wide class of quantum-correlation quantifiers. In particular, we show that the set of states possessing this type of quantumness forms a strict superset of symmetrically discordant states and, therefore, of discordant, entangled, steerable, and Bell-nonlocal states. Moreover, we find that, under monitoring, realism-based nonlocality is not susceptible to sudden death.

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arXiv2018

Weak quantum discord

Originally introduced as the difference between two possible forms of quantum mutual information, quantum discord has posteriorly been shown to admit a formulation according to which it measures a distance between the state under scrutiny and the closest projectively measured (non-discordant) state. Recently, it has been shown that quantum discord results in higher values when projective measurements are substituted by weak measurements. This sounds paradoxical since weaker measurements should imply weaker disturbance and, thus, a smaller distance. In this work we solve this puzzle by presenting a quantifier and an underlying interpretation for what we call weak quantum discord. As a by-product, we introduce the notion of symmetrical weak quantum discord.

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arXiv2018

Information-reality complementarity: The role of measurements and quantum reference frames

Recently, a measure has been put forward which allows for the quantification of the degree of reality of an observable for a given preparation [A. L. O. Bilobran and R. M. Angelo, Europhys. Lett. 112, 40005 (2015)]. Here we employ this quantifier to establish, on formal grounds, relations among the concepts of measurement, information, and physical reality. After introducing mathematical objects that unify weak and projective measurements, we study scenarios showing that an arbitrary-intensity unrevealed measurement of a given observable generally leads to an increase of its reality and also of its incompatible observables. We derive a complementarity relation connecting an amount of information associated with the apparatus with the degree of irreality of the monitored observable. Specifically for pure states, we show that the entanglement with the apparatus precisely determines the amount by which the reality of the monitored observable increases. We also point out some mechanisms whereby the irreality of an observable can be generated. Finally, using the aforementioned tools, we construct a consistent picture to address the measurement problem.

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arXiv2018

Nonanomalous measure of realism-based nonlocality

Based on a recently proposed model of physical reality and an underlying criterion of nonlocality for contexts [A. L. O. Bilobran and R. M. Angelo, Europhys. Lett. {\bf 112}, 40005 (2015)], we introduce a quantifier of realism-based nonlocality for bipartite quantum states, a concept that is profoundly different from Bell nonlocality. We prove that this measure reduces to entanglement for pure states, thus being free of anomalies in arbitrary dimensions, and identify the class of states with null realism-based nonlocality. Then we show that such a notion of nonlocality can be positioned in a low level within the hierarchy of quantumness quantifiers, meaning that it can occur even for separable states. These results open a different perspective for nonlocality studies.

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arXiv2017

Classical-hidden-variable description for entanglement dynamics of two-qubit pure states

A hidden-variable model is explicitly constructed by use of a Liouvillian description for the dynamics of two coupled spin-1/2 particles. In this model, the underlying Hamiltonian trajectories play the role of deterministic hidden variables, whereas the shape of the initial probability distribution figures as a hidden variable that regulates the capacity of the model in producing correlations. We show that even though the model can very well describe the short-time entanglement dynamics of initially separated pure states, it is incapable of violating the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality. Our work suggests that, if one takes the reluctance of a given quantum resource to be emulated by a local-hidden-variable model as a signature of its nonclassicality degree, then one can conclude that entanglement and nonlocality are nonequivalent even in the context of two-qubit pure states.

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arXiv2016

Generalized discord, entanglement, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering, and Bell nonlocality in two-qubit systems under (non-)Markovian channels: Hierarchy of quantum resources and chronology of deaths and births

Generalized quantum discord $(D_q)$, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering $(S)$, entanglement $(E)$, and Bell nonlocality ($N$), are logically distinct quantifiers of quantum correlations. All these measures capture nonclassical aspects of quantum states and play some role as resources in quantum information processing. In this work, we look for the hierarchy satisfied by these quantum correlation witnesses for a class of two-qubit states. We show that $N \triangleright S\triangleright E\triangleright D_q$, meaning that nonlocality implies steering, which in turn implies entanglement, which then implies $q$-discord. For the quantum states under concern, we show that the invariance of this hierarchy under noisy quantum channels directly implies a death chronology. Additionally, we have found that sudden death of all quantum resources except discord is absent only for a subset of states of measure zero. At last, we provide an illustration of another consequence of the aforementioned hierarchy, namely, the existence of a sudden birth chronology under non-Markovian channels.

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