The duality principle in the presence of postselection

Scientific Reports
Jonathan LeachRobert W Boyd

Abstract

The duality principle, a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, limits the coexistence of wave and particle behaviours of quantum systems. This limitation takes a quantitative form when applied to the visibility of interference fringes and predictability of paths within a two-alternative system, which are bound by the inequality . However, if such a system is coupled to its environment, it becomes possible to obtain conditional measures of visibility and predictability, i.e. measures that are conditioned on the state of the environment. We show that in this case, the predictability and visibility values can lead to an apparent violation of the duality principle. We experimentally realize this apparent violation in a controlled manner by enforcing a fair-sampling-like loophole via postselection. This work highlights some of the subtleties that one can encounter while interpreting familiar quantities such as which-alternative information and visibility. While we concentrated on an extreme example, it is of utmost importance to realise that such subtleties might also be present in cases where the results are not obviously violating an algebraic bound, making them harder (but not any less crucial) to detect.

References

Mar 15, 1987·Physical Review A: General Physics·T HellmuthW Schleich
Sep 9, 1996·Physical Review Letters·B G Englert
May 23, 2008·Nature·M ArndtA Zeilinger
Jun 4, 2011·Science·Sacha KocsisAephraim M Steinberg
May 26, 2012·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Ralf MenzelWolfgang P Schleich
Aug 13, 2014·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Eliot BolducRobert W Boyd

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