Published December 1, 2017 | Version v1
Journal article

Equivalence between contextuality and negativity of the Wigner function for qudits

  • 1. IQIM, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States)
  • 2. Department of Mathematics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario (Canada)
  • 3. Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin (Germany)
  • 4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London (United Kingdom)
  • 5. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Canada)

Description

Understanding what distinguishes quantum mechanics from classical mechanics is crucial for quantum information processing applications. In this work, we consider two notions of non-classicality for quantum systems, negativity of the Wigner function and contextuality for Pauli measurements. We prove that these two notions are equivalent for multi-qudit systems with odd local dimension. For a single qudit, the equivalence breaks down. We show that there exist single qudit states that admit a non-contextual hidden variable model description and whose Wigner functions are negative. (paper)

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aa8fe3

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
New Journal of Physics
Journal Volume
19
Journal Issue
12
Journal Page Range
[12 p.]
ISSN
1367-2630

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
52031020
Subject category
S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS;
Descriptors DEI
CLASSICAL MECHANICS; DATA PROCESSING; HIDDEN VARIABLES; QUANTUM INFORMATION; QUANTUM MECHANICS; QUANTUM SYSTEMS; WIGNER THEORY
Descriptors DEC
INFORMATION; MECHANICS; PROCESSING