Antum Entanglement in Time
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antum Entanglement in Time by Del Rajan A thesis submied to the Victoria University of Wellington in fullment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University of Wellington 2020 Abstract is thesis is in the eld of quantum information science, which is an area that reconceptualizes quantum physics in terms of information. Central to this area is the quantum eect of entanglement in space. It is an interdependence among two or more spatially separated quantum systems that would be impossible to replicate by classical systems. Alternatively, an entanglement in space can also be viewed as a resource in quantum information in that it allows the ability to perform information tasks that would be impossible or very dicult to do with only classical information. Two such astonishing applications are quantum com- munications which can be harnessed for teleportation, and quantum computers which can drastically outperform the best classical supercomputers. In this thesis our focus is on the theoretical aspect of the eld, and we provide one of the rst expositions on an analogous quantum eect known as entanglement in time. It can be viewed as an interdependence of quantum systems across time, which is stronger than could ever exist between classical systems. We explore this temporal eect within the study of quantum information and its foundations as well as through relativistic quantum information. An original contribution of this thesis is the design of one of the rst quantum information applications of entanglement in time, namely a quantum blockchain. We describe how the entanglement in time provides the quantum advantage over a classical blockchain. Furthermore, the information encoding procedure of this quantum blockchain can be interpreted as non-classically inuencing the past, and hence the system can be viewed as a ‘quantum time machine.’ Acknowledgements Somtimes a few words carry more weight: ere have been an eclectic set of men- tors and books in my life that were pivotal to my positive development. However there is truly one mentor who I owe so much to, and who has impacted my life the most in a positive way. And that is my supervisor, Professor Ma Visser. Ma gave me an opportunity when I needed it the most in my life; I am not really sure where I would have been without it. He taught me so much about theoretical physics, supervised me with care, and his work especially on wormholes inspired me. I am extraordinarily grateful to be trained under this great scientist. ank you Ma. Dedicated to Albert Einstein1 1It was a temporal narrative (the twin paradox) from his theories of relativity that shocked a less than ordinary boy to rst open the door to the magical world of theoretical physics. vi Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Classical Information 7 2.1 Review of Probability eory . .7 2.2 Classical Communication . 12 2.3 Classical Computing . 19 2.4 Classical Blockchain . 22 3 antum Information 29 3.1 Review of Linear Algebra . 30 3.2 bits . 39 3.3 Density Operators . 51 3.4 Entropy . 56 4 antum Entanglement 69 4.1 Entanglement in Space . 70 4.2 Application: antum Communication . 87 4.3 Application: antum Computing . 100 4.4 Entanglement in Time . 111 4.5 Application: antum Blockchain . 124 vii Contents viii 5 antum Foundations 137 5.1 antum Measurements . 138 5.2 Non-locality across Space . 163 5.3 Non-locality across Time . 183 6 Relativistic antum Information 197 6.1 Review of Relativity . 198 6.2 antum Fields . 203 6.3 Spacelike Entanglement . 211 6.4 Timelike Entanglement . 217 7 Conclusion 221 7.1 Summary . 222 7.2 antum Time Machines . 223 7.3 What is antum Information? . 225 1 Contents One of the fourteen untitled pieces from Francisco Goya’s Black Paintings series. “antum mechanics: Real Black Magic Calculus” - Albert Einstein Contents 2 1 Introduction “Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.” – Niels Bohr, co-inventor of quantum theory THIS THESIS explores the most shocking temporal eects in quantum physics. ese recently discovered phenomena violently overthrow the classical picture of the world [1]. Each of these eects has been described as an ‘entanglement in time’ and yet arise from dierent contexts within quantum physics. is thesis collects these results to provide one of the rst systematic expositions on entan- glement in time, which also entails a comparison with the extensively researched entanglement in space. Furthermore, this project is carried out using the theo- retical framework of quantum information science [2]. antum information science reconceptualizes quantum physics in terms of in- formation. It is the theoretical and experimental study of quantum information and its applications. It can be regarded as a fundamental subject in that it distils questions on the nature of quantum physics to distinctions between quantum in- formation and classical information. One very powerful advantage of quantum information is that it can contain a resource known as entanglement in space. As a result, quantum information has the ability to perform information tasks that would be impossible or very dicult to do with only classical information. One prominent example of such tasks is quantum communication which can be used to teleport quantum information. Another remarkable example are quan- 3 1. Introduction 4 tum computers which can be shown to eciently solve problems that would be infeasible to perform on any classical computer that could ever be built. Both of these applications of entanglement in space are major research programs, and hence emphasizes the crucial role of this resource in quantum information. Apart from its importance, entanglement in space is a perplexing phenomenon when expressed in terms of the physical systems that instantiate the quantum information. It can be described as an interdependence among two or more spa- tially separated quantum information systems in which any one system can in- stantaneously aect the other systems that can in principle be arbitrarily far. Entanglement in time, of which we bring to light in this thesis, corresponds to an analogous eect. It can be viewed as an interdependence of quantum infor- mation systems across time, which is stronger than could ever exist between classical information systems; it can even arise for the case of a single system (across multiple times). Moreover, the interpretations associated with each man- ifestation of the eect are far more bizarre; for example, a newly created photon can aect the physical description of a photon in the past that has long since been destroyed; in another scenario, a quantum detector that is switched on and o at say quarter to 12:00 can form a non-classical interdependence with another detector at the same spatial location in the future, but only if the future detector waits to be switched on and o at precisely quarter past 12:00. To gain a deeper understanding of these eects, a natural question that arises is if there is a common trait that marks these various entanglement phenomena as shocking? is is a challenging question given that these eects are theoretically expressed using dierent mathematical areas; we can conceive of a large number of factors that contribute to its radical departure from classical properties. is project provides an insight towards an answer, and captures this in the form of the following overarching theme of this thesis: e interdependence in any entanglement in space is shocking due to the absense of a time interval involved. e interdependence in any entanglement in time is shocking due to the existence of a time interval involved. To elaborate on this observation, in an entanglement in space the ability of a system to instantaneously aect a distant system signies a lack of a time interval. Introducing a time interval in this scenario will only 5 make the eect clash less harshly with our classical intuition (as it allows for an explanation involving hidden causal signals of some form or the other); such an insight regarding this spatial case was rst expressed in the concluding remarks in [3]. However in an entanglement in time, it is precisely the introduction of a time interval that makes the eect completely unpalatable to the mind of a classical physicist. is is non-trivial as it was already noted that a time interval allows for a classical dependence among systems across time in the form of a causal relationship. We aim to provide a compelling case for this theme. In quantum information science, both quantum communications and quantum computers are established applications of entanglement in space. A central aim of the eld is the creation of new quantum information applications. In this thesis, we make an original contribution by designing one of the rst novel ap- plications of entanglement in time, namely a quantum blockchain. In our mathe- matical design, we show that the entanglement in time (as opposed to an entan- glement in space) provides the quantum advantage over a classical blockchain. Furthermore, the information encoding procedure of this quantum blockchain can be interpreted as non-classically inuencing the past, and hence the system can be viewed as a ‘quantum time machine.’ is advancement forms one piece of the various original works and insights presented in this thesis. Rather than provide a chronological presentation, our thesis will place the en- tanglements in quantum information science as the conceptual core and coher- ently organize the diverse topics as backgrounds or extensions of this core. We believe this approach achieves the most clarity. Hence the structure of this the- sis is as follows: In Chapter 2, we provide mathematical descriptions of classi- cal information and highlight three of its applications. ese fall under the re- spective sections of classical communications, classical computers and classical blockchains.