English

Hunting for the Quantum Cheshire Cat

Quantum Physics 2013-12-06 v2 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Abstract

We analyze the proposal of Aharonov, Popescu, Rohrlich and Skrzypczyk [New. J. Phys. 15, 113015] of disembodying physical properties from particles. We argue that a different criterion, based on the cross-average cat somewhere\mbox×grin somewhere else\mbox\langle \mathrm{`}cat\ somewhere \mbox{'}\times \mathrm{`}grin\ somewhere\ else\mbox{'}\rangle should be used to detect the disembodiment, rather than the local averages cat somewhere\mbox\langle \mathrm{`}cat\ somewhere \mbox{'}\rangle and grin somewhere else\mbox\langle\mathrm{`}grin\ somewhere\ else\mbox{'}\rangle. Here, the exact probability distribution and its characteristic function are derived for arbitrary coupling strength, preparation and post-selection. This allows to successfully hunt down the quantum Cheshire cat, showing that it is a consequence of interference, that it is present also for intermediate-strength measurements, and that it is a rather common occurrence in post-selected measurements.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1205.3755,
  title  = {Hunting for the Quantum Cheshire Cat},
  author = {Antonio Di Lorenzo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1205.3755},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

v2: 16 pages, revised the criterion to identify the Cheshire cat

R2 v1 2026-06-21T21:05:14.094Z