Related papers: Indistinguishability and improper mixtures
The concept of indistinguishable particles in quantum theory is fundamental to questions of ontology. All ordinary matter is made of electrons, protons, neutrons, and photons and they are all indistinguishable particles. Yet the concept…
In quantum systems, entanglement corresponds to nonclassical correlation of nonlocal observables. Thus, entanglement (or, to the contrary, separability) of a given quantum state is not uniquely determined by properties of the state, but may…
We prove that the states secretly chosen from a mixed state set can be perfectly discriminated if and only if these states are orthogonal. The sufficient and necessary condition when nonorthogonal quantum mixed states can be unambiguously…
Quantum coherence is important in quantum mechanics, and its essence is from superposition principle. We study the coherence of any two pure states and that of their arbitrary superposition, and obtain the relationship between them. In the…
State representations summarize our knowledge about a system. When unobservable quantities are introduced the state representation is typically no longer unique. However, this non-uniqueness does not affect subsequent inferences based on…
Mixtures of coherent states are commonly regarded as classical. Here we show that there is a quantum advantage in discriminating between coherent states in a mixture, implying the presence of quantum properties in the mixture, which are…
We present a review on the notion of pure states and mixtures as mathematical concepts that apply for both classical and quantum physical theories, as well as for any other theory depending on statistical description. Here, states will be…
We consider the problem of determining the state of an unknown quantum sequence without error. The elements of the given sequence are drawn with equal probability from a known set of linearly independent pure quantum states with the…
The classical Gibbs paradox concerns the entropy change upon mixing two gases. Whether an observer assigns an entropy increase to the process depends on their ability to distinguish the gases. A resolution is that an "ignorant" observer,…
We investigate the unambiguous comparison of quantum states in a scenario that is more general than the one that was originally suggested by Barnett et al. First, we find the optimal solution for the comparison of two states taken from a…
We discuss the disturbance by measurements which unambiguously discriminate between given candidate states. We prove that such an optimal measurement necessarily changes distinguishable states indistinguishable when the inconclusive outcome…
Unambiguous discrimination and exact cloning reduce the square-overlap between quantum states, exemplifying the more general type of procedure we term state separation. We obtain the maximum probability with which two equiprobable quantum…
At present many of the endeavours in physics are made to recognize in quantum substance classical reality, time, subjectivity, consciousness and many other physical and nonphysical features. The purpose of these remarks is to draw attention…
A set of d quantum states is said to be antidistinguishable if there exists a d-outcome POVM that can perfectly identify which state was not measured. A conjecture by Havl\'i\v{c}ek and Barrett states that if a set of d pure states has…
Quantum coherence plays a fundamental and operational role in different areas of physics. A resource theory has been developed to characterize the coherence of distinguishable particles systems. Here we show that indistinguishability of…
The evolution of observable quantities of finite quantum systems is analyzed when the latter are subject to nondestructive measurements. The type and number of measurements characterize the level of decoherence produced in the system. A…
The problem investigated in this paper is einselection, i. e. the selection of mutually exclusive quantum states with definite probabilities through decoherence. Its study is based on a theory of decoherence resulting from the projection…
We study the local indistinguishability problem of quantum states. By introducing an easily calculated quantity, non-commutativity, we present an criterion which is both necessary and sufficient for the local indistinguishability of a…
The necessary and sufficient condition of separability of a mixed state of any systems is presented, which is practical in judging the separability of a mixed state. This paper also presents a method of finding the disentangled…
The suggestion that particles of the same kind may be indistinguishable in a fundamental sense, even so that challenges to traditional notions of individuality and identity may arise, has first come up in the context of classical…