• Open Access

Emergence of Constructor-Based Irreversibility in Quantum Systems: Theory and Experiment

Chiara Marletto, Vlatko Vedral, Laura T. Knoll, Fabrizio Piacentini, Ettore Bernardi, Enrico Rebufello, Alessio Avella, Marco Gramegna, Ivo Pietro Degiovanni, and Marco Genovese
Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 080401 – Published 23 February 2022
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Abstract

How irreversibility arises in a universe with time-reversal symmetric laws is a central problem in physics. In this Letter, we discuss a radically different take on the emergence of irreversibility, adopting the recently proposed constructor theory framework. Irreversibility is expressed as the requirement that a task is possible, while its inverse is not. We prove the compatibility of such irreversibility with quantum theory’s time-reversal symmetric laws, using a dynamical model based on the universal quantum homogenizer. We also test the physical realizability of this model by means of an experimental demonstration with high-quality single-photon qubits.

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  • Received 18 June 2021
  • Accepted 14 January 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.080401

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Quantum Information, Science & TechnologyAtomic, Molecular & OpticalGeneral Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Chiara Marletto and Vlatko Vedral

  • Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom and Fondazione ISI, Via Chisola 5, Torino, Italy and Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543 and Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117542

Laura T. Knoll, Fabrizio Piacentini, Ettore Bernardi, Enrico Rebufello, Alessio Avella, and Marco Gramegna

  • Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Strada delle Cacce 91, 10135 Torino, Italy

Ivo Pietro Degiovanni and Marco Genovese

  • Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Strada delle Cacce 91, 10135 Torino, Italy and INFN, sezione di Torino, via P. Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy

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Issue

Vol. 128, Iss. 8 — 25 February 2022

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