Exploring Quantum Comprehension Through the Elitzur-Vaidman Bomb Testing Problem

Autor(es)

Pinto, Vinicius Pereira ; de Oliveira, Bruno Pereira ; Yasuoka, Fatima Maria Mitsue ; Courteille, Philippe Wilhelm ; de Castro Neto, Jarbas Caiado

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Brazilian Journal of Physics; v. 53, n. 6, p. 7-pg., 2023-12-01.

Resumo

The Elitzur-Vaidman bomb testing problem is a thought experiment in quantum mechanics that explores the concepts of quantum superposition and entanglement. The problem creates a scenario where a bomb is activated by absorbing a single photon and suggests testing that it works without exploding it, so that classically, it is impossible to know if the bomb works without disturbing the system. Therefore, an interferometer with two arms and two outputs is proposed, mounted in such a way that only one of them has positive interference. However, when placing a pump that works in one of the arms, the interference pattern breaks down, and it can be inferred that the pump works without interacting with it. In this work, a methodology is adopted that combines computational simulations and a simple experimental proposal to investigate the concept of interaction-free measurements. The IBM quantum cloud programming language (Qiskit Runtime) is utilized to simulate the experiments, and an experimental approach is proposed that uses simple laser sources to qualitatively test the theory, offering a practical perspective for developing an understanding of quantum concepts. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 13/07276-1 - CEPOF - Centro de Pesquisa em Óptica e Fotônica
• Beneficiário: Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Centros de Pesquisa, Inovação e Difusão - CEPIDs