Quantum Zeno effect

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The quantum Zeno effect is a situation in which an unstable particle, if observed continuously, will never decay.[1] The term was coined by George Sudarshan and Baidyanath Misra of the University of Texas in 1977. One can "freeze" the evolution of the system by measuring it frequently enough in its (known) initial state. The meaning of the term has since expanded, leading to a more technical definition in which time evolution can be suppressed not only by measurement: the quantum Zeno effect is the suppression of unitary time evolution caused by quantum decoherence in quantum systems provided by a variety of sources: measurement, interactions with the environment, stochastic fields, and so on.[2] As an outgrowth of study of the quantum Zeno effect, it has become clear that applying a series of sufficiently strong and fast pulses with appropriate symmetry can also decouple a system from its decohering environment.[3]

The name comes from Zeno's arrow paradox which states that, since an arrow in flight is not seen to move during any single instant, it cannot possibly be moving at all.[note 1]

The first rigorous and general derivation of this effect was presented in 1974 by Degasperis et al. [4] However it has to be mentioned that Alan Turing described it in 1954:[5]

It is easy to show using standard theory that if a system starts in an eigenstate of some observable, and measurements are made of that observable N times a second, then, even if the state is not a stationary one, the probability that the system will be in the same state after, say, one second, tends to one as N tends to infinity; that is, that continual observations will prevent motion …

— Alan Turing as quoted by A. Hodges in Alan Turing: Life and Legacy of a Great Thinker p. 54

resulting in the earlier name Turing paradox. The idea is contained in the early work by John von Neumann, sometimes called the reduction postulate.[6] It was shown that the quantum Zeno effect of a single system is equivalent to the indetermination of the quantum state of a single system.[7][8]

According to the reduction postulate, each measurement causes the wavefunction to "collapse" to a pure eigenstate of the measurement basis. In the context of this effect, an "observation" can simply be the absorption of a particle, without an observer in any conventional sense. However, there is controversy over the interpretation of the effect, sometimes referred to as the "measurement problem" in traversing the interface between microscopic and macroscopic.[9][10]

One should also mention another crucial problem related to the effect. It has been thoroughly discussed in a paper by Ghirardi "et al".[11] The problem is strictly connected to the time-energy indeterminacy relation. If one wants to make the measurement process more and more frequent, one has to correspondingly decrease the time duration of the measurement itself. But the request that the measurement last only a very short time implies that the energy spread of the state on which reduction occurs becomes more and more large. However, the deviations from the exponential decay law for small times, is crucially related to the inverse of the energy spread so that the region in which the deviations are appreciable shrinks when one makes the measurement process duration shorter and shorter. An explicit evaluation of these two competing requests shows that it is inappropriate to deal, without taking into account this basic fact, with the actual occurrence and emergence of Zeno's effect.

Closely related (and sometimes not distinguished from the quantum Zeno effect) is the watchdog effect, in which the time evolution of a system is affected by its continuous coupling to the environment.[12][13]

Description

Unstable quantum systems are predicted to exhibit a short time deviation from the exponential decay law.[14][15] This universal phenomenon has led to the prediction that frequent measurements during this nonexponential period could inhibit decay of the system, one form of the quantum Zeno effect. Subsequently, it was predicted that an enhancement of decay due to frequent measurements could be observed under somewhat more general conditions, leading to the so-called anti-Zeno effect.[note 2]

In quantum mechanics, the interaction mentioned is called "measurement" because its result can be interpreted in terms of classical mechanics. Frequent measurement prohibits the transition. It can be a transition of a particle from one half-space to another (which could be used for atomic mirror in an atomic nanoscope[16]) as in the time of arrival problem,[17][18] a transition of a photon in a waveguide from one mode to another, and it can be a transition of an atom from one quantum state to another. It can be a transition from the subspace without decoherent loss of a q-bit to a state with a q-bit lost in a quantum computer.[19][20] In this sense, for the q-bit correction, it is sufficient to determine whether the decoherence has already occurred or not. All these can be considered as applications of the Zeno effect.[21] By its nature, the effect appears only in systems with distinguishable quantum states, and hence is inapplicable to classical phenomena and macroscopic bodies.

Various realizations and general definition

The treatment of the Zeno effect as a paradox is not limited to the processes of quantum decay. In general, the term Zeno effect is applied to various transitions, and sometimes these transitions may be very different from a mere "decay" (whether exponential or non-exponential).

One realization refers to the observation of an object (Zeno's arrow, or any quantum particle) as it leaves some region of space. In the 20th century, the trapping (confinement) of a particle in some region by its observation outside the region was considered as nonsensical, indicating some non-completeness of quantum mechanics.[22] Even as late as 2001, confinement by absorption was considered as a paradox.[23] Later, similar effects of the suppression of Raman scattering was considered an expected effect,[24][25][26] not a paradox at all. The absorption of a photon at some wavelength, the release of a photon (for example one that has escaped from some mode of a fiber), or even the relaxation of a particle as it enters some region, are all processes that can be interpreted as measurement. Such a measurement suppresses the transition, and is called the Zeno effect in the scientific literature.

In order to cover all of these phenomena (including the original effect of suppression of quantum decay), the Zeno effect can be defined as a class of phenomena in which some transition is suppressed by an interaction — one that allows the interpretation of the resulting state in the terms transition did not yet happen and transition has already occurred, or The proposition that the evolution of a quantum system is halted if the state of the system is continuously measured by a macroscopic device to check whether the system is still in its initial state.[27]

Periodic measurement of a quantum system

Consider a system in a state A, which is the eigenstate of some measurement operator. Say the system under free time evolution will decay with a certain probability into state B. If measurements are made periodically, with some finite interval between each one, at each measurement, the wave function collapses to an eigenstate of the measurement operator. Between the measurements, the system evolves away from this eigenstate into a superposition state of the states A and B. When the superposition state is measured, it will again collapse, either back into state A as in the first measurement, or away into state B. However, its probability of collapsing into state B, after a very short amount of time t, is proportional to t², since probabilities are proportional to squared amplitudes, and amplitudes behave linearly. Thus, in the limit of a large number of short intervals, with a measurement at the end of every interval, the probability of making the transition to B goes to zero.

According to decoherence theory, the collapse of the wave function is not a discrete, instantaneous event. A "measurement" is equivalent to strongly coupling the quantum system to the noisy thermal environment for a brief period of time, and continuous strong coupling is equivalent to frequent "measurement". The time it takes for the wave function to "collapse" is related to the decoherence time of the system when coupled to the environment. The stronger the coupling is, and the shorter the decoherence time, the faster it will collapse. So in the decoherence picture, a perfect implementation of the quantum Zeno effect corresponds to the limit where a quantum system is continuously coupled to the environment, and where that coupling is infinitely strong, and where the "environment" is an infinitely large source of thermal randomness.

Experiments and discussion

Experimentally, strong suppression of the evolution of a quantum system due to environmental coupling has been observed in a number of microscopic systems.

In 1989, David J. Wineland and his group at NIST[28] observed the quantum Zeno effect for a two-level atomic system that was interrogated during its evolution. Approximately 5000 9Be+ ions were stored in a cylindrical Penning trap and laser cooled to below 250 mK. A resonant RF pulse was applied which, if applied alone, would cause the entire ground state population to migrate into an excited state. After the pulse was applied, the ions were monitored for photons emitted due to relaxation. The ion trap was then regularly "measured" by applying a sequence of ultraviolet pulses, during the RF pulse. As expected, the ultraviolet pulses suppressed the evolution of the system into the excited state. The results were in good agreement with theoretical models. A recent review describes subsequent work in this area.[29]

In 2001, Mark G. Raizen and his group at the University of Texas at Austin, observed the quantum Zeno effect for an unstable quantum system,[30] as originally proposed by Sudarshan and Misra.[1] They also observed an anti-Zeno effect. Ultracold sodium atoms were trapped in an accelerating optical lattice and the loss due to tunneling was measured. The evolution was interrupted by reducing the acceleration, thereby stopping quantum tunneling. The group observed suppression or enhancement of the decay rate, depending on the regime of measurement.

The Quantum Zeno Effect is used in commercial atomic magnetometers and naturally by birds' magnetic compass sensory mechanism (magnetoreception).[31]

It is still an open question how closely one can approach the limit of an infinite number of interrogations due to the Heisenberg uncertainty involved in shorter measurement times. In 2006, Streed et al. at MIT observed the dependence of the Zeno effect on measurement pulse characteristics.[32]

The interpretation of experiments in terms of the "Zeno effect" helps describe the origin of a phenomenon. Nevertheless, such an interpretation does not bring any principally new features not described with the Schrödinger equation of the quantum system.[33][34]

Even more, the detailed description of experiments with the "Zeno effect", especially at the limit of high frequency of measurements (high efficiency of suppression of transition, or high reflectivity of a ridged mirror) usually do not behave as expected for an idealized measurement.[16]

It should be noted that the Quantum Zeno effect is dependent upon the reductionist postulate for reconciling the measurement problem. Thus, the Quantum Zeno effect does not apply to all interpretations of quantum theory; in particular, the many-worlds interpretation (a.k.a. the Multiverse Interpretation) and the Quantum Logic Interpretation. Also, the Quantum Zeno effect may only hold for directly observed quantum systems, meaning that statistically observed systems (i.e. macromolecular systems of approximately 30 or more atoms) might not be affected by the Zeno effect. These qualifications mean that the Zeno effect may possibly be a useful experimental design for testing the Many-Worlds Hypothesis, the Quantum Logic Hypothesis, and various hypotheses related to Quantum Computing and require analysis of the mechanism of the interaction.[35]

It was shown that the Quantum Zeno effect persists in the many-worlds and relative states interpretations of quantum mechanics.[36]

Significance to cognitive science

The quantum Zeno effect (with its own controversies related to the problem of measurement) is becoming a central concept in the exploration of controversial theories of quantum mind consciousness within the discipline of cognitive science. In his book Mindful Universe (2007), Henry Stapp claims that the mind holds the brain in a superposition of states using the quantum Zeno effect. He advances that this phenomenon is the principal method by which the conscious can effect change, a possible solution to the mind-body dichotomy. Stapp and co-workers do not claim finality of their theory, but only:[37]

The new framework, unlike its classic-physics-based predecessor, is erected directly upon, and is compatible with, the prevailing principles of physics.

Needless to say, such conjectures have their opponents, serving perhaps to create more furor, rather than less, for example, see Bourget.[38] Recent work[39] criticizes Stapp's model in two aspects: (1) The mind in Stapp's model does not have its own wavefunction or density matrix, but nevertheless can act upon the brain using projection operators. Such usage is not compatible with standard quantum mechanics because one can attach any number of ghostly minds to any point in space that act upon physical quantum systems with any projection operators. Therefore Stapp's model does not build upon "the prevailing principles of physics", but negates them.[39] (2) Stapp's claim that quantum Zeno effect is robust against environmental decoherence directly contradicts a basic theorem in quantum information theory according to which acting with projection operators upon the density matrix of a quantum system can never decrease the Von Neumann entropy of the system, but can only increase it.[39] Indeed, already in 1993 it was shown by M. J. Gagen and colleagues[40] that the quantum Zeno effect is easily destroyed by noise and that a two-level system becomes a "random telegraph", i.e. the evolution of the system is not suppressed as required for quantum Zeno effect, instead the system jumps randomly between the two states.

A summary of the situation is provided by Davies:[41]

There have been many claims that quantum mechanics plays a key role in the origin and/or operation of biological organisms, beyond merely providing the basis for the shapes and sizes of biological molecules and their chemical affinities.…The case for quantum biology remains one of “not proven.” There are many suggestive experiments and lines of argument indicating that some biological functions operate close to, or within, the quantum regime, but as yet no clear-cut example has been presented of non-trivial quantum effects at work in a key biological process.

The significance of the Zeno effect in determining the rate of quantum decoherence in biological systems remains unknown.

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ The idea depends on the instant of time, a kind of freeze-motion idea that the arrow is "strobed" at each instant and is seemingly stationary, so how can it move in a succession of stationary events?
  2. ↑ This definition is a paraphrase of the introductory remarks in Raizen et al. 's paper cited later in this article.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sudarshan, E. C. G.; Misra, B. (1977). "The Zeno's paradox in quantum theory". Journal of Mathematical Physics 18 (4): 756–763. Bibcode:1977JMP....18..756M. doi:10.1063/1.523304. 
  2. ↑ Nakanishi, T.; Yamane, K.; Kitano, M. (2001). "Absorption-free optical control of spin systems: the quantum Zeno effect in optical pumping". Physical Review A 65 (1): 013404. arXiv:quant-ph/0103034. Bibcode:2002PhRvA..65a3404N. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.65.013404. 
  3. ↑ Facchi, P.; Lidar, D. A.; Pascazio, S. (2004). "Unification of dynamical decoupling and the quantum Zeno effect". Physical Review A 69 (3): 032314. arXiv:quant-ph/0303132. Bibcode:2004PhRvA..69c2314F. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.69.032314. 
  4. ↑ Degasperis, A.; Fonda, L.; Ghirardi, G. C. (1974). "Does the lifetime of an unstable system depend on the measuring apparatus?". Il Nuovo Cimento A 21 (3): 471–484. Bibcode:1974NCimA..21..471D. doi:10.1007/BF02731351. 
  5. ↑ Teuscher, C.; Hofstadter, D. (2004). Alan Turing: Life and Legacy of a Great Thinker. Springer. p. 54. ISBN 3-540-20020-7. 
  6. ↑ von Neumann, J. (1932). Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik. Springer. Chapter V.2. ISBN 3-540-59207-5.  See also von Neumann, J. (1955). Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Princeton University Press. p. 366. ISBN 0-691-02893-1. ); Menskey, M. B. (2000). Quantum Measurements and Decoherence. Springer. §4.1.1, pp. 315 ff. ISBN 0-7923-6227-6. ; Wunderlich, C.; Balzer, C. (2003). Bederson, B.; Walther, H., eds. Quantum Measurements and New Concepts for Experiments with Trapped Ions. Advances in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics 49. Academic Press. p. 315. ISBN 0-12-003849-8. 
  7. ↑ O. Alter and Y. Yamamoto (April 1997). "Quantum Zeno Effect and the Impossibility of Determining the Quantum State of a Single System". Phys. Rev. A. Rapid Comm. 55 (5): R2499–R2502. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.55.R2499. 
  8. ↑ O. Alter and Y. Yamamoto (October 1996). "The Quantum Zeno Effect of a Single System is Equivalent to the Indetermination of the Quantum State of a Single System". In F. De Martini, G. Denardo and Y. Shih. Quantum Interferometry. Wiley-VCH. pp. 539–544. 
  9. ↑ Greenstein, G.; Zajonc, A. (2005). The Quantum Challenge: Modern Research on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 237. ISBN 0-7637-2470-X. 
  10. ↑ Facchi, P.; Pascazio, S. (2002). "Quantum Zeno subspaces". Physical Review Letters 89 (8): 080401. arXiv:quant-ph/0201115. Bibcode:2002PhRvL..89h0401F. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.080401. 
  11. ↑ Ghirardi, G. C.; Omero, C.; Rimini, A.; Weber, T. (1979). "Small Time Behaviour of Quantum Nondecay Probability and Zeno's Paradox in Quantum Mechanics". Il Nuovo Cimento A 52 (4): 421. Bibcode:1979NCimA..52..421G. doi:10.1007/BF02770851. 
  12. ↑ Ghose, P. (1999). Testing Quantum Mechanics on New Ground. Cambridge University Press. p. 114. ISBN 0-521-02659-8. 
  13. ↑ Auletta, G. (2000). Foundations and Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. World Scientific. p. 341. ISBN 981-02-4614-5. 
  14. ↑ Khalfin, L. A. (1958). "Contribution to the decay theory of a quasi-stationary state". Soviet Physics JETP 6: 1053. Bibcode:1958JETP....6.1053K. OSTI 4318804. 
  15. ↑ Raizen, M. G.; Wilkinson, S. R.; Bharucha, C. F.; Fischer, M. C.; Madison, K. W.; Morrow, P. R.; Niu, Q.; Sundaram, B. (1997). "Experimental evidence for non-exponential decay in quantum tunnelling". Nature 387 (6633): 575. Bibcode:1997Natur.387..575W. doi:10.1038/42418. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Kouznetsov, D.; Oberst, H.; Neumann, A.; Kuznetsova, Y.; Shimizu, K.; Bisson, J.-F.; Ueda, K.; Brueck, S. R. J. (2006). "Ridged atomic mirrors and atomic nanoscope". Journal of Physics B 39 (7): 1605–1623. Bibcode:2006JPhB...39.1605K. doi:10.1088/0953-4075/39/7/005. 
  17. ↑ Allcock, J. (1969). "The time of arrival in quantum mechanics I. Formal considerations". Annals of Physics 53 (2): 253–285. Bibcode:1969AnPhy..53..253A. doi:10.1016/0003-4916(69)90251-6. 
  18. ↑ Echanobe, J.; Del Campo, A.; Muga, J. G. (2008). "Disclosing hidden information in the quantum Zeno effect: Pulsed measurement of the quantum time of arrival". Physical Review A 77 (3): 032112. arXiv:0712.0670. Bibcode:2008PhRvA..77c2112E. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.77.032112. 
  19. ↑ Stolze, J.; Suter, D. (2008). Quantum computing: a short course from theory to experiment (2nd ed.). Wiley-VCH. p. 99. ISBN 3-527-40787-1. 
  20. ↑ "Quantum computer solves problem, without running". Phys.Org. 22 February 2006. Retrieved 2013-09-21. 
  21. ↑ Franson, J.; Jacobs, B.; Pittman, T. (2006). "Quantum computing using single photons and the Zeno effect". Physical Review A 70 (6): 062302. arXiv:quant-ph/0408097. Bibcode:2004PhRvA..70f2302F. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.70.062302. 
  22. ↑ Mielnik, B. (1994). "The screen problem". Foundations of Physics 24 (8): 1113–1129. Bibcode:1994FoPh...24.1113M. doi:10.1007/BF02057859. 
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  24. ↑ Thun, K.; Peřina, J.; Křepelka, J. (2002). "Quantum Zeno effect in Raman scattering". Physics Letters A 299 (1): 19–30. Bibcode:2002PhLA..299...19T. doi:10.1016/S0375-9601(02)00629-1. 
  25. ↑ Peřina, J. (2004). "Quantum Zeno effect in cascaded parametric down-conversion with losses". Physics Letters A 325 (1): 16–20. Bibcode:2004PhLA..325...16P. doi:10.1016/j.physleta.2004.03.026. 
  26. ↑ Kouznetsov, D.; Oberst, H. (2005). "Reflection of Waves from a Ridged Surface and the Zeno Effect". Optical Review 12 (5): 1605–1623. Bibcode:2005OptRv..12..363K. doi:10.1007/s10043-005-0363-9. 
  27. ↑ Panov, A. D. (2001). "Quantum Zeno effect in spontaneous decay with distant detector". Physics Letters A 281: 9. arXiv:quant-ph/0101031. Bibcode:2001PhLA..281....9P. doi:10.1016/S0375-9601(01)00094-9. 
  28. ↑ Itano, W.; Heinzen, D.; Bollinger, J.; Wineland, D. (1990). "Quantum Zeno effect". Physical Review A 41 (5): 2295–2300. Bibcode:1990PhRvA..41.2295I. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.41.2295. 
  29. ↑ Leibfried, D.; Blatt, R.; Monroe, C.; Wineland, D. (2003). "Quantum dynamics of single trapped ions". Reviews of Modern Physics 75: 281. Bibcode:2003RvMP...75..281L. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.75.281. 
  30. ↑ Fischer, M.; Gutiérrez-Medina, B.; Raizen, M. (2001). "Observation of the Quantum Zeno and Anti-Zeno Effects in an Unstable System". Physical Review Letters 87 (4): 040402. arXiv:quant-ph/0104035. Bibcode:2001PhRvL..87d0402F. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.040402. 
  31. ↑ Kominis, I. K. (2008). "Quantum Zeno Effect Underpinning the Radical-Ion-Pair Mechanism of Avian Magnetoreception". arXiv:0804.2646 [q-bio.BM].
  32. ↑ Streed, E.; Mun, J.; Boyd, M.; Campbell, G.; Medley, P.; Ketterle, W.; Pritchard, D. (2006). "Continuous and Pulsed Quantum Zeno Effect". Physical Review Letters 97 (26): 260402. arXiv:cond-mat/0606430. Bibcode:2006PhRvL..97z0402S. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.260402. 
  33. ↑ Petrosky, T.; Tasaki, S.; Prigogine, I. (1990). "Quantum zeno effect". Physics Letters A 151 (3–4): 109. Bibcode:1990PhLA..151..109P. doi:10.1016/0375-9601(90)90173-L. 
  34. ↑ Petrosky, T.; Tasaki, S.; Prigogine, I. (1991). "Quantum Zeno effect". Physica A 170 (2): 306. Bibcode:1991PhyA..170..306P. doi:10.1016/0378-4371(91)90048-H. 
  35. ↑ Koshino, K.; Shimizu, A. (2005). "Quantum Zeno effect by general measurements". Physics Reports 412 (4): 191. arXiv:quant-ph/0411145. Bibcode:2005PhR...412..191K. doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2005.03.001. 
  36. ↑ Home, D.; Whitaker, M. A. B. (1987). "The many-worlds and relative states interpretations of quantum mechanics, and the quantum Zeno paradox". Journal of Physics A 20 (11): 3339–3345. Bibcode:1987JPhA...20.3339H. doi:10.1088/0305-4470/20/11/036. 
  37. ↑ Schwartz, J. M.; Stapp, H. P.; Beauregard, M. (2005). "Quantum physics in neuroscience and psychology: A neurophysical model of mind-brain interaction". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 360 (1458): 1309. doi:10.1098/rstb.2004.1598. 
  38. ↑ Bourget, D. (2004). "Quantum Leaps in Philosophy of Mind: A Critique of Stapp's Theory". Journal of Consciousness Studies 11 (12): 17–42. 
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 Georgiev, D. (2012). "Mind efforts, quantum Zeno effect and environmental decoherence". NeuroQuantology 10 (3): 374–388. 
  40. ↑ Gagen, M.; Wiseman, H.; Milburn, G. (1993). "Continuous position measurements and the quantum Zeno effect". Physical Review A 48 (1): 132–142. Bibcode:1993PhRvA..48..132G. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.48.132. PMID 9909581. 
  41. ↑ Davies, P. C. W. (2004). "Does quantum mechanics play a non-trivial role in life?". BioSystems 78: 69–79. doi:10.1016/j.biosystems.2004.07.001. 
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