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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 23: Poster I

Q 23.28: Poster

Dienstag, 12. März 2024, 17:00–19:00, Tent B

Many-particle coherence and higher-order interference — •Marc-Oliver Pleinert¹, Eric Lutz², and Joachim von Zanthier¹ — ¹Quantum Optics and Quantum Information Group, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstr. 1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany — ²Institute for Theoretical Physics I, University of Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany

Quantum mechanics is based on a set of only a few postulates, which can be separated into two parts: one part governing the inner structure, i.e., the definition and dynamics of the state space, the wave function and the observables; and one part making the connection to experiments. The latter is known as Born's rule, which simply put relates detection probabilities to the modulus square of the wave function. The resulting structure of quantum theory permits interference of indistinguishable paths; but, at the same time, limits such interference to certain interference orders. In general, quantum mechanics allows for interference up to order 2M in M-particle correlations. Depending on the mutual coherence of the particles, however, the related interference hierarchy can terminate earlier. Here, we show that mutually coherent particles can exhibit interference of the highest orders allowed. We further demonstrate that interference of mutually incoherent particles truncates already at order M+1 although interference of the latter is principally more multifaceted. Finally, we demonstrate the disparate vanishing of such higher-order interference terms as a function of coherence in experiments with mutually coherent and incoherent sources.

Keywords: Multi-particle interference; Many-particle interference; Born's rule; Higher-order interference; Optical tests of quantum theory