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Updated: Oct 4, 2025

Large Scale Energy Efficient Sensor Network Routing Using a Quantum Processor Unit

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Published on: September 8, 2023

Testing Real Quantum Theory in an Optical Quantum Network.

Zheng-Da Li^1,2, Ya-Li Mao^1,2, Mirjam Weilenmann³

¹Shenzhen Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering and Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.

Physical Review Letters

|February 11, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study experimentally disproves real quantum theory. Photonic entanglement swapping violates real-number predictions, confirming the necessity of complex numbers in quantum mechanics.

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Area of Science:

Quantum Physics
Foundations of Quantum Mechanics

Background:

Quantum theory traditionally uses complex Hilbert spaces.
The fundamental necessity of complex numbers in quantum mechanics remains a subject of debate.
Real-number analogs of quantum theory have been proposed but lack experimental verification.

Purpose of the Study:

To experimentally test the validity of real quantum theory.
To investigate whether complex numbers are essential for describing quantum phenomena.
To demonstrate quantum correlations that cannot be explained by real-number quantum mechanics.

Main Methods:

Implementation of Bell inequality-inspired tests in photonic systems.
Utilizing entanglement swapping in a three-party network.
Employing two independent Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) sources.

Main Results:

Experimental demonstration of quantum correlations violating real quantum theory predictions.
Violation of real quantum theory constraints by over 4.5 standard deviations.
Evidence supporting the indispensability of complex numbers in quantum mechanics.

Conclusions:

Real quantum theory is disproven as a universal physical theory.
Complex numbers are fundamentally required for a complete description of quantum mechanics.
Experimental verification of quantum correlations highlights the limitations of real-number analogs.