Conversion of Thermal Equilibrium States into Superpositions of Macroscopically Distinct States

Abstract

A simple procedure for obtaining superpositions of macroscopically distinct states is proposed and analyzed. We find that a thermal equilibrium state can be converted into such a state when a single global measurement of a macroscopic observable, such as the total magnetization, is made. This method is valid for systems with macroscopic degrees of freedom and finite (including zero) temperature. The superposition state is obtained with a high (low) probability when the measurement is made with a high (low) resolution. We find that this method is feasible in an experiment.

24 pages

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Macroscopic quantum states: measures, fragility and implementations
• Quantum metrology with generalized cat states
• Efficient detection of inhomogeneous magnetic fields from a single spin with Dicke states
• Superposition of Macroscopically Distinct States in Adiabatic Quantum Computation
• Statistical ensembles for phase coexistence states specified by noncommutative additive observables
• Stationarity of quantum statistical ensembles at first-order phase transition points
• Characterization and generation of a SQL-beating catlike state through repetitive measurements
• Equilibration and the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis as limits to observing macroscopic quantum superpositions