Probing quantum-classical boundary with compression software

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates experimentally that quantum correlations cannot be simulated by classical deterministic Turing machines using data compression techniques, highlighting a fundamental quantum-classical boundary.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using Normalized Information Distance and data compression to test quantum correlations against classical computation limits.

Findings

Violation of the derived inequality by entangled photon correlations

Compression-based method confirms quantum correlations cannot be classically simulated

Technique offers an algorithmic perspective on quantum physics

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate that it is impossible to simulate quantum bipartite correlations with a deterministic universal Turing machine. Our approach is based on the Normalized Information Distance (NID) that allows the comparison of two pieces of data without detailed knowledge about their origin. Using NID, we derive an inequality for output of two local deterministic universal Turing machines with correlated inputs. This inequality is violated by correlations generated by a maximally entangled polarization state of two photons. The violation is shown using a freely available lossless compression program. The presented technique may allow to complement the common statistical interpretation of quantum physics by an algorithmic one.