Quantum evolution with classical fields

TL;DR

This paper explores how classical electromagnetic wave guides can simulate quantum evolution and implement quantum gates, providing insights into quantum mechanics foundations and enabling large-scale quantum computations with classical systems.

Contribution

It demonstrates that classical wave guides can realize quantum evolution and gates, offering a new perspective on quantum simulation and computation using classical fields.

Findings

Classical wave guides can implement quantum gates.

Channels represent basis states of multi-qubit systems.

Classical probabilistic models shed light on quantum foundations.

Abstract

Wave guides for classical electromagnetic fields can realize the quantum evolution of the wave function for a system of qubits. Phase shifts, switches and beam splits allow for the construction of arbitrary quantum gates. They can act at once on a large number of qubits. For this correlation based photonic quantum computer the channels of the wave guides represent basis states of a multi-qubit system rather than individual qubits. The classical probabilistic implementation of a quantum evolution sheds new light on the foundations of quantum mechanics.