Event-based simulation of neutron experiments: interference, entanglement and uncertainty relations

Abstract

We discuss a discrete-event simulation approach, which has been shown to give a unified cause-and-effect description of many quantum optics and single-neutron interferometry experiments. The event-based simulation algorithm does not require the knowledge of the solution of a wave equation of the whole system, yet reproduces the corresponding statistical distributions by generating detection events one-by-one. It is showm that single-particle interference and entanglement, two important quantum phenomena, emerge via information exchange between individual particles and devices such as beam splitters, polarizers and detectors. We demonstrate this by reproducing the results of several single-neutron interferometry experiments, including one that demonstrates interference and one that demonstrates the violation of a Bell-type inequality. We also present event-based simulation results of a single neutron experiment designed to test the validity of Ozawa's universally valid error-disturbance relation, an uncertainty relation derived using the theory of general quantum measurements.