Probing hierarchy of temporal correlation requires either generalised measurement or nonunitary evolution

Abstract

Temporal steering and violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality are two different ways of probing the violation of macro-realistic assumptions in quantum mechanics. It is shown here that under unitary evolution and projective measurements the two types of temporal correlations lead to similar results. However, their inequivalence may be exhibited if either one of them is relaxed, i.e., by employing either generalized measurements, or noisy evolution, as we show here using relevant examples.