Leggett-Garg Correlation Functions from Non-Invasive Velocity Measurement Continuous in Time

Abstract

In the Leggett-Garg approach to testing macrorealism, the two-time correlation functions, which are normally obtained by sequential measurements of a dichotomic variable Q, need to be measured in a non-invasive way in order to exclude certain types of alternative classical explanation. Here, it is shown, for a class of macrorealistic theories, that the correlation functions are readily expressed in terms of a time integral of the velocity corresponding to Q and that this expression can be determined from a single final-time measurement of an auxiliary system in continual weak interaction with the primary system. The protocol has the form of a "waiting detector" which clicks only when Q changes sign. It shares features with both ideal negative measurements and weak measurements and we argue that it is essentially non-invasive, under certain reasonable assumptions. We show that the non-invasiveness persists to a quantum model of the process.