Violating the no-signaling principle with classical inseparable beams in an optical parity-time symmetric system

Abstract

We show that the no-signaling principle can be violated with classical inseparable beams in the presence of a parity-time (PT) symmetric subsystem. Thus, the problems associated to PT-symmetric quantum theories recently discovered by Lee et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 130404 (2014)] are not exclusive to quantum mechanics, but already exist in the classical case. The possibility to implement local optical PT-symmetric subsystems via light-matter interactions enables the experimental exploration of local PT symmetry and subtle quantum concepts via classical analogues.