What is nonlocal in counterfactual quantum communication?

Abstract

We revisit the "counterfactual quantum communication" of Salih et al. [1], who claim that an observer "Bob" can send one bit of information to a second observer "Alice" without any physical particle traveling between them. We show that a locally conserved, massless current - specifically, a current of modular angular momentum, $L_z$ mod 2$\hbar$ - carries the one bit of information. We integrate the flux of $L_z$ mod 2$\hbar$ from Bob to Alice and show that it equals one of the two eigenvalues of $L_z$ mod 2$\hbar$, either 0 or $\hbar$, thus precisely accounting for the one bit of information he sends her. We previously [2] obtained this result using weak values of $L_z$ mod 2$\hbar$; here we do not use weak values.