Nonclassicality and the concept of local constraints on the photon number distribution

Abstract

We exploit results from the classical Stieltjes moment problem to bring out the totality of all the information regarding phase insensitive nonclassicality of a state as captured by the photon number distribution p_n. Central to our approach is the realization that n !p_n constitutes the sequence of moments of a (quasi) probability distribution, notwithstanding the fact that p_n can by itself be regarded as a probability distribution. This leads to classicality restrictions on p_n that are local in n involving p_n's for only a small number of consecutive n's, enabling a critical examination of the conjecture that oscillation in p_n is a signature of nonclassicality.