Certified randomness from quantum speed limits

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Jones, Caroline L., Aloy, Albert, Higgins, Gerard, Mueller, Markus P.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Jones, Caroline L.
Aloy, Albert
Higgins, Gerard
Mueller, Markus P.
author_facet Jones, Caroline L.
Aloy, Albert
Higgins, Gerard
Mueller, Markus P.
contents Quantum speed limits are usually regarded as fundamental restrictions, constraining the amount of computation that can be achieved within some given time and energy. Complementary to this intuition, here we show that these limitations are also of operational value: they enable the secure generation of certified randomness. We consider a prepare-and-measure scenario with some (experimentally determined or promised) upper bound on the energy uncertainty of the average prepared quantum state, but without any further assumptions on the devices, Hilbert space or Hamiltonian. Given that we can freely choose the time at which to apply the untrusted preparation procedure, we show that this scenario admits the generation of randomness that is secure against adversaries with additional classical information. We show how to determine the amount of certified randomness given the observed correlations, discuss how interactions with the environment are taken into account, and sketch a conceivable experimental implementation. In particular, we show that single-mode coherent states admit this kind of certification of non-zero randomness in some parameter regimes, reinforcing existing demonstrations of nonclassicality in the simple harmonic oscillator. Our results extend earlier efforts to devise semi-device-independent protocols grounded in reasonable physical assumptions, and they contribute to the understanding of time-energy uncertainty relations via their operational consequences.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_14526
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Certified randomness from quantum speed limits
Jones, Caroline L.
Aloy, Albert
Higgins, Gerard
Mueller, Markus P.
Quantum Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum speed limits are usually regarded as fundamental restrictions, constraining the amount of computation that can be achieved within some given time and energy. Complementary to this intuition, here we show that these limitations are also of operational value: they enable the secure generation of certified randomness. We consider a prepare-and-measure scenario with some (experimentally determined or promised) upper bound on the energy uncertainty of the average prepared quantum state, but without any further assumptions on the devices, Hilbert space or Hamiltonian. Given that we can freely choose the time at which to apply the untrusted preparation procedure, we show that this scenario admits the generation of randomness that is secure against adversaries with additional classical information. We show how to determine the amount of certified randomness given the observed correlations, discuss how interactions with the environment are taken into account, and sketch a conceivable experimental implementation. In particular, we show that single-mode coherent states admit this kind of certification of non-zero randomness in some parameter regimes, reinforcing existing demonstrations of nonclassicality in the simple harmonic oscillator. Our results extend earlier efforts to devise semi-device-independent protocols grounded in reasonable physical assumptions, and they contribute to the understanding of time-energy uncertainty relations via their operational consequences.
title Certified randomness from quantum speed limits
topic Quantum Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14526