Experimental test of quantum correlations from Platonic graphs

Abstract

Great effort has been made in the investigation of contextual correlations between compatible observables due to their both fundamental and practical importance. The graph-theoretic approach to correlate events has been proved to be an effective method in the characterization of quantum contextuality, which implies that quantum violations of noncontextual inequalities derived in the noncontextual hidden-variable models should be achievable. Finding experimentally more friendly and theoretically more powerful noncontextual inequalities associated with specific graphs is of particular interest. Here we consider Platonic graphs to vindicate the quantum maximum predicted by graph theory and test the quantum violation against the mixedness of the state. Among these solids we refer particularly to the icosahedron to build the experiment, as it gives rise to the largest quantum-classical difference. The contextual correlations are demonstrated on quantum four-dimensional states encoded in the spatial modes of single photons generated from a defect in a bulk silicon carbide. Our results shed new light on the conflict between quantum and classical physics and may promote deep understanding of the connection between quantum theory, graph theory, and operator theory.