dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaTemporal Kirkwood-Dirac Quasiprobability Distribution and Unification of Temporal State Formalisms through Temporal Bloch Tomography
| Authors | Zhian Jia, Kavan Modi, Dagomir Kaszlikowski |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | 2601.05294vv1 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05294 |
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Abstract
Temporal quantum states generalize the multipartite density operator formalism to the time domain, enabling a unified treatment of quantum systems with both timelike and spacelike correlations. Despite a growing body of temporal state formalisms, their precise operational relationships and conceptual distinctions remain unclear. In this work, we resolve this issue by extending the Kirkwood-Dirac (KD) quasiprobability distribution to arbitrary multi-time quantum processes and, more broadly, to general spatiotemporal settings. We define left, right, and doubled temporal KD quasiprobabilities, together with their real components, which we identify as temporal Margenau-Hill (MH) quasiprobabilities. All of these quantities are experimentally accessible through interferometric measurement schemes. By characterizing their nonclassical features, we show that the generalized KD framework provides a unified operational foundation for a wide class of temporal state approaches and can be directly implemented via temporal or spatiotemporal Bloch tomography.
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"date_created": "2026-02-17T05:53:04.176000Z",
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"abstract": "Temporal quantum states generalize the multipartite density operator formalism to the time domain, enabling a unified treatment of quantum systems with both timelike and spacelike correlations. Despite a growing body of temporal state formalisms, their precise operational relationships and conceptual distinctions remain unclear. In this work, we resolve this issue by extending the Kirkwood-Dirac (KD) quasiprobability distribution to arbitrary multi-time quantum processes and, more broadly, to general spatiotemporal settings. We define left, right, and doubled temporal KD quasiprobabilities, together with their real components, which we identify as temporal Margenau-Hill (MH) quasiprobabilities. All of these quantities are experimentally accessible through interferometric measurement schemes. By characterizing their nonclassical features, we show that the generalized KD framework provides a unified operational foundation for a wide class of temporal state approaches and can be directly implemented via temporal or spatiotemporal Bloch tomography.",
"arxiv_id": "2601.05294",
"authors": [
"Zhian Jia",
"Kavan Modi",
"Dagomir Kaszlikowski"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph",
"hep-th"
],
"license": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"title": "Temporal Kirkwood-Dirac Quasiprobability Distribution and Unification of Temporal State Formalisms through Temporal Bloch Tomography",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05294",
"version": "v1"
},
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