Leggett-Garg tests of macrorealism: Checks for noninvasiveness and generalizations to higher-order correlators

Abstract

In the tests for macrorealism proposed by Leggett and Garg, the temporal correlation functions of a dichotomic variable Q must be measured in a non-invasive way to rule out alternative classical explanations of Leggett-Garg inequality violations. Ideal negative measurements, in which a null result is argued to be a non-invasive determination of the system's state, are often used. From a quantum-mechanical perspective, such a measurement collapses the wave function and will therefore typically be found to be invasive under any experimental check. Here, a simple modified ideal negative measurement protocol is described for measuring the correlation functions which is argued to be non-invasive from both classical and quantum perspectives and hence the non-invasiveness can then be checked experimentally, thereby permitting a quantitative measure of the degree of clumsiness of the measurement. It is also shown how this procedure may be extended to measure higher-order correlation functions and a number of higher-order conditions for macrorealism are derived.