A long standing challenge in the foundations of quantum mechanics is the verification of alternative collapse theories despite their mathematical similarity to decoherence. To this end, we suggest a novel method based on dynamical decoupling. Experimental observation of non-zero saturation of the decoupling error in the limit of fast decoupling operations can provide evidence for alternative quantum theories. The low decay rates predicted by collapse models are challenging, but high fidelity measurements as well as recent advances in decoupling schemes for qubits let us explore a similar parameter regime to experiments based on macroscopic superpositions. As part of the analysis we prove that unbounded Hamiltonians can be perfectly decoupled. We demonstrate this on a novel dilation of a Lindbladian to a fully Hamiltonian model that induces exponential decay.

We construct infinite dimensional spectral triples associated with representations of the super-Virasoro algebra. In particular the irreducible, unitary positive energy representation of the Ramond algebra with central charge c and minimal lowest weight h = c/24 is graded and gives rise to a net of even θ-summable spectral triples with non-zero Fredholm index. The irreducible unitary positive energy representations of the Neveu-Schwarz algebra give rise to nets of even θ-summable generalised spectral triples where there is no Dirac operator but only a superderivation.

This paper provides a further step in the program of studying superconformal nets over S 1 from the point of view of noncommutative geometry. For any such net A and any family ∆ of localized endomorphisms of the even part A γ of A, we define the locally convex differentiable algebra A ∆ with respect to a natural Dirac operator coming from supersymmetry. Having determined its structure and properties, we study the family of spectral triples and JLO entire cyclic cocycles associated to elements in ∆ and show that they are nontrivial and that the cohomology classes of the cocycles corresponding to inequivalent endomorphisms can be separated through their even or odd index pairing with K-theory in various cases. We illustrate some of those cases in detail with superconformal nets associated to well-known CFT models, namely supercurrent algebra nets and super-Virasoro nets. All in all, the result allows us to encode parts of the representation theory of the net in terms of noncommutative geometry.

We study the representation theory of a conformal net A on the circle from a K-theoretical point of view using its universal C*-algebra C*(A). We prove that if A satisfies the split property then, for every representation \pi of A with finite statistical dimension, \pi(C*(A)) is weakly closed and hence a finite direct sum of type I_\infty factors. We define the more manageable locally normal universal C*-algebra C*_ln(A) as the quotient of C*(A) by its largest ideal vanishing in all locally normal representations and we investigate its structure. In particular, if A is completely rational with n sectors, then C*_ln(A) is a direct sum of n type I_\infty factors. Its ideal K_A of compact operators has nontrivial K-theory, and we prove that the DHR endomorphisms of C*(A) with finite statistical dimension act on K_A, giving rise to an action of the fusion semiring of DHR sectors on K_0(K_A)$. Moreover, we show that this action corresponds to the regular representation of the associated fusion algebra.Comment: v2: we added some comments in the introduction and new references. v3: new authors' addresses, minor corrections. To appear in Commun. Math. Phys. v4: minor corrections, updated reference

We discuss a few mathematical aspects of random dynamical decoupling, a key tool procedure in quantum information theory. In particular, we place it in the context of discrete stochastic processes, limit theorems and CPT semigroups on matrix algebras. We obtain precise analytical expressions for expectation and variance of the density matrix and fidelity over time in the continuum-time limit depending on the system Lindbladian, which then lead to rough short-time estimates depending only on certain coupling strengths. We prove that dynamical decoupling does not work in the case of intrinsic (i.e., not environment-induced) decoherence, and together with the above-mentioned estimates this yields a novel method of partially identifying intrinsic decoherence.

We investigate the possibility to suppress interactions between a finite dimensional system and an infinite dimensional environment through a fast sequence of unitary kicks on the finite dimensional system. This method, called dynamical decoupling, is known to work for bounded interactions, but physical environments such as bosonic heat baths are usually modelled with unbounded interactions, whence here we initiate a systematic study of dynamical decoupling for unbounded operators. We develop a sufficient decoupling criterion for arbitrary Hamiltonians and a necessary decoupling criterion for semibounded Hamiltonians. We give examples for unbounded Hamiltonians where decoupling works and the limiting evolution as well as the convergence speed can be explicitly computed. We show that decoupling does not always work for unbounded interactions and provide both physically and mathematically motivated examples.

Abstract. For finite-dimensional quantum systems, such as qubits, a well established strategy to protect such systems from decoherence is dynamical decoupling. However many promising quantum devices, such as oscillators, are infinite dimensional, for which the question if dynamical decoupling could be applied remained open. Here we first show that not every infinite-dimensional system can be protected from decoherence through dynamical decoupling. Then we develop dynamical decoupling for continuous variable systems which are described by quadratic Hamiltonians. We identify a condition and a set of operations that allow us to map a set of interacting harmonic oscillators onto a set of non-interacting oscillators rotating with an averaged frequency, a procedure we call homogenization. Furthermore we show that every quadratic system-environment interaction can be suppressed with two simple operations acting only on the system. Using a random dynamical decoupling or homogenization scheme, we develop bounds that characterize how fast we have to work in order to achieve the desired uncoupled dynamics. This allows us to identify how well homogenization can be achieved and decoherence can be suppressed in continuous variable systems.

We provide an Operator Algebraic approach to N = 2 chiral Conformal Field Theory and set up the Noncommutative Geometric framework. Compared to the N = 1 case, the structure here is much richer. There are naturally associated nets of spectral triples and the JLO cocycles separate the Ramond sectors. We construct the N = 2 superconformal nets of von Neumann algebras in general, classify them in the discrete series c < 3, and we define and study an operator algebraic version of the N = 2 spectral flow. We prove the coset identification for the N = 2 superVirasoro nets with c < 3, a key result whose equivalent in the vertex algebra context has seemingly not been completely proved so far. Finally, the chiral ring is discussed in terms of net representations.