Wigner function negativity in a classical model of quantum light

2025/12/15 by La Cour, Brian R.
#FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.13462

Abstract

The presence of negative values in the Wigner quasiprobability distribution is deemed one of the hallmarks of nonclassical phenomena in quantum systems. Here we demonstrate a classical model of squeezed light that, when combined with post-selection on amplitude threshold-crossing detection events, is capable of reproducing observed behavior of single-photon added coherent states. In particular, a classical model of balanced homodyne detection and standard tomographic techniques are used to infer the density matrix in the Fock basis. The resulting Wigner functions exhibit negatively for photon-added vacuum and weak coherent states.

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