Transfer of nonclassical properties from a microscopic superposition to macroscopic thermal states in the high temperature limit

Phys Rev Lett. 2006 Sep 8;97(10):100401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.100401. Epub 2006 Sep 5.

Abstract

We present several examples where prominent quantum properties are transferred from a microscopic superposition to thermal states at high temperatures. Our work is motivated by an analogy of Schrödinger's cat paradox, where the state corresponding to the virtual cat is a mixed thermal state with a large average photon number. Remarkably, quantum entanglement can be produced between thermal states with nearly the maximum Bell-inequality violation even when the temperatures of both modes approach infinity.