Reply to “Comment to ‘The laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication’ ”
In his Comment on our recent paper “The laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication”, npj Quantum Information (2022) 8:60, Popescu argues that the claims of the paper are invalid. Here, we refute his argument, showing that it is based on ignoring the specifics of what we set out to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-06-01
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| Series: | npj Quantum Information |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-025-01043-8 |
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| _version_ | 1849226100810448896 |
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| author | Hatim Salih Jonte R. Hance Will McCutcheon John Rarity |
| author_facet | Hatim Salih Jonte R. Hance Will McCutcheon John Rarity |
| author_sort | Hatim Salih |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In his Comment on our recent paper “The laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication”, npj Quantum Information (2022) 8:60, Popescu argues that the claims of the paper are invalid. Here, we refute his argument, showing that it is based on ignoring the specifics of what we set out to prove (that counterfactual communication is possible for post-selected particles, and more specifically in these cases is not prohibited by the weak trace or consistent histories criteria for particle path), followed by an unwarranted simplification of the protocol. Moreover, the Comment’s excursion into interpretation is misplaced. Our communication protocol is a precisely defined one that allows two remote parties, albeit rarely, to communicate an arbitrarily long binary message, with arbitrarily high accuracy. This is not a matter of interpretation—as the concrete example given in our paper in question illustrates. As for our overarching claim that no particles are exchanged in the course of this communication, we have already demonstrated this both theoretically and experimentally, in the postselected case we consider, as per the weak trace and consistent histories criteria for path of a quantum particle. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e231ed12a73e421dad7cf60dedaa8236 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2056-6387 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Quantum Information |
| spelling | doaj-art-e231ed12a73e421dad7cf60dedaa82362025-08-24T11:42:28ZengNature Portfolionpj Quantum Information2056-63872025-06-011111310.1038/s41534-025-01043-8Reply to “Comment to ‘The laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication’ ”Hatim Salih0Jonte R. Hance1Will McCutcheon2John Rarity3School of Physics, Engineering and Technology University of YorkSchool of Computing, Newcastle UniversityQuantum Engineering Technology Laboratories, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of BristolQuantum Engineering Technology Laboratories, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of BristolIn his Comment on our recent paper “The laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication”, npj Quantum Information (2022) 8:60, Popescu argues that the claims of the paper are invalid. Here, we refute his argument, showing that it is based on ignoring the specifics of what we set out to prove (that counterfactual communication is possible for post-selected particles, and more specifically in these cases is not prohibited by the weak trace or consistent histories criteria for particle path), followed by an unwarranted simplification of the protocol. Moreover, the Comment’s excursion into interpretation is misplaced. Our communication protocol is a precisely defined one that allows two remote parties, albeit rarely, to communicate an arbitrarily long binary message, with arbitrarily high accuracy. This is not a matter of interpretation—as the concrete example given in our paper in question illustrates. As for our overarching claim that no particles are exchanged in the course of this communication, we have already demonstrated this both theoretically and experimentally, in the postselected case we consider, as per the weak trace and consistent histories criteria for path of a quantum particle.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-025-01043-8 |
| spellingShingle | Hatim Salih Jonte R. Hance Will McCutcheon John Rarity Reply to “Comment to ‘The laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication’ ” npj Quantum Information |
| title | Reply to “Comment to ‘The laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication’ ” |
| title_full | Reply to “Comment to ‘The laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication’ ” |
| title_fullStr | Reply to “Comment to ‘The laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication’ ” |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reply to “Comment to ‘The laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication’ ” |
| title_short | Reply to “Comment to ‘The laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication’ ” |
| title_sort | reply to comment to the laws of physics do not prohibit counterfactual communication |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-025-01043-8 |
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