Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability approach to the statistics of incompatible observables

Abstract

Recent work has revealed the central role played by the Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability (KDQ) as a tool to properly account for non-classical features in the context of condensed matter physics (scrambling, dynamical phase transitions) metrology (standard and post-selected), thermodynamics (power output and fluctuation theorems), foundations (contextuality, anomalous weak values) and more. Given the growing relevance of the KDQ across the quantum sciences, our aim is two-fold: First, we highlight the role played by quasiprobabilities in characterizing the statistics of quantum observables and processes in the presence of measurement incompatibility. In this way, we show how the KDQ naturally underpins and unifies quantum correlators, quantum currents, Loschmidt echoes, and weak values. Second, we provide novel theoretical and experimental perspectives by discussing a wide variety of schemes to access the KDQ and its non-classicality features.