Tests of quantum contextuality in particle physics

Quantum contextuality refers to the impossibility of assigning a predefined, intrinsic value to a physical property of a system independently of the context in which the property is measured. It is, perhaps, the most fundamental feature of quantum mechanics. The many states with different spin that particle physics provides are the ideal setting for testing contextuality. We verify that the polarization states of single spin-1 massive particles produced at colliders are contextual. We test <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><a:mrow><a:msup><a:mrow><a:mi>W</a:mi></a:mrow><a:mrow><a:mo>+</a:mo></a:mrow></a:msup></a:mrow></a:math> gauge bosons produced in top-quark decays, <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><c:mi>J</c:mi><c:mo>/</c:mo><c:mi>ψ</c:mi></c:math> and <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><e:msup><e:mi>K</e:mi><e:mo>*</e:mo></e:msup><e:mo stretchy="false">(</e:mo><e:mn>892</e:mn><e:msup><e:mo stretchy="false">)</e:mo><e:mn>0</e:mn></e:msup></e:math> mesons in <i:math xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><i:mi>B</i:mi></i:math>-meson decays and <k:math xmlns:k="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><k:mi>ϕ</k:mi></k:math> mesons in <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><m:msubsup><m:mi>χ</m:mi><m:mi>c</m:mi><m:mn>0</m:mn></m:msubsup></m:math> and <o:math xmlns:o="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><o:msubsup><o:mi>χ</o:mi><o:mi>c</o:mi><o:mn>1</o:mn></o:msubsup></o:math> charmonium decays by reinterpreting the data and the analyses of the ATLAS, LHCb, Belle II and BESIII experimental collaborations, respectively. The polarization states of these four particles show contextuality with a significance larger than <q:math xmlns:q="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><q:mn>5</q:mn><q:mi>σ</q:mi></q:math>. We also discuss the presence of quantum contextuality in spin states of bipartite systems formed by spin-<s:math xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><s:mrow><s:mn>1</s:mn><s:mo>/</s:mo><s:mn>2</s:mn></s:mrow></s:math> particles. We test <u:math xmlns:u="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><u:mi mathvariant="normal">Λ</u:mi></u:math> and <x:math xmlns:x="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><x:mi mathvariant="normal">Σ</x:mi></x:math> baryons reinterpreting two BESIII data analyses, and pairs of top quarks utilizing a recent analysis of the CMS Collaboration. Quantum contextuality is present with a significance exceeding <ab:math xmlns:ab="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><ab:mn>5</ab:mn><ab:mi>σ</ab:mi></ab:math> also in these cases. In addition, we study the feasibility of testing quantum contextuality by means of <cb:math xmlns:cb="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><cb:mi>Z</cb:mi></cb:math> boson production in association with the Higgs boson, <eb:math xmlns:eb="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><eb:mi>Z</eb:mi></eb:math> and <gb:math xmlns:gb="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><gb:mi>W</gb:mi></gb:math> bosons pairs created in Higgs boson decays and with pairs of <ib:math xmlns:ib="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><ib:mi>τ</ib:mi></ib:math> leptons. For the latter, we use Monte Carlo simulations that mimic the settings of SuperKEKB and of future lepton colliders. Experiments at high energies, though not designed for the purpose, perform surprisingly well in testing for quantum contextuality.