Complex zeros of the wavefunction
The Schrödinger wavefunction is ubiquitous in quantum mechanics, quantum chemistry, and bosonic quantum information theory. Its zero-set for fermionic systems is well-studied and central for determining chemical properties, yet for bosonic systems the zero-set is less understood, especially in the context of characterizing non-classicality. Here we study the zeros of such wavefunctions and give them a novel information-theoretic interpretation. Our main technical result is showing that the wavefunction of most bosonic quantum systems can be extended to a holomorphic function over the complex plane, allowing the application of powerful techniques from complex analysis. As a consequence, we prove a version of Hudson's theorem for the wavefunction and characterize Gaussian dynamics as classical motion of the wavefunction zeros. Our findings suggest that the non-Gaussianity of quantum optical states can be detected by measuring a single quadrature of the electromagnetic field, which we demonstrate in a companion paper [arXiv:2507.23005]. More generally, our results show that the non-Gaussian features of bosonic quantum systems are encoded in the zeros of their wavefunction.
Authors
- Ulysse Chabaud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0135-9819)
- Francesco Arzani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4439-6962)
- Clara Wassner
- Jack Davis
- Sacha Cerf
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2026-11-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/rt16-kkds
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Mechanics and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Commission
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme