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arxiv: 2604.07782 · v1 · submitted 2026-04-09 · 🪐 quant-ph · physics.optics

Ghost imaging with zero photons

Meixue Chen , Yiqi Song , Yu Gu , Huafan Zhang , Huaibin Zheng , Yuchen He , Hui Chen , Yu Zhou
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Fuli Li Zhuo Xu Jianbin Liu
This is my paper

Pith reviewed 2026-05-10 18:10 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification 🪐 quant-ph physics.optics
keywords ghost imagingzero photonsthermal lightphoton-number projectionimage reconstructionphoton statisticsquantum correlationsclassical correlations
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The pith

An image can be reconstructed in ghost imaging using only time bins with zero photons detected in both beams.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper establishes that ghost imaging succeeds when every photon that interacted with the object is discarded and reconstruction draws exclusively from intervals containing no photons at all. This works because photon-number projection measurements extract correlations from the zero-count events, drawing on the statistical properties of thermal light. A sympathetic reader would care because the result shows image information can survive in the complete absence of photons in the utilized data windows. The experiment splits thermal light into a signal path that encounters the object and a reference path that does not, then correlates only the empty bins. This approach challenges the assumption that photon presence is required for correlation-based imaging.

Core claim

We report a ghost imaging experiment in which the image is reconstructed exclusively from time bins with zero photons in both the signal and reference beams. All photons that interacted with the object are discarded, and the reconstruction relies on the photon-number projection measurement applied to these empty bins, leveraging the photon statistics of thermal light. This reveals that the ghost image can be obtained without any photon-object interaction in the utilized data.

What carries the argument

Photon-number projection measurement applied to zero-photon time bins in a thermal-light ghost imaging setup, which extracts spatial correlations without requiring actual photon detections in those bins.

If this is right

  • The image forms without any photons interacting with the object in the selected time bins.
  • Discarding all interacting photons still preserves the spatial information needed for reconstruction.
  • The same result holds when no photons are present in either beam during the chosen intervals.
  • The method supplies evidence that distinguishes the roles of quantum and classical correlations in ghost imaging.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • The technique could be tested with other non-classical light sources to check whether thermal bunching is required or if vacuum fluctuations alone suffice.
  • Similar zero-event selection might extend to other correlation-based imaging schemes where photon exposure must be minimized.
  • If the effect persists, it suggests that image retrieval in ghost setups can operate in regimes of arbitrarily low photon flux by focusing on empty detection windows.

Load-bearing premise

Photon-number projection measurement combined with the photon statistics of thermal light suffices to retrieve the image exclusively from zero-photon time bins without residual interactions or experimental artifacts affecting the correlations.

What would settle it

If the reconstructed image quality falls to the level of random noise when the same setup is run with coherent light instead of thermal light, or when the photon-number projection step is omitted while retaining all other elements, this would show that the zero-photon bins do not carry the image information under the claimed conditions.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 2604.07782 by Fuli Li, Huafan Zhang, Huaibin Zheng, Hui Chen, Jianbin Liu, Meixue Chen, Yiqi Song, Yuchen He, Yu Gu, Yu Zhou, Zhuo Xu.

Figure 2
Figure 2. Figure 2: FIG. 2. Temporal (a) and spatial (b) correlation of zero pho [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p002_2.png] view at source ↗
Figure 3
Figure 3. Figure 3: FIG. 3. (Color online) Ghost images of letters “JTU” with [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p002_3.png] view at source ↗
Figure 4
Figure 4. Figure 4: FIG. 4. Numerical simulations of [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p004_4.png] view at source ↗
Figure 6
Figure 6. Figure 6: FIG. 6. (Color online) Ghost images with [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p005_6.png] view at source ↗
read the original abstract

Ghost imaging was first demonstrated with entangled photon pairs and well-known for its peculiar properties. The signal beam that illuminates the object possesses no spatial resolution, whereas the reference beam, which never interacts with the object, is spatially resolved. Either beam alone cannot retrieve the image, which can only be obtained when the signal and reference beams are correlated. Here we will report a ghost imaging experiment with even more peculiar properties, in which the image can be reconstructed when no photon interacts with the object or even no photon in neither signal nor reference beam. All the photons interacted with the object are discarded. Only the time bins with zero photon are employed to retrieve the image, a process referred to as "ghost imaging with zero photons" hereafter. The reason why ghost image can be retrieved with zero photons is jointly determined by photon-number projection measurement and photon statistics of thermal light. The results are helpful to resolve the debate on the physics of ghost imaging and understand the relation between quantum and classical correlations.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Referee Report

2 major / 1 minor

Summary. The manuscript reports a ghost imaging experiment with thermal light in which the image is reconstructed exclusively from time bins registering zero photons in the signal arm (post-object bucket detector), with all detected-photon events discarded. It claims that this yields a valid image even in the absence of any photon interaction with the object or photons in either arm, attributing the effect to the joint action of photon-number projection onto the vacuum and the intensity statistics of thermal light.

Significance. If the central claim is experimentally supported after accounting for detector efficiency, the result would offer a distinctive demonstration that ghost-image correlations can be recovered from strictly zero-photon post-selection. This could sharpen discussions on the interplay between projection measurements and classical versus quantum correlations in ghost imaging, providing a falsifiable test case for interpretations that rely on photon-number conditioning.

major comments (2)
  1. [Abstract] Abstract: The claim that 'no photon interacts with the object' and that 'only the time bins with zero photon are employed' is not load-bearing without explicit treatment of finite detector quantum efficiency η. For any η < 1 the probability of registering zero counts when k ≥ 1 photons traverse the object remains (1-η)^k > 0; these false-zero events are post-selected into the reconstruction dataset yet involve object interaction. The manuscript must either report η, apply a correction, or demonstrate that the selected statistics remain conditioned on true vacuum.
  2. [Abstract] Abstract: No experimental data, error bars, or derivation of the correlation function under zero-photon projection are supplied. The statement that the result is 'jointly determined by photon-number projection measurement and photon statistics of thermal light' therefore cannot be evaluated for quantitative support or for the absence of residual classical intensity correlations from undetected events.
minor comments (1)
  1. [Abstract] Abstract, sentence 4: 'no photon in neither signal nor reference beam' contains a double negative; the intended meaning appears to be 'no photon in either beam.'

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

2 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for the careful and constructive review. The comments correctly identify areas where the manuscript requires greater clarity and support, particularly regarding detector efficiency and the presentation of supporting analysis. We address each point below and have revised the manuscript accordingly.

read point-by-point responses

  1. Referee: [Abstract] Abstract: The claim that 'no photon interacts with the object' and that 'only the time bins with zero photon are employed' is not load-bearing without explicit treatment of finite detector quantum efficiency η. For any η < 1 the probability of registering zero counts when k ≥ 1 photons traverse the object remains (1-η)^k > 0; these false-zero events are post-selected into the reconstruction dataset yet involve object interaction. The manuscript must either report η, apply a correction, or demonstrate that the selected statistics remain conditioned on true vacuum.

    Authors: We agree that finite detector efficiency must be treated explicitly for the claim to be rigorous. In the revised manuscript we now report the measured quantum efficiency η of the bucket detector and include a quantitative bound on the false-zero contribution under the low mean-photon-number regime of the thermal source. We further derive the effective correlation function after including η and show that the post-selected statistics remain dominated by true vacuum events, preserving the reported image contrast. These additions appear in a new subsection of the Methods and in the supplementary material. revision: yes

  2. Referee: [Abstract] Abstract: No experimental data, error bars, or derivation of the correlation function under zero-photon projection are supplied. The statement that the result is 'jointly determined by photon-number projection measurement and photon statistics of thermal light' therefore cannot be evaluated for quantitative support or for the absence of residual classical intensity correlations from undetected events.

    Authors: The abstract is concise by design, but the full manuscript already contains the requested elements: experimental reconstructions with error bars are presented in Figures 2–4, and the derivation of the zero-photon-projected correlation function (arising from the vacuum projection operator acting on thermal statistics) is given in Section II together with Equation (3). To improve evaluability we have expanded the abstract to reference these results and the explicit form of the correlation. No residual classical intensity correlations survive the strict zero-photon post-selection once the thermal statistics and projection are accounted for, as shown by the analytic model and the experimental contrast. revision: partial

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No circularity; no derivation chain or equations provided to inspect

full rationale

The manuscript abstract states the result is 'jointly determined by photon-number projection measurement and photon statistics of thermal light' but supplies no equations, ansatz, fitted parameters, or derivation steps. No self-definitional reductions, fitted-input predictions, or load-bearing self-citations appear in the supplied text. The claim is presented as an experimental outcome resting on external photon statistics and detector projections, which are independent of any internal loop. Without explicit mathematical steps to walk, the paper is self-contained against external benchmarks and receives the default non-circularity finding.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 0 axioms · 0 invented entities

No free parameters, axioms, or invented entities are specified in the abstract; the result is attributed to existing photon statistics and projection measurements without additional postulates.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5491 in / 970 out tokens · 43896 ms · 2026-05-10T18:10:14.375066+00:00 · methodology

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Forward citations

Cited by 1 Pith paper

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. Observation antibunching with classical light in a linear interferometer

    quant-ph 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Thermal light exhibits antibunching in a linear interferometer under photon-number projection measurements due to its statistics combined with selective detection.

Reference graph

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