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arXiv · 2608.29689

Imaging Stars at the Quantum Compatibility Limit

Xinyao Guo·Haixing Miao·Zheng Cai·Huan Yang
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Abstract

Imaging astrophysical sources with a multi-station interferometer is intrinsically a multiparameter quantum-estimation problem. {Using tools from multiparameter quantum metrology,} we show that time-resolved repetitive or adaptive measurements in an \(N\)-station array suffer a fundamental array-level incompatibility among visibility estimators. Collective measurements, {which coherently process the received starlight across multiple time bins in a single joint readout}, remove the array-size penalty up to an order-unity factor, yielding an asymptotic \(O(\sqrt{N})\) enhancement for the {directional-averaged} SNR of visibility measurement. We then propose a memory-assisted interferometric architecture designed to implement collective readout through coherent storage and joint quantum processing. Imaging simulations and Fisher-information analyses demonstrate that collective measurements improve image reconstruction in near-term arrays and enhance the resolving power of future long-baseline architectures, with pronounced benefits for representative AGN targets such as NGC~4151 and 3C~273. These results highlight collective measurement as a promising building block for future quantum-assisted interferometric arrays for stellar imaging.

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Xinyao Guo, Haixing Miao, Zheng Cai, Huan Yang. 2026-08-30. Imaging Stars at the Quantum Compatibility Limit. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.29689

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