Normal quantum channels and Markovian correlated two-qubit quantum errors

Abstract

We study general ‘normally’ (Gaussian) distributed random unitary transformations. These distributions can be defined in terms of a diffusive random walk in the respective group manifold. On the one hand, a Gaussian distribution induces a unital quantum channel, which we will call ‘normal’. On the other hand, the diffusive random walk defines a unital quantum process, generated by a Lindblad master equation. In the single qubit case, we show different distributions may induce the same quantum channel.In the case of two qubits, we study normal quantum channels, induced by Gaussian distributions in SU(2)⊗SU(2) . They provide an appropriate framework for modeling quantum errors with classical correlations. In contrast to correlated Pauli errors, for instance, they conserve their Markovianity, and they lead to very different results in error correcting codes. This is illustrated with an application to entanglement distillation.