Mixed Qubit Research Articles

The two-qubit singlet/triplet measurement is universal for quantum computing given only maximally-mixed initial states.

In order to delineate which minimalistic physical primitives can enable the full power of universal quantum computing, it has been fruitful to consider various measurement based architectures which reduce or eliminate the use of coherent unitary evolution, and also involve operations that are physically natural. In this context previous works had shown that the triplet-singlet measurement of two qubit angular momentum (or equivalently two qubit exchange symmetry) yields the power of quantum computation given access to a few additional different single qubit states or gates. However, Freedman, Hastings and Shokrian-Zini1 recently proposed a remarkable conjecture, called the 'STP=BQP' conjecture, which states that the two-qubit singlet/triplet measurement is quantum computationally universal given only an initial ensemble of maximally mixed single qubits. In this work we prove this conjecture. This provides a method for quantum computing that is fully rotationally symmetric (i.e. reference frame independent), using primitives that are physically very-accessible, naturally resilient to certain forms of error, and provably the simplest possible.

Discriminating mixed qubit states with collective measurements

It is a central fact in quantum mechanics that non-orthogonal states cannot be distinguished perfectly. In general, the optimal measurement for distinguishing such states is a collective measurement. However, to the best our knowledge, collective measurements have not been used to enhance quantum state discrimination to date. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that, in the usual state discrimination setting with equal prior probabilities, at least three copies of a quantum state are required to be measured collectively to outperform separable measurements. This is very challenging experimentally. In this work, by considering unequal prior probabilities, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a protocol for distinguishing two copies of single qubit states using collective measurements which achieves a lower probability of error than can be achieved by any non-entangling measurement. Additionally, we implemented collective measurements on three and four copies of the unknown state and found they performed poorly.

Geometric bloch vector solution to minimum-error discriminations of mixed qubit states

We investigate minimum-error (ME) discrimination for mixed qubit states using a geometric approach. By analyzing positive operator-valued measure (POVM) solutions and introducing Lagrange operator Gamma , we develop a four-step structured instruction to find Gamma for N mixed qubit states. Our method covers optimal solutions for two, three, and four mixed qubit states, including a novel result for four qubit states. We introduce geometric-based POVM classes and non-decomposable subsets for constructing optimal solutions, enabling us to find all possible answers for the general problem of minimum-error discrimination for N mixed qubit states with arbitrary a priori probabilities.

Quantum State Interferography.

Quantum state tomography (QST) has been the traditional method for characterization of an unknown state. Recently, many direct measurement methods have been implemented to reconstruct the state in a resource efficient way. In this Letter, we present an interferometric method, in which any qubit state, whether mixed or pure, can be inferred from the visibility, phase shift, and average intensity of an interference pattern using a single-shot measurement-hence, we call it quantum state interferography. This provides us with a "black box" approach to quantum state estimation, wherein, between the incidence of the photon and extraction of state information, we are not changing any conditions within the setup, thus giving us a true single shot estimation of the quantum state. In contrast, standard QST requires at least two measurements for pure state qubit and at least three measurements for mixed state qubit reconstruction. We then go on to show that QSI is more resource efficient than QST for quantification of entanglement in pure bipartite qubits. We experimentally implement our method with high fidelity using the polarization degree of freedom of light. An extension of the scheme to pure states involving d-1 interferograms for d-dimensional systems is also presented. Thus, the scaling gain is even more dramatic in the qudit scenario for our method, where, in contrast, standard QST, without any assumptions, scales roughly as d^{2}.

Upper continuity bound on the quantum quasi-relative entropy

We provide an upper bound on the quasi-relative entropy in terms of the trace distance. The bound is derived for any operator monotone decreasing function and either mixed qubit or classical states. Moreover, we derive an upper bound for the Umegaki and Tsallis relative entropies in the case of any finite-dimensional states. The bound for the relative entropy improves the known bounds for some states in any dimensions larger than four. The bound for the Tsallis entropy improves the known bounds.

Geometrical quantum discord and negativity of two separable and mixed qubits**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11604090).

We studied quantum correlation and quantum entanglement of a quantum system in which a coherent state light field interacts with two qubits that are initially prepared in a separable and mixed state. The influence of mean photon number of the coherent field and distribution probability of the atom on the geometrical quantum discord and the negativity are discussed. Our results show that the mean photon number of light field and distribution function of the atom can regulate and control the quantum correlation and quantum entanglement.

Informational Work Storage in Quantum Thermodynamics

We present a critical examination of the difficulties with the quantum versions of a lifted weight that are widely used as work storage systems in quantum thermodynamics. To overcome those difficulties, we turn to the strong connections between information and thermodynamics illuminated by Szilard’s engine and Landauer’s principle, and consider the concept of informational work storage. This concept is in sharp contrast with the usual one of mechanical work storage underlying the idealization of a quantum weight. An informational work storage system based on maximally mixed qubits that does not act as an entropy sink and is capable of truly distinguishing work from heat is studied. Applying it to the problem of single-shot work extraction in various extraction schemes, we show that for a given system state the maximum extractable work is independent of extraction scheme, in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics.

The Dynamics of Three Different Entropic Measures of Quantum Correlations in Mixed Bipartite State Coupled with Classical Environments

The dynamics of three different entropic measures of quantum correlations in mixed bipartite qubit states in the presence of two different classical noises, the static noise (SN) and the random telegraph noise (RTN), are investigated. The three entropic measures of quantum correlations correspond to one-way information deficit, geometric quantum discord and the cubic information. General analytic relations for each quantifier in the two configurations are obtained. In both configurations, the minimized value of each measure of quantum correlations corresponds to the conditional entropy of the same projectors. It is shown that one-way information deficit captures more correlations in highly mixed initial states. On the contrary, in both configurations the cubic information reduces to the geometric quantum discord and captures more correlations for highly pure initial states. The periodic revival of each measure of quantum correlation is more prominent in the case of RTN.

Controlled-NOT gate sequences for mixed spin qubit architectures in a noisy environment

Explicit controlled-NOT gate sequences between two qubits of different types are presented in view of applications for large-scale quantum computation. Here, the building blocks for such composite systems are qubits based on the electrostatically confined electronic spin in semiconductor quantum dots. For each system the effective Hamiltonian models expressed by only exchange interactions between pair of electrons are exploited in two different geometrical configurations. A numerical genetic algorithm that takes into account the realistic physical parameters involved is adopted. Gate operations are addressed by modulating the tunneling barriers and the energy offsets between different couple of quantum dots. Gate infidelities are calculated considering limitations due to unideal control of gate sequence pulses, hyperfine interaction and charge noise.

Optimal state discrimination with an error margin of pure and mixed symmetric states: irreducible qudit and reducible qubit states

Minimum error discrimination (MED) and Unambiguous discrimination (UD) are two common strategies for quantum state discrimination that can be modified by imposing a finite error margin on the error probability. Error margins 0 and 1 correspond to two common strategies. In this paper, for an arbitrary error margin m, the discrimination problem of equiprobable quantum symmetric states is analytically solved for four distinct cases. A generating set of irreducible and reducible representations of a subgroup of a unitary group are considered, separately, as unitary operators that produce one set of the symmetric states. In the irreducible case, for mixed and pure qudit states, one critical m which divides the parameter space into two domains is obtained. The number of critical values m in the reducible case is two, for both N mixed and pure qubit states. The reason for this difference between numbers of critical values m is explained. The optimal set of measurements and corresponding maximum success probability in fully analytical form are determined for all values of the error margin. The relationship between the amount of error that is imposed on error probability and geometrical situation of states with changes in rank of element corresponding to inconclusive result is determined. The behaviors of elements of measurement are explained geometrically in order to decrease the error probability in each domain. Furthermore, the problem of the discrimination with error margin among elements of two different sets of symmetric quantum states is studied. The number of critical values m is equivalent to one set in both reducible and irreducible cases. In addition, optimal measurements in each domain are obtained.

Deterministic remote preparation of an arbitrary qubit state using a partially entangled state and finite classical communication

We propose a deterministic remote state preparation (RSP) scheme for preparing an arbitrary (including pure and mixed) qubit, where a partially entangled state and finite classical communication are used. To our knowledge, our scheme is the first RSP scheme that fits into this category. One other RSP scheme proposed by Berry shares close features, but can only be used to prepare an arbitrary pure qubit. Even so, our scheme saves classical communication by approximate 1 bit per prepared qubit under equal conditions. When using a maximally entangled state, the classical communication for our scheme is 2 bits, which agrees with Lo's conjecture on the resource cost. Furthermore Alice can switch between our RSP scheme and a standard teleportation scheme without letting Bob know, which makes the quantum channel multipurpose.

Invertible condition of quantum Fisher information matrix for a mixed qubit

Estimating multiparamter simultaneously as precise as possible is an important goal of quantum metrolo- gy. As a first step to this end, here we give a condition determining whether two arbitrary parameters can be estimated simultaneously for a qubit in the mixed state. An application of this condition is shown.

QDENSITY/QCWAVE: A Mathematica quantum computer simulation update

The Mathematica quantum computer simulation packages QDENSITY and QCWAVE are updated for Mathematica 9-10.3. An overview is given of the new QDensity, QCWave, BTSystem and Circuits packages, which includes: (1) improved treatment of tensor products of states and density matrices, (2) major extension to include qutrit (triplet), as well as qubit (binary) and hybrid qubit/qutrit systems in the associated BTSystem package, (3) updated sample quantum computation algorithms, (4) entanglement studies, including Schmidt decomposition, entropy, mutual information, partial transposition, and calculation of the quantum discord. Examples of Bell’s theorem and concurrence are also included. This update will hopefully aid in studies of QC dynamics. New version program summaryProgram title: QDensity, QCWave, BTSystem, CircuitsCatalogue identifier: ADXH_v4_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADXH_v4_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen’s University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: GNU General Public License, version 3No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 705731No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 10394409Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: Mathematica 9.0-10.3.0.Computer: Any computer which supports Mathematica.Operating system: Any operating system that supports Mathematica.Classification: 4.15.Catalogue identifier of previous version: ADXH_v3_0Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Comm. 182(2011)1693Does the new version supersede the previous version?: Offers an updated and extended implementation.Nature of problem: Simulation of quantum algorithms, Qubit and Qutrit hybrid systems, entanglement criteria.Solution method: A Mathematica package containing commands to create and analyze quantum circuits is upgraded and extended. Mathematica tutorials and notebooks illustrate the capabilities of the packages and demonstrate quantum computation applications.Reasons for new version: Here the Mathematica (MM) packages QDensity, QCWave [1, 2, 3] are updated for MM 9-10.3. Other quantum computer simulators using a variety of languages, are described in [4]. The new QDENSITY, QCWAVE, BT-System packages include commands for entropy, Schmidt decomposition, partial transposition, quantum discord, mutual information, and circuit diagrams, not only for qubit systems but also for qutrit and hybrid qubit/qutrit systems. The full array of new commands are provided in the Tutorial2014 notebook. Compared to other Mathematica simulators, QDENSITY has a larger user and application base, that is further enhanced by this update to qubit/qutrit systems. In the present upgrade, qubit, qutrit and hybrid (mixed qubit and qutrit) states and mixed qubit and qutrit gates are included (see BTSystems.m). Updated QC algorithms, a sample extension of teleportation to qutrits, examples for random, Bell, GHZ, Werner and X-states are included.Summary of revisions: A new overview manual (OVERVIEW.pdf), installation directions (INSTALL.nb) and tutorials.Running time: Notebooks in the package take only minutes to execute.

Ontological Models, Preparation Contextuality and Nonlocality

The ontological model framework for an operational theory has generated much interest in recent years. The debate concerning reality of quantum states has been made more precise in this framework. With the introduction of generalized notion of contextuality in this framework, it has been shown that completely mixed state of a qubit is \emph{preparation contextual}. Interestingly, this new idea of preparation contextuality has been used to demonstrate nonlocality of some $\psi$-epistemic models without any use of Bell's inequality. In particular, nonlocality of a non maximally $\psi$-epistemic model has been demonstrated from preparation contextuality of a maximally mixed qubit and Schr\"{o}dinger's steerability of the maximally entangled state of two qubits [Phys. Rev. Lett {\bf 110}, 120401 (2013)]. In this paper, we, show that any mixed state is preparation contextual. We, then, show that nonlocality of any bipartite pure entangled state, with Schmidt rank two, follows from preparation contextuality and steerability provided we impose certain condition on the epistemicity of the underlying ontological model. More interestingly, if the pure entangled state is of Schmidt rank greater than two, its nonlocality follows without any further condition on the epistemicity. Thus our result establishes a stronger connection between nonlocality and preparation contextuality by revealing nonlocality of any bipartite pure entangled states without any use of Bell-type inequality.

Quantum Chernoff bound as a measure of the efficiency of quantum cloning for mixed states

In this paper we investigate the efficiency of quantum cloning of N identical mixed qubits. We employ a recently introduced measure of distinguishability of quantum states called the quantum Chernoff bound. We evaluate the quantum Chernoff bound between the output clones generated by the cloning machine and the initial mixed qubit state. Our analysis is illustrated by performing numerical calculation of the quantum Chernoff bound for different scenarios that involves the number of initial qubits N and the number of output imperfect copies M.

Invariant quantum discord in qubit–qutrit systems under local dephasing

We investigate the dynamics of quantum discord and entanglement for a class of mixed qubit–qutrit states assuming that only the qutrit is under the action of a dephasing channel. We demonstrate that even though the entanglement in the qubit–qutrit state disappears in a finite time interval, the partial coherence left in the system enables quantum discord to remain invariant throughout the time evolution.

Optimized maximum-confidence discrimination ofNmixed quantum states and application to symmetric states

We study an optimized measurement which discriminates $N$ mixed quantum states occurring with given prior probabilities. The measurement yields the maximum achievable confidence for each of the $N$ conclusive outcomes, thereby keeping the overall probability of inconclusive outcomes as small as possible. It corresponds to optimum unambiguous discrimination when for each outcome the confidence is equal to unity. Necessary and sufficient optimality conditions are derived and general properties of the optimum measurement are obtained. The results are applied to the optimized maximum-confidence discrimination of $N$ equiprobable symmetric mixed states. Analytical solutions are presented for a number of examples, including the discrimination of $N$ symmetric pure states spanning a $d$-dimensional Hilbert space ($d\ensuremath{\leqslant}N$) and the discrimination of $N$ symmetric mixed qubit states.

Experimental detection of nonclassical correlations in mixed-state quantum computation

We report on an experiment to detect non-classical correlations in a highly mixed state. The correlations are characterized by the quantum discord and are observed using four qubits in a liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance quantum information processor. The state analyzed is the output of a DQC1 computation, whose input is a single quantum bit accompanied by n maximally mixed qubits. This model of computation outperforms the best known classical algorithms, and although it contains vanishing entanglement it is known to have quantum correlations characterized by the quantum discord. This experiment detects non-vanishing quantum discord, ensuring the existence of non-classical correlations as measured by the quantum discord.

Asymptotically optimal purification and dilution of mixed qubit and Gaussian states

Given an ensemble of mixed qubit states, it is possible to increase the purity of the constituent states using a procedure known as state purification. The reverse operation, which we refer to as dilution, reduces the level of purity present in the constituent states. In this paper we find asymptotically optimal procedures for purification and dilution of an ensemble of i.i.d. mixed qubit states, for some given input and output purities and an asymptotic output rate. Our solution involves using the statistical tool of local asymptotic normality, which recasts the qubit problem in terms of attenuation and amplification of a single displaced Gaussian state. Therefore, to obtain the qubit solutions, we must first solve the analogous problems in the Gaussian setup. We provide full solutions to all of the above, for the (global) trace norm figure of merit.

Quantum learning: asymptotically optimal classification of qubit states

Pattern recognition is a central topic in learning theory, with numerous applications such as voice and text recognition, image analysis and computer diagnosis. The statistical setup in classification is the following: we are given an i.i.d. training set (X1, Y1), … , (Xn, Yn), where Xi represents a feature and Yi∊{0, 1} is a label attached to that feature. The underlying joint distribution of (X, Y) is unknown, but we can learn about it from the training set, and we aim at devising low error classifiers f: X→Y used to predict the label of new incoming features. In this paper, we solve a quantum analogue of this problem, namely the classification of two arbitrary unknown mixed qubit states. Given a number of ‘training’ copies from each of the states, we would like to ‘learn’ about them by performing a measurement on the training set. The outcome is then used to design measurements for the classification of future systems with unknown labels. We found the asymptotically optimal classification strategy and show that typically it performs strictly better than a plug-in strategy, which consists of estimating the states separately and then discriminating between them using the Helstrom measurement. The figure of merit is given by the excess risk equal to the difference between the probability of error and the probability of error of the optimal measurement for known states. We show that the excess risk scales as n−1 and compute the exact constant of the rate.