POVM Measurements Research Articles

Sharing quantum nonlocality in star network scenarios

The Bell nonlocality is closely related to the foundations of quantum physics and has significant applications to security questions in quantum key distributions. In recent years, the sharing ability of the Bell nonlocality has been extensively studied. The nonlocality of quantum network states is more complex. We first discuss the sharing ability of the simplest bilocality under unilateral or bilateral POVM measurements, and show that the nonlocality sharing ability of network quantum states under unilateral measurements is similar to the Bell nonlocality sharing ability, but different under bilateral measurements. For the star network scenarios, we present for the first time comprehensive results on the nonlocality sharing properties of quantum network states, for which the quantum nonlocality of the network quantum states has a stronger sharing ability than the Bell nonlocality.

Quantum measurements: experimental approach of POVM measurements in polarization with an intense laser beam

O processo de medida na mecânica quântica é um tema de muita discussão que gerou debates profundos ao longo da história. É um tema central no ramo de informação quântica. Neste trabalho, nosso principal objetivo é discutir a realização experimental de medidas de operador positivo (POVM) no grau de liberdade de polarização da luz a partir de um circuito apresentado por Ahnert e Payne [1] com o uso de um feixe laser intenso. Assim, o que propomos é simular os resultados de medidas POVM em polarização no regime clássico. Apresentamos detalhes que permitem a abordagem experimental dos circuitos ópticos com um feixe laser intenso usando elementos encontrados em um bom laboratório de óptica. Fazemos uma breve revisão sobre medidas quânticas, introduzindo medidas projetivas e POVM. Aplicamos o conceito de medidas POVM em um exemplo didático simples explorando o aparato de Stern-Gerlach, indicando um bom ponto de partida para introduzir a discussão de POVM em cursos básicos de Mecânica Quântica.

Anonymous Quantum Sensing

A lot of attention has been paid to a quantum-sensing network for detecting magnetic fields in different positions. Recently, cryptographic quantum metrology was investigated where the information of the magnetic fields is transmitted in a secure way. However, sometimes, the positions where non-zero magnetic fields are generated could carry important information. Here, we propose an anonymous quantum sensor where an information of positions having non-zero magnetic fields is hidden after measuring magnetic fields with a quantum-sensing network. Suppose that agents are located in different positions and they have quantum sensors. After the quantum sensors are entangled, the agents implement quantum sensing that provides a phase information if non-zero magnetic fields exist, and POVM measurement is performed on quantum sensors. Importantly, even if the outcomes of the POVM measurement is stolen by an eavesdropper, information of the positions with non-zero magnetic fields is still unknown for the eavesdropper in our protocol. In addition, we evaluate the sensitivity of our proposed quantum sensors by using Fisher information when there are at most two positions having non-zero magnetic fields. We show that the sensitivity is finite unless these two (non-zero) magnetic fields have exactly the same amplitude. Our results pave the way for new applications of quantum-sensing network.

Law of Total Probability in Quantum Theory and Its Application in Wigner's Friend Scenario.

It is well-known that the law of total probability does not generally hold in quantum theory. However, recent arguments on some of the fundamental assumptions in quantum theory based on the extended Wigner’s friend scenario show a need to clarify how the law of total probability should be formulated in quantum theory and under what conditions it still holds. In this work, the definition of conditional probability in quantum theory is extended to POVM measurements. A rule to assign two-time conditional probability is proposed for incompatible POVM operators, which leads to a more general and precise formulation of the law of total probability. Sufficient conditions under which the law of total probability holds are identified. Applying the theory developed here to analyze several quantum no-go theorems related to the extended Wigner’s friend scenario reveals logical loopholes in these no-go theorems. The loopholes exist as a consequence of taking for granted the validity of the law of total probability without verifying the sufficient conditions. Consequently, the contradictions in these no-go theorems only reconfirm the invalidity of the law of total probability in quantum theory rather than invalidating the physical statements that the no-go theorems attempt to refute.

Creation of quantum coherence with general measurement processes

Quantum measurement not only can destroy coherence but also can create it. Here, we estimate the maximum amount of coherence, one can create under a complete non-selective measurement process. For our analysis, we consider projective as well as POVM measurements. Based on our observations, we characterize the measurement processes into two categories, namely, the measurements with the ability to induce coherence and the ones without this ability. Our findings also suggest that the more POVM elements present in a measurement that acts on the quantum system, the less will be its coherence creating ability. We also introduce the notion of raw coherence in the POVMs that helps to create quantum coherence. Finally, we find a trade-off relation between the coherence creation, entanglement generation between system and apparatus, and the mixedness of the system in a general measurement setup.

Proper-time approach to localization

The causality issues concerning the localization of relativistic quantum systems, as evidenced by Hegerfeld's paradox, are addressed through a proper-time formalism of single-particle operators. Starting from the premise that physical variables associated to the proper-time gauge have a prominent role in the specification of position, since they do not depend on classical parameters connected to an external observer, we obtain a single-particle formalism in which localization is described by explicitly covariant four-vector operators associated with POVM measurements parametrized by the system's proper-time. Among the consequences of this result, we emphasize that physically acceptable states are necessarily associated with the existence of a temporal uncertainty and their proper-time evolution is not subject to the causality violation predicted by Hegerfeldt.

Some Measurement-Based Characterizations of Separability of Bipartite States

Importance of quantum entanglement has been demonstrated in various applications. Usually, separability of a bipartite state is defined by its algebraic structure, i.e. a convex combination of product states. But it seems to be hard to check separability (equivalently, entanglement) of a state from its algebraic structure. In this note, we give some characterizations of separability of bipartite states based on POVM measurements. For bipartite pure states, we prove the separability, Bell locality, unsteerability and classical correlation are the same. As a consequence, every entangled pure bipartite state is always Bell nonlocal, steerable and quantum correlated.

Probabilistic and Hierarchical Quantum Information Splitting Based on the Non-Maximally Entangled Cluster State

With the emergence of classical communication security problems, quantum communication has been studied more extensively. In this paper, a novel probabilistic hierarchical quantum information splitting protocol is designed by using a non-maximally entangled four-qubit cluster state. Firstly, the sender Alice splits and teleports an arbitrary one-qubit secret state invisibly to three remote agents Bob, Charlie, and David. One agent David is in high grade, the other two agents Bob and Charlie are in low grade. Secondly, the receiver in high grade needs the assistance of one agent in low grade, while the receiver in low grade needs the aid of all agents. While introducing an ancillary qubit, the receiver’s state can be inferred from the POVM measurement result of the ancillary qubit. Finally, with the help of other agents, the receiver can recover the secret state probabilistically by performing certain unitary operation on his own qubit. In addition, the security of the protocol under eavesdropping attacks is analyzed. In this proposed protocol, the agents need only single-qubit measurements to achieve probabilistic hierarchical quantum information splitting, which has appealing advantages in actual experiments. Such a probabilistic hierarchical quantum information splitting protocol hierarchical is expected to be more practical in multipartite quantum cryptography.

Adaptive State Fidelity Estimation for Higher Dimensional Bipartite Entanglement.

An adaptive method for quantum state fidelity estimation in bipartite higher dimensional systems is established. This method employs state verifier operators which are constructed by local POVM operators and adapted to the measurement statistics in the computational basis. Employing this method, the state verifier operators that stabilize Bell-type entangled states are constructed explicitly. Together with an error operator in the computational basis, one can estimate the lower and upper bounds on the state fidelity for Bell-type entangled states in few measurement configurations. These bounds can be tighter than the fidelity bounds derived in [Bavaresco et al., Nature Physics (2018), 14, 1032–1037], if one constructs more than one local POVM measurements additional to the measurement in the computational basis.

A Novel Quantum Solution to Privacy-preserving Lexicographical String Sorting Problem

A novel quantum protocol for privacy-preserving lexicographical string sorting problem based on POVM measurement is proposed. Using the POVM measurement and a designed coding scheme, Alice and Bob can jointly determine the lexicographical position of their strings. Correctness analysis shows that our protocol can get the sorting result correctly. Our protocol can also resist outside attacks, such as Trojan horse attack, intercept-resend attack, entanglement-and-measure attack, man-in-the-middle attack and so on. And it also can overcome participant attacks and parties will not leak their private information to each other.

Spin-orbit-coupled quantum memory of a double quantum dot

The concept of quantum memory plays an incisive role in the quantum information theory. As confirmed by several recent rigorous mathematical studies, the quantum memory inmate in the bipartite system $\rho_{AB}$ can reduce uncertainty about the part $B$, after measurements done on the part $A$. In the present work, we extend this concept to the systems with a spin-orbit coupling and introduce a notion of spin-orbit quantum memory. We self-consistently explore Uhlmann fidelity, pre and post measurement entanglement entropy and post measurement conditional quantum entropy of the system with spin-orbit coupling and show that measurement performed on the spin subsystem decreases the uncertainty of the orbital part. The uncovered effect enhances with the strength of the spin-orbit coupling. We explored the concept of macroscopic realism introduced by Leggett and Garg and observed that POVM measurements done on the system under the particular protocol are non-noninvasive. For the extended system, we performed the quantum Monte Carlo calculations and explored reshuffling of the electron densities due to the external electric field.

Algorithmic No-Cloning Theorem

We introduce notions of algorithmic mutual information and deficiency of randomness of quantum states. These definitions enjoy conservation inequalities over unitary transformations and partial traces. We show that a large majority of pure states have minute self-algorithmic information. We provide an algorithmic variant to the no-cloning theorem, by showing that only a small minority of quantum pure states can clone a nonnegligible amount of algorithmic information. We also provide a chain rule inequality for quantum algorithmic entropy. We show that deficiency of randomness does not increase under POVM measurements.

Quantifying the Incompatibility of Quantum Measurements Relative to a Basis

Motivated by quantum resource theories, we introduce a notion of incompatibility for quantum measurements relative to a reference basis. The notion arises by considering states diagonal in that basis and investigating whether probability distributions associated with different quantum measurements can be converted into one another by probabilistic postprocessing. The induced preorder over quantum measurements is directly related to multivariate majorization and gives rise to families of monotones, i.e., scalar quantifiers that preserve the ordering. For the case of orthogonal measurement we establish a quantitative connection between incompatibility, quantum coherence and entropic uncertainty relations. We generalize the construction to include arbitrary positive-operator-valued measurements and report complete families of monotones.

Quantum Parameter Estimation: From Experimental Design to Constructive Algorithm**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 61273202, 61673389, and 61134008

In this paper we design the following two-step scheme to estimate the model parameter ω0 of the quantum system: first we utilize the Fisher information with respect to an intermediate variable to determine an optimal initial state and to seek optimal parameters of the POVM measurement operators; second we explore how to estimate ω0 from v by choosing t when a priori information knowledge of ω0 is available. Our optimal initial state can achieve the maximum quantum Fisher information. The formulation of the optimal time t is obtained and the complete algorithm for parameter estimation is presented. We further explore how the lower bound of the estimation deviation depends on the a priori information of the model.

Quantum and Classical Correlations in the Solid-State NMR Free Induction Decay

The free induction decay (FID) of the transverse magnetization in a dipolar-coupled rigid lattice is a fundamental problem in magnetic resonance and in the theory of many-body systems. As it was shown earlier the FID shapes for the systems of classical magnetic moments and for quantum nuclear spin ones coincide if there are many nearly equivalent nearest neighbors n in a solid lattice. In this paper, we reduce a multispin density matrix of above system to a two-spin matrix. Then we obtain analytic expressions for the mutual information and the quantum and classical parts of correlations at the arbitrary spin quantum number S, in the high-temperature approximation. The time dependence of these functions is expressed via the derivative of the FID shape. To extract classical correlations for S > 1/2 we provide generalized POVM measurement (positive-operator-valued measure) using the basis of spin coherent states. We show that in every pair of spins the portion of quantum correlations changes from 1/2 to 1/(S + 1) when S is growing up, and quantum properties disappear completely only if S → ∞.

Realization of Kraus operators and POVM measurements using a duality quantum computer

In this paper, we discuss the ability of realizing Kraus operators and POVM measurements in a duality quantum computer. We prove that not all the Kraus operators can be realized in a duality quantum computer. We introduce a new type of duality quantum circuit, multi-duality circuit, by repeating the previous version of duality quantum circuit as a unit, and we can realize universal Kraus operators and POVM measurements with this new circuit. We also give a measure of the complexity of the Kraus operations in terms of the minimum number the units required to realize the Kraus operations in multi-duality circuit.

A NOVEL QUANTUM STEGANOGRAPHY PROTOCOL BASED ON PROBABILITY MEASUREMENTS

Quantum steganography is the art of hiding the fact that communications, which transmit the secret message in an insecure quantum channel, are occurring. This paper presents a novel quantum steganography protocol based on probability measurements for transmitting n qubits secret message in an insecure quantum channel. In the protocol, senders embed the secret message into the cover data by POVM measurements. Then, receivers can correctly extract the secret message and recover the cover data with a certain probability by selecting two sets of appropriate protective measurement operators to act projective measurements, respectively. More importantly, the existence of the secret message has no influence on the cover data. In addition, the security of our protocol does not rely on other protocols. The paper analyzes the secrecy and the security in detail.

Implementation schemes for unsharp measurements with trapped ions

Unsharp POVM measurements allow a variety of measurement applications which minimally disrupt the state of the quantum system. Experimental schemes are proposed for implementing unsharp measurements on the qubit levels of a trapped ion. The schemes rely on introducing weak entanglement between the state of a target ion, and that of an auxiliary ion, using standard ion trap quantum logic operations, and then realizing an unsharp measurement through projective measurement on the auxiliary atom. We analyze common sources of error and their effect on different applications of unsharp measurements.

Optimal measurement for quantum discord of two-qubit states

We present an efficient method to solve the quantum discord of two-qubit X states exactly. A geometric picture is used to clarify whether and when the general POVM measurement is superior to von Neumann measurement. We show that either the von Neumann measurement or the three-element POVM measurement is optimal, and more interestingly, in the latter case the components of the postmeasurement ensemble are invariant for a class of states.

Optimal signal states for quantum detectors

Quantum detectors provide information about the microscopic properties of quantum systems by establishing correlations between those properties and a set of macroscopically distinct events that we observe. The question of how much information a quantum detector can extract from a system is therefore of fundamental significance. In this paper, we address this question within a precise framework: given a measurement apparatus implementing a specific POVM measurement, what is the optimal performance achievable with it for a specific information readout task and what is the optimal way to encode information in the quantum system in order to achieve this performance? We consider some of the most common information transmission tasks—the Bayes cost problem, unambiguous message discrimination and the maximal mutual information. We provide general solutions to the Bayesian and unambiguous discrimination problems. We also show that the maximal mutual information is equal to the classical capacity of the quantum-to-classical channel describing the measurement, and study its properties in certain special cases. For a group covariant measurement, we show that the problem is equivalent to the problem of accessible information of a group covariant ensemble of states. We give analytical proofs of optimality in some relevant cases. The framework presented here provides a natural way to characterize generalized quantum measurements in terms of their information readout capabilities.