We show that in prime dimensions not equal to three, each group covariant symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measure (SIC~POVM) is covariant with respect to a unique Heisenberg--Weyl (HW) group. Moreover, the symmetry group of the SIC~POVM is a subgroup of the Clifford group. Hence, two SIC~POVMs covariant with respect to the HW group are unitarily or antiunitarily equivalent if and only if they are on the same orbit of the extended Clifford group. In dimension three, each group covariant SIC~POVM may be covariant with respect to three or nine HW groups, and the symmetry group of the SIC~POVM is a subgroup of at least one of the Clifford groups of these HW groups respectively. There may exist two or three orbits of equivalent SIC~POVMs for each group covariant SIC~POVM, depending on the order of its symmetry group. We then establish a complete equivalence relation among group covariant SIC~POVMs in dimension three, and classify inequivalent ones according to the geometric phases associated with fiducial vectors. Finally, we uncover additional SIC~POVMs by regrouping of the fiducial vectors from different SIC~POVMs which may or may not be on the same orbit of the extended Clifford group.
Symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measurement (SIC-POVM) is one important class of quantum measurement which is crucial for various quantum information processing tasks. SIC-POVMs have the advantage of providing an unbiased estimator for quantum states with the minimal number of outcomes needed for full tomography. We present an experimental approach on a photonic quantum walk which can be used to implement SIC-POVMs on a single-qbubit. The projection measurements of single-photons' positions correspond to elements of SIC-POVM on the polarization of single-photons.
We compute the informational power for the Hoggar SIC-POVM in dimension 8, i.e. the classical capacity of a quantum-classical channel generated by this measurement. We show that the states constituting a maximally informative ensemble form a twin Hoggar SIC-POVM being the image of the original one under a conjugation.
We provide a partial solution to the problem of constructing mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) and symmetric informationally complete POVMs (SIC-POVMs) in non-prime-power dimensions. An algebraic description of a SIC-POVM in dimension six is given. Furthermore it is shown that several sets of three mutually unbiased bases in dimension six are maximal, i.e., cannot be extended.
This short note reviews the notion and fundamental properties of SIC-POVM and its connection with the length of separable states. We also review the t-design.
We construct inequalities between Rényi entropy and the indexes of coincidence of probability distributions, based on which we obtain improved state-dependent entropic uncertainty relations for general symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures (SIC-POVM) and mutually unbiased measurements (MUM) on finite dimensional systems. We show that our uncertainty relations for general SIC-POVMs and MUMs can be tight for sufficiently mixed states, and moreover, comparisons to the numerically optimal results are made via information diagrams.
In the four-dimensional Hilbert space, there exist 16 Heisenberg--Weyl (HW) covariant symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures (SIC~POVMs) consisting of 256 fiducial states on a single orbit of the Clifford group. We explore the structure of these SIC~POVMs by studying the symmetry transformations within a given SIC~POVM and among different SIC~POVMs. Furthermore, we find 16 additional SIC~POVMs by a regrouping of the 256 fiducial states, and show that they are unitarily equivalent to the original 16 SIC~POVMs by establishing an explicit unitary transformation. We t…
The simple concept of a SIC poses a very deep problem in algebraic number theory, as soon as the dimension of Hilbert space exceeds three. A detailed description of the simplest possible example is given.
The paper concerns Weyl-Heisenberg covariant SIC-POVMs (symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures) and full sets of MUBs (mutually unbiased bases) in prime dimension. When represented as vectors in generalized Bloch space a SIC-POVM forms a d^2-1 dimensional regular simplex (d being the Hilbert space dimension). By contrast, the generalized Bloch vectors representing a full set of MUBs form d+1 mutually orthogonal d-1 dimensional regular simplices. In this paper we show that, in the Weyl-Heisenberg case, there are some simple geometrical relationships between the sin…
The generalized Pauli group and its normalizer, the Clifford group, have a rich mathematical structure which is relevant to the problem of constructing symmetric informationally complete POVMs (SIC-POVMs). To date, almost every known SIC-POVM fiducial vector is an eigenstate of a "canonical" unitary in the Clifford group. I show that every canonical unitary in prime dimensions p > 3 lies in the same conjugacy class of the Clifford group and give a class representative for all such dimensions. It follows that if even one such SIC-POVM fiducial vector is an eigenvector of such a unitary, then al…
It's known that if $d^2$ vectors from $d$-dimensional Hilbert space $H$ form a SIC-POVM (SIC for short) then tensor square of those vectors form an equiangular tight frame on the symmetric subspace of $H\otimes H$. We prove that for any SIC of WH-type (Weyl-Heisenberg group covariant) this squared frame can be obtained as a projection of WH-type basis of $H\otimes H$ onto the symmetric subspace. We give a full description of the set of all WH-type bases, so this set could be used as a search space for SIC solutions. Also we show that a particular element of this set is close to a SIC solution …
Generalized quantum measurements (also known as POVMs) are of great importance in quantum information and quantum foundations, but often difficult to perform. We present an experimental approach which can in principle be used to perform arbitrary POVMs in a linear-optical context. One of the most interesting POVMs, the SIC-POVM, is the most compact, set of measurements that can be used to fully describe a quantum state. We use our technique to carry out the first experimental characterization of the state of a qutrit using SIC-POVMs. Because of the highly symmetric nature of this measurement, …
An experimental demonstration of two-qutrit state tomography via one-qutrit symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measure (SIC-POVM) is presented. A two-qutrit state is encoded in the transversal paths of a spontaneous parametric down-converted photon pair. A spatial light modulator allows to implement the necessary 81 POVM elements to reconstruct the state. The quality of the reconstruction is evaluated by comparing independent measurements with the predicted results calculated with the reconstructed state. Entanglement in the system is calculated via negativity and gene…
In order to find out for which initial states of the system the uncertainty of the measurement outcomes will be minimal, one can look for the minimizers of the Shannon entropy of the measurement. In case of group covariant measurements this question becomes closely related to the problem how informative the measurement is in the sense of its informational power. Namely, the orbit under group action of the entropy minimizer corresponds to a maximally informative ensemble of equiprobable elements. We give a characterization of such ensembles for 3-dimensional group covariant (Weyl-Heisenberg) SI…
We present a conjectured family of SIC-POVMs which have an additional symmetry group whose size is growing with the dimension. The symmetry group is related to Fibonacci numbers, while the dimension is related to Lucas numbers. The conjecture is supported by exact solutions for dimensions d=4,8,19,48,124,323, as well as a numerical solution for dimension d=844.
The quantum state of a $d$-dimensional system can be represented by the $d^2$ probabilities corresponding to a SIC-POVM, and then this distribution of probability can be represented by a vector of $\R^{d^2-1}$ in a simplex, we will call this set of vectors $\mathcal{Q}$. Other way of represent a $d$-dimensional system is by the corresponding Bloch vector also in $\R^{d^2-1}$, we will call this set of vectors $\mathcal{B}$. In this paper it is proved that with the adequate scaling $\mathcal{B}=\mathcal{Q}$. Also we indicate some features of the shape of $\mathcal{Q}$.
In this paper we examine a generalization of the symmetric informationally complete POVMs. SIC-POVMs are the optimal measurements for full quantum tomography, but if some parameters of the density matrix are known, then the optimal SIC POVM should be orthogonal to a subspace. This gives the concept of the conditional SIC-POVM. The existence is not known in general, but we give a result in the special cases when the diagonal is known of the density matrix.
We study entanglement witness and present a construction of entanglement witnesses in terms of the symmetric informationally complete measurements (SIC-POVM). The capability of our witness is shown by some examples and it can be found this witness detects more entanglement than previous separability method given also by SIC-POVM. What's more, comparing with the dimension dependence of SIC-POVM, we also give the entanglement witnesses can be always constructed from general symmetric informationally complete measurements (GSIC-POVM).
The existence of a set of d^2 pairwise equiangular complex lines (equivalently, a SIC-POVM) in d-dimensional Hilbert space is currently known only for a finite set of dimensions d. We prove that, if there exists a set of real units in a certain ray class field (depending on d) satisfying certain congruence conditions and algebraic properties, a SIC-POVM may be constructed when d is an odd prime congruent to 2 modulo 3. We give an explicit analytic formula that we expect to yield such a set of units. Our construction uses values of derivatives of zeta functions at s=0 and is closely connected t…
We describe the structure of the extended Clifford Group (defined to be the group consisting of all operators, unitary and anti-unitary, which normalize the generalized Pauli group (or Weyl-Heisenberg group as it is often called)). We also obtain a number of results concerning the structure of the Clifford Group proper (i.e. the group consisting just of the unitary operators which normalize the generalized Pauli group). We then investigate the action of the extended Clifford group operators on symmetric informationally complete POVMs (or SIC-POVMs) covariant relative to the action of the gener…
In the Majorana or stellar representation of quantum states, an arbitrary (pure) state of a spin-1 system is represented by a pair of points on the unit sphere or, equivalently, by a pair of unit vectors. This paper presents an expression for the squared modulus of the inner product of two spin-1 states in terms of their Majorana vectors and uses it to give a geometrical construction of the MUBs and SIC-POVMs of a spin-1 system. The results are not new and duplicate those obtained earlier by other methods, but the Majorana approach nevertheless illuminates them from an unusual point of view. I…
An unavoidable task in quantum information processing is how to obtain data about the state of an individual system by suitable measurements. Informationally complete measurements are relevant in quantum state tomography, quantum cryptography, quantum cloning, and other questions. Symmetric informationally complete measurements (SIC-POVMs) form an especially important class of such measurements. We formulate some novel properties and relations for general SIC-POVMs in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space. For a given density matrix and any general SIC-POVM, the so-called index of coincidence of …
A unified approach to (symmetric informationally complete) positive operator valued measures and mutually unbiased bases is developed in this article. The approach is based on the use of operator equivalents expanded in the enveloping algebra of SU(2). Emphasis is put on similarities and differences between SIC-POVMs and MUBs.
It is a well-known fact that the optimal POVM for quantum state tomography is the symmetric, informationally complete, positive operator valued measure (SIC-POVM). We investigate the same problem only in the case when there are some a priori information about the state, specifically when some parameters are known. In this paper we mainly focus on solving a 3-dimensional optimization problem, which gives us a non-trivial example for the so-called conditional SIC- POVMs, a straightforward generalization of the concept of SIC-POVMs. We also present other special cases to show further applications…
We introduce and study the entanglement breaking rank of an entanglement breaking channel. We show that the entanglement breaking rank of the channel $\mathfrak Z: M_d \to M_d$ defined by \begin{align*} \mathfrak Z(X) = \frac{1}{d+1}(X+\text{Tr}(X)\mathbb I_d) \end{align*} is $d^2$ if and only if there exists a symmetric informationally-complete POVM in dimension $d$.
Symmetric informationally complete (SIC) POVMs are a class of quantum measurements which, in addition to being informationally complete, satisfy three conditions: 1) every POVM element is rank one, 2) the Hilbert-Schmidt inner product between any two distinct elements is constant, and 3) the trace of each element is constant. The third condition is often overlooked, since it may give the impression that it follows trivially from the second. We show that this condition cannot be removed, as it leads to two distinct values for the trace of an element of the POVM. This observation has led us to d…
The problem of finding symmetric informationally complete POVMs (SIC-POVMs) has been solved numerically for all dimensions $d$ up to 67 (A.J. Scott and M. Grassl, {\it J. Math. Phys.} 51:042203, 2010), but a general proof of existence is still lacking. For each dimension, it was shown that it is possible to find a SIC-POVM which is generated from a fiducial state upon application of the operators of the Heisenberg-Weyl group. We draw on the numerically determined fiducial states to study their phase-space features, as displayed by the characteristic function and the Wigner, Bargmann and Husimi…
We consider a version of the extended Clifford Group which is defined in terms of a finite Galois field in odd prime power dimension. We show that Neuhauser's result, that with the appropriate choice of phases the standard (or metaplectic) representation of the discrete symplectic group is faithful also holds for the anti-unitary operators of the extended group. We also improve on Neuhauser's result by giving explicit formulae for the (anti-)unitary corresponding to an arbitrary (anti-)symplectic matrix. We then go on to find the eigenvalues and the order of an arbitrary (anti-)symplectic matr…
A general symmetric-informationally-complete (GSIC)-positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) is known to provide an optimal quantum state tomography among minimal IC POVMs with a fixed average purity. In this paper we provide a general construction of a GSIC POVM by means of a complete orthogonal basis (COB), also interpreted as a normal quasiprobability representation. A spectral property of a COB is shown to play a key role in the construction of SIC POVMs and also for the bound of the mean-square error of the state tomography. In particular, a necessary and sufficient condition to construct …
We construct the set of all general (i.e. not necessarily rank 1) symmetric informationally complete (SIC) positive operator valued measures (POVMs). In particular, we show that any orthonormal basis of a real vector space of dimension d^2-1 corresponds to some general SIC POVM and vice versa. Our constructed set of all general SIC-POVMs contains weak SIC-POVMs for which each POVM element can be made arbitrarily close to a multiple times the identity. On the other hand, it remains open if for all finite dimensions our constructed family contains a rank 1 SIC-POVM.
We study separability problem using general symmetric informationally complete measurements and propose separability criteria in $\mathbb{C}^{d_{1}}\otimes\mathbb{C}^{d_{2}}$ and $\mathbb{C}^{d_{1}}\otimes\mathbb{C}^{d_{2}}\cdots\otimes\mathbb{C}^{d_{n}}$. Our criteria just require less local measurements and provide experimental implementation in detecting entanglement of unknown quantum states.
Recently, Zhu classified all the SIC-POVMs whose symmetry groups act doubly transitively. Lattices of integers in the complex numbers, the quaternions and the octonions yield the key parts of these symmetry groups.
We consider the existence in arbitrary finite dimensions d of a POVM comprised of d^2 rank-one operators all of whose operator inner products are equal. Such a set is called a ``symmetric, informationally complete'' POVM (SIC-POVM) and is equivalent to a set of d^2 equiangular lines in C^d. SIC-POVMs are relevant for quantum state tomography, quantum cryptography, and foundational issues in quantum mechanics. We construct SIC-POVMs in dimensions two, three, and four. We further conjecture that a particular kind of group-covariant SIC-POVM exists in arbitrary dimensions, providing numerical res…
It is a fundamental property of quantum mechanics that information is lost as a result of performing measurements. Indeed, with every quantum measurement one can associate a number -- its POVM norm constant -- that quantifies how much the distinguishability of quantum states degrades in the worst case as a result of the measurement. This raises the obvious question which measurements preserve the most information in these sense of having the largest norm constant. While a number of near-optimal schemes have been found (e.g. the uniform POVM, or complex projective 4-designs), they all seem to b…
It is crucial for various quantum information processing tasks that the state of a quantum system can be determined reliably and efficiently from general quantum measurements. One important class of measurements for this purpose is symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measurements (SIC-POVMs). SIC-POVMs have the advantage of providing an unbiased estimator for the quantum state with the minimal number of outcomes needed for full tomography. By virtue of Naimark's dilation theorem, any POVM can always be realized with a suitable coupling between the system and an auxiliar…
Symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures (SIC-POVMs) are studied within the framework of the probability representation of quantum mechanics. A SIC-POVM is shown to be a special case of the probability representation. The problem of SIC-POVM existence is formulated in terms of symbols of operators associated with a star-product quantization scheme. We show that SIC-POVMs (if they do exist) must obey general rules of the star product, and, starting from this fact, we derive new relations on SIC-projectors. The case of qubits is considered in detail, in particular, th…
In this work, we consider a probability representation of quantum dynamics for finite-dimensional quantum systems with the use of pseudostochastic maps acting on true probability distributions. These probability distributions are obtained via symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measure (SIC-POVM) and can be directly accessible in an experiment. We provide SIC-POVM probability representations both for unitary evolution of the density matrix governed by the von Neumann equation and dissipative evolution governed by Markovian master equation. In particular, we discuss wher…
The notion of Symmetric Informationally Complete Positive Operator-Valued Measures (SIC-POVMs) arose in physics as a kind of optimal measurement basis for quantum systems. However the question of their existence is equivalent to that of the existence of a maximal set of \emph{complex equiangular lines}. That is to say, given a complex Hilbert space of dimension $d$, what is the maximal number of (complex) lines one can find which all make a common (real) angle with one another, in the sense that the inner products between unit vectors spanning those lines all have a common absolute value? A ma…
We show that a special type of measurements, called symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures (SIC POVMs), provide a stronger entanglement detection criterion than the computable cross-norm or realignment criterion based on local orthogonal observables. As an illustration, we demonstrate the enhanced entanglement detection power in simple systems of qubit and qutrit pairs. This observation highlights the significance of SIC POVMs for entanglement detection.
We report on a new computer study into the existence of d^2 equiangular lines in d complex dimensions. Such maximal complex projective codes are conjectured to exist in all finite dimensions and are the underlying mathematical objects defining symmetric informationally complete measurements in quantum theory. We provide numerical solutions in all dimensions d <= 67 and, moreover, a putatively complete list of Weyl-Heisenberg covariant solutions for d <= 50. A symmetry analysis of this list leads to new algebraic solutions in dimensions d = 24, 35 and 48, which are given together with algebraic…
We propose a recipe for constructing a SIC fiducial vector in complex Hilbert space of dimension of the form $d=n^2+3$, focussing on prime dimensions $d=p$. Such structures are shown to exist in thirteen prime dimensions of this kind, the highest being $p=19603$. The real quadratic base field $K$ (in the standard SIC terminology) attached to such dimensions has fundamental units $u_K$ of norm $-1$. Let $\mathbb{Z}_K$ denote the ring of integers of $K$, then $p\mathbb{Z}_K$ splits into two ideals $\mathfrak{p}$ and $\mathfrak{p}'$. The initial entry of the fiducial is the square $ξ^2$ of a geom…
Examples of symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures (SIC-POVMs) have been constructed in every dimension less than or equal to 67. However, it remains an open question whether they exist in all finite dimensions. A SIC-POVM is usually thought of as a highly symmetric structure in quantum state space. However, its elements can equally well be regarded as a basis for the Lie algebra gl(d,C). In this paper we examine the resulting structure constants, which are calculated from the traces of the triple products of the SIC-POVM elements and which, it turns out, characte…
One of the differences between classical and quantum world is that in the former we can always perform a measurement that gives certain outcomes for all pure states, while such a situation is not possible in the latter. The degree of randomness of the distribution of the measurement outcomes can be quantified by the Shannon entropy. While it is well known that this entropy, as a function of quantum states, needs to be minimized by some pure states, we would like to address the question how 'badly' can we end by choosing initially any pure state, i.e., which pure states produce the maximal amou…
We formulate uncertainty relations for mutually unbiased bases and symmetric informationally complete measurements in terms of the Rényi and Tsallis entropies. For arbitrary number of mutually unbiased bases in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, we give a family of Tsallis $α$-entropic bounds for $α\in(0;2]$. Relations in a model of detection inefficiences are obtained. In terms of Rényi's entropies, lower bounds are given for $α\in[2;\infty)$. State-dependent and state-independent forms of such bounds are both given. Uncertainty relations in terms of the min-entropy are separately considered…
The finite Heisenberg group knows when the dimension of Hilbert space is a square number. Remarkably, it then admits a representation such that the entire Clifford group --- the automorphism group of the Heisenberg group --- is represented by monomial phase-permutation matrices. This has a beneficial influence on the amount of calculation that must be done to find Symmetric Informationally Complete POVMs. I make some comments on the equations obeyed by the absolute values of the components of the SIC vectors, and on the fact that the representation partly suggests a preferred tensor product st…
We introduce a method to determine whether a given generalised quantum measurement is isolated or it belongs to a family of measurements having the same prescribed symmetry. The technique proposed reduces to solving a linear system of equations in some relevant cases. As consequence, we provide a simple derivation of the maximal family of Symmetric Informationally Complete measurements (SIC)-POVM in dimension 3. Furthermore, we show that the following remarkable geometrical structures are isolated, so that free parameters cannot be introduced: (a) maximal sets of mutually unbiased bases in pri…
