The geometry of the generalized Bloch sphere $Ω_3$, the state space of a qutrit, is studied. Closed form expressions for $Ω_3$, its boundary $\partial Ω_3$, and the set of extremals $Ω_3^{\rm ext}$ are obtained by use of an elementary observation. These expressions and analytic methods are used to classify the 28 two-sections and the 56 three-sections of $Ω_3$ into unitary equivalence classes, completing the works of earlier authors. It is shown, in particular, that there are families of two-sections and of three-sections which are equivalent geometrically but not unitarily, a feature that does not appear to have been appreciated earlier. A family of three-sections of obese-tetrahedral shape whose symmetry corresponds to the 24-element tetrahedral point group $T_d$ is examined in detail. This symmetry is traced to the natural reduction of the adjoint representation of $SU(3)$, the symmetry underlying $Ω_3$, into direct sum of the two-dimensional and the two (inequivalent) three-dimensional irreducible representations of $T_d$.
We have given a novel formulation of the exact solutions for the lambda, vee and cascade three-level systems where the Hamiltonian of each configuration is expressed in the SU(3) basis. The solutions are discussed from the perspective of the Bloch equation and the atom-field entanglement scenario. For the semiclassical systems, the Bloch space structure of each configuration is studied by solving the corresponding Bloch equation and it is shown that at resonance, the eight-dimensional Bloch sphere is broken up into two distinct subspaces due to the existence of a pair of quadratic constants. B…
An ability to describe quantum states directly by average values of measurement outcomes is provided by the Bloch vector. For an informationally complete set of measurements one can construct unique Bloch vector for any quantum state. However, not every Bloch vector corresponds to a quantum state. It seems that only for two dimensional quantum systems it is easy to distinguish proper Bloch vectors from improper ones, i.e. the ones corresponding to quantum states from the other ones. I propose an alternative approach to the problem in which more than one vector is used. In particular, I show th…
The cascade, lambda and vee type of three-level systems are shown to be described by three different Hamiltonians in the SU(3) basis. We investigate the Bloch space structure of each configuration by solving the corresponding Bloch equation and show that at resonance, the seven-dimensional Bloch sphere ${\mathcal S}^7$ is broken into two distinct subspaces ${\mathcal S}^2{\times}{\mathcal S}^4$ due to the existence of a pair of quadratic constants. We also give a possible representation of the qutrit wave function and discuss its equivalence with the three-level system.
Geometric intuition is a crucial tool to obtain deeper insight into many concepts of physics. A paradigmatic example of its power is the Bloch ball, the geometrical representation for the state space of the simplest possible quantum system, a two-level system (or qubit). However, already for a three-level system (qutrit) the state space has eight dimensions, so that its complexity exceeds the grasp of our three-dimensional space of experience. This is unfortunate, given that the geometric object describing the state space of a qutrit has a much richer structure and is in many ways more represe…
Milz and Strunz ({\it J. Phys. A}: {\bf{48}} [2015] 035306) recently studied the probabilities that two-qubit and qubit-qutrit states, randomly generated with respect to Hilbert-Schmidt (Euclidean/flat) measure, are separable. They concluded that in both cases, the separability probabilities (apparently exactly $\frac{8}{33}$ in the two-qubit scenario) hold {\it constant} over the Bloch radii ($r$) of the single-qubit subsystems, jumping to 1 at the pure state boundaries ($r=1$). Here, firstly, we present evidence that in the qubit-qutrit case, the separability probability is uniformly distrib…
The qutrit comes next in complexity after qubit as a resource for quantum information processing. The qubit density matrix can be easily visualized using Bloch sphere representation of its states. In contrast, this simplicity is in general unavailable for the 8-dimensional state space of a qutrit. In this work a new way to visualize them in a 3-dimensional Cartesian space is presented and compared with earlier similar efforts.
We present a surprisingly simple three-dimensional Bloch sphere representation of a qutrit, i.e., a single three-level quantum system. We start with a symmetric state of a two-qubit system and relate it to the spin-1 representation. Using this representation we associate each qutrit state with a three-dimensional vector $\mathbf{a}$ and a metric tensor $\mathbf{\hatΓ}$ which satisfy $\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{\hatΓ} \cdot \mathbf{a}\leq 1$. This resembles the well known condition for qubit Bloch vectors in which case $\mathbf{\hatΓ}=\hat{I}$. In our case the vector $\mathbf{a}$ corresponds to sp…
For a general-form polarization biphoton qutrit, physically corresponding to a pair of arbitrarily polarized photons in a single frequency and wavevector mode, we explicitly find polarization Schmidt modes. A simple method is suggested for factorizing the state vector and the explicit expressions for the factorizing photon creation operators are found. The degrees of entanglement and polarization of a qutrit are shown to depend directly on the commutation features of the factorizing operators. Clear graphic representations for the Stokes vectors of the qutrit state as a whole, its Schmidt mode…
We analyze qubit decoherence in the framework of geometric quantum mechanics. In this framework the qubit density operators are represented by probability distributions which are also the Kähler functions on the Bloch sphere. Interestingly, the complete positivity of the quantum evolution is recovered as ellipticity of the second order differential operator (deformed Laplacian) which governs the evolution of the probability distribution.
We present an analysis of noisy atomic channels involving qutrits. We choose a three-level atom with V-configuration to be the qutrit state. Gell-Mann matrices and a generalized Bloch vector (8-dimensional) are used to describe the qutrit density operator. We introduce quantum quasi-distributions for qutrits that provide a simple description of entanglement. Studying the time-evolution for the atomic variables we find the Kraus representation of spontaneous emission quantum channel (SE channel). Furthermore, we consider a generalized Werner state of two qutrits and investigate the separability…
We present an analysis of spontaneous emission in a 3-level atom as an example of a qutrit state under the action of noisy quantum channels. We choose a 3-level atom with V-configuration to be the qutrit state. Gell-Mann matrices and a generalized Bloch vector (8-dimensional) are used to describe the qutrit density operator. Using the time-evolution equations of atomic variables we find the Kraus representation of spontaneous emission quantum channel (SE channel). Furthermore, we consider a generalized Werner state of two qutrits and investigate the separability condition. We give similar anal…
We report a study of the Majorana geometrical representation of a qutrit, where a pair of points on a unit sphere represents its quantum states. A canonical form for qutrit states is presented, where every state can be obtained from a one-parameter family of states via $SO(3)$ action. The notion of spin-1 magnetization which is invariant under $SO(3)$ is geometrically interpreted on the Majorana sphere. Furthermore, we describe the action of several quantum gates in the Majorana picture and experimentally implement these gates on a spin-1 system (an NMR qutrit) oriented in a liquid crystalline…
We express the matrix elements of the density matrix of the qutrit state in terms of probabilities associated with artificial qubit states. We show that the quantum statistics of qubit states and observables is formally equivalent to the statistics of classical systems with three random vector variables and three classical probability distributions obeying special constrains found in this study. The Bloch spheres geometry of qubit states is mapped onto triangle geometry of qubits. We investigate the triada of Malevich's squares describing the qubit states in quantum suprematism picture and the…
We represent a two-qubit density matrix in the basis of Pauli matrix tensor products, with the coefficients constituting a Bloch matrix, analogous to the single qubit Bloch vector. We find the quantum state positivity requirements on the Bloch matrix components, leading to three important inequalities, allowing us to parametrize and visualize the two-qubit state space. Applying the singular value decomposition naturally separates the degrees of freedom to local and nonlocal, and simplifies the positivity inequalities. It also allows us to geometrically represent a state as two entangled Bloch …
We have implemented a Walsh-Hadamard gate, which performs a quantum Fourier transform, in a superconducting qutrit. The qutrit is encoded in the lowest three energy levels of a capacitively shunted flux device, operated at the optimal flux-symmetry point. We use an efficient decomposition of the Walsh-Hadamard gate into two unitaries, generated by off-diagonal and diagonal Hamiltonians respectively. The gate implementation utilizes simultaneous driving of all three transitions between the three pairs of energy levels of the qutrit, one of which is implemented with a two-photon process. The gat…
We obtain formulas (bot. p. 12)--including $\frac{2}{121}$ and $\frac{4 \left(242 \sqrt{3} π-1311\right)}{9801}$--for the eight atoms (Fig. 11), summing to 1, which span a 256-dimensional three-set (P, S, PPT) entanglement-probability boolean algebra for the two-qutrit Hiesmayr-Loffler states. PPT denotes positive partial transpose, while P and S provide the Li-Qiao necessary and}sufficient conditions for entanglement. The constraints ensuring entanglement are $s> \frac{16}{9} \approx 1.7777$ and $p> \frac{2^{27}}{3^{18} \cdot 7^{15} \cdot13} \approx 5.61324 \cdot 10^{-15}$. Here, $s$ is the s…
The two-qubit pure state is explicitly parameterized by three unit 2-spheres and a phase factor. For separable states, two of the three unit spheres are the Bloch spheres of each qubit. The third sphere parameterizes the degree and phase of concurrence, an entanglement measure. This sphere may be considered a variable complex imaginary unit where the stereographic projection maps the qubit-A Bloch sphere to a complex plane with this variable imaginary unit. This Bloch sphere model gives a consistent description of the two-qubit pure states for both separable and entangled states. We argue that…
Caustics are optical phenomena which occur when a family of rays creates an envelope of divergent intensity. Here we show that caustic surfaces also appear when a real or complex field is mapped to its order parameter manifold. We study these structures in the context of spin-1/2 fields, where the order parameter manifold is the Bloch sphere. These generic structures are a manifestation of catastrophe theory and are stable with respect to perturbations. The corresponding field configurations are also stable and represent a new type of topological defect. Equations governing the conditions for …
m-Qubit states are imbedded in $\mathfrak{Cl}_{2^m}$ Clifford algebras. Their probability spectra then depend on $O(2m)$ or $O(2m+1)$ invariants. Parameter domains for $O(2m(+1))-$ vector and tensor configurations, generalizing the notion of a Bloch sphere, are derived.
The no-cloning theorem forbids the distribution of an unknown state to more than one receiver. However, if the sender knows the state, and the state is chosen from a restricted set of possibilities, a procedure known as remote state preparation can be used to broadcast a state. Here we examine a remote state preparation protocol that can be used to send the state of a qubit, confined to the equator of the Bloch sphere, to an arbitrary number of receivers. The entanglement cost is less than that of using teleportation to accomplish the same task. We present a number of variations on this task, …
A scheme for implementing the discrete-time quantum walk on the Bloch sphere is proposed, which is closely related to the SU(2) group. A spin cluster serves as the walker, whereas its location on the Bloch sphere is described by the spin coherent state. An additional spin that interacts with the spin cluster plays the role of a coin, whose state determines the rotation of the spin cluster. The Wigner function is calculated to visualize the movement of the walker on the Bloch sphere, with which the probability distribution and the standard deviation are also achieved. The quadratic enhancement …
The time evolution of a two-level quantum mechanical system can be geometrically described using the Bloch sphere. By mapping the Bloch sphere evolution onto the dynamics of oscillating electric dipoles, we provide a physically intuitive link between classical electromagnetism and the electric dipole transitions of atomic & molecular physics.
We show how the Majorana representation can be used to express the pure states of an N-qubit system as points on the Bloch sphere. We compare this geometrical representation of N-qubit states with an alternative one, proposed recently by the present authors.
The adiabatic perturbation is shown to be singular from the exact solution of a spin-1/2 particle in a uniformly rotating magnetic field. Due to a non-adiabatic effect, its quantum trajectory on a Bloch sphere is a cycloid traced by a circle rolling along an adiabatic path. As the magnetic field rotates more and more slowly, the time-energy uncertainty, proportional to the distance of the quantum trajectory, calculated by the exact solution is entirely different from the one obtained by the adiabatic path traced by the instantaneous state. However, the non-adiabatic Aharonov-Anandan geometric …
Three unit spheres were used to represent the two-qubit pure states. The three spheres are named the base sphere, entanglement sphere, and fiber sphere. The base sphere and entanglement sphere represent the reduced density matrix of the base qubit and the non-local entanglement measure, concurrence, while the fiber sphere represents the fiber qubit via a simple rotation under a local single-qubit unitary operation; however, in an entangled bipartite state, the fiber sphere has no information on the reduced density matrix of the fiber qubit. When the bipartite state becomes separable, the base …
We detect a certain pattern of behavior of separability probabilities $p(r_A,r_B)$ for two-qubit systems endowed with Hilbert-Schmidt, and more generally, random induced measures, where $r_A$ and $r_B$ are the Bloch radii ($0 \leq r_A,r_B \leq 1$) of the qubit reduced states ($A,B$). We observe a relative repulsion of radii effect, that is $p(r_A,r_A) < p(r_A,1-r_A)$, except for rather narrow "crossover" intervals $[\tilde{r}_A,\frac{1}{2}]$. Among the seven specific cases we study are, firstly, the "toy" seven-dimensional $X$-states model and, then, the fifteen-dimensional two-qubit states ob…
Entanglement is an important concept in quantum information, quantum communication, and quantum computing. We provide a geometrical analysis of entanglement and separability for all the rank-2 quantum mixed states: complete analysis for the bipartite states, and partial analysis for the multipartite states. For each rank-2 mixed state, we define its unique Bloch sphere, that is spanned by the eigenstates of its density matrix. We characterize those Bloch spheres into exactly five classes of entanglement and separability, give examples for each class, and prove that those are the only classes.
We discuss a generalization to 2 qubits of the standard Bloch sphere representation for a single qubit, in the framework of Hopf fibrations of high dimensional spheres by lower dimensional spheres. The single qubit Hilbert space is the 3-dimensional sphere S3. The S2 base space of a suitably oriented S3 Hopf fibration is nothing but the Bloch sphere, while the circular fibres represent the qubit overall phase degree of freedom. For the two qubits case, the Hilbert space is a 7-dimensional sphere S7, which also allows for a Hopf fibration, with S3 fibres and a S4 base. A main striking result is…
For a quantum system governed by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, we studied the problem of obtaining an optimum Hamiltonian that generates nonunitary transformations of a given initial state into a certain final state in the smallest time $τ$. The analysis is based on the relationship between the states of the two-dimensional subspace of the Hilbert space spanned by the initial and final states and the points of the two-dimensional complex Bloch sphere.
In this paper we present a simple algorithm for representation of statistical data of any origin by complex probability amplitudes. Numerical simulation with Mathematica-6 is performed. The Bloch's sphere is used for visualization of results of numerical simulation. On the one hand, creation of such a quantum-like (QL) representation and its numerical approval is an important step in clarification of extremely complicated interrelation between classical and quantum randomness. On the other hand, it opens new possibilities for application the mathematical formalism of QM in other domains of sci…
The properties of the geometric phases between three quantum states are investigated in a high-dimensional Hilbert space using the Majorana representation of symmetric quantum states. We found that the geometric phases between the three quantum states in an N-state quantum system can be represented by N-1 spherical triangles on the Bloch sphere. The parameter dependence of the geometric phase was analyzed based on this picture. We found that the geometric phase exhibits rich nonlinear behavior in a high-dimensional Hilbert space.
A Bloch sphere is the geometrical representation of an arbitrary two-dimensional Hilbert space. Possible classes of entanglement and separability for the pure and mixed states on the Bloch sphere were suggested by [M. Boyer, R. Liss, T. Mor, PRA 95, 032308 (2017)]. Here we construct a Bloch sphere for the Hilbert space spanned by one of the ground states of Kitaev's toric code model and one of its closest product states. We prove that this sphere contains only one separable state, thus belonging to the fourth class suggested by the said paper. We furthermore study the topological order of the …
An arbitrarily dense discretisation of the Bloch sphere of complex Hilbert states is constructed, where points correspond to bit strings of fixed finite length. Number-theoretic properties of trigonometric functions (not part of the quantum-theoretic canon) are used to show that this constructive discretised representation incorporates many of the defining characteristics of quantum systems: completementarity, uncertainty relationships and (with a simple Cartesian product of discretised spheres) entanglement. Unlike Meyer's earlier discretisation of the Bloch Sphere, there are no orthonormal t…
We explore the conceptual usefulness of Riemannian geometric tools induced by the statistical concept of distinguishability in quantifying the effect of a depolarizing channel on quantum states. Specifically, we compare the geometries of the interior of undeformed and deformed Bloch spheres related to density operators on a two-dimensional Hilbert space. We show that randomization emerges geometrically through a smaller infinitesimal quantum line element on the deformed Bloch sphere while the uniform contraction manifests itself via a deformed set of geodesics where the spacial components of t…
A two-sphere ("Bloch" or "Poincare") is familiar for describing the dynamics of a spin-1/2 particle or light polarization. Analogous objects are derived for unitary groups larger than SU(2) through an iterative procedure that constructs evolution operators for higher-dimensional SU in terms of lower-dimensional ones. We focus, in particular, on the SU(4) of two qubits which describes all possible logic gates in quantum computation. For a general Hamiltonian of SU(4) with 15 parameters, and for Hamiltonians of its various sub-groups so that fewer parameters suffice, we derive Bloch-like rotatio…
In this study for particular states of bipartite quantum system in 2n?2m dimensional Hilbert space state, similar to m or n-qubit density matrices represented in Bloch sphere we call them generalized Bloch sphere states(GBSS), we give an efficient optimization procedure so that analytic evaluation of quantum discord can be performed. Using this optimization procedure, we find an exact analytical formula for the optimum positive operator valued measure (POVM) that maximize the measure of the classical correlation for these states. The presented optimization procedure also is used to show that f…
By use of a generalized Bloch vector construction, we study the decoherence of a system composed of two interacting qubits in a general noisy environment. In particular, we investigate the effects of correlations in the noise acting on distinct qubits. Our treatment of the two-qubit system by use of the generalized Bloch vector leads to tractable analytic equations for the dynamics of the 4-level Bloch vector and allows for the application of geometrical concepts from the well known 2-level Bloch sphere. We find that in the presence of correlated or anticorrelated noise, the rate of decoherenc…
CALA-$n$: A Quantum Library for Realizing Cost-Effective 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-bit Gates on IBM Quantum Computers using Bloch Sphere Approach, Clifford+T Gates, and Layouts
Quantum teleportation is the transfer of quantum information between two locations by the use of shared entanglement. Current teleportation schemes broadly fall under one of two categories, of either qubit or continuous variables teleportation. Spin coherent states on spin ensembles can be teleported under the continuous variables approximation for states with small deviations from a given polarization. However, for spin coherent states with large deviations, no convenient teleportation protocol exists. Recently, we introduced a teleportation scheme where a spin coherent state lying on the equ…
Using the similarity between spin states on the Bloch sphere (BS) and polarization states on the Poincare sphere (PS), we construct higher-order spin states on the higher-order BS corresponding to higher-order polarization states of photons on the higher-order PS. We investigate the time evolution of higher-order spin states in a magnetic field and establish an extended form of the conventional Larmor precession. The results provide insights on coherent transfer from extended photons to extended spin qubit systems with spin and orbital angular momenta and the operation of extended spin qubits.
The geometric interpretation of (pseudo)spin 1/2 systems on the Bloch sphere has been appreciated across different areas ranging from condensed matter to quantum information and high energy physics. Although similar notions for larger Hilbert spaces are established in mathematics, they have been so far less explored beyond the two-level case for practical usage in condensed matter settings, or have involved restrictions to sub manifolds within the full Hilbert space. We here employ a coherence vector description to theoretically characterize a general N-level system on the higher dimensional g…
We present three different matrix bases that can be used to decompose density matrices of d--dimensional quantum systems, so-called qudits: the generalized Gell-Mann matrix basis, the polarization operator basis, and the Weyl operator basis. Such a decomposition can be identified with a vector --the Bloch vector, i.e. a generalization of the well known qubit case-- and is a convenient expression for comparison with measurable quantities and for explicit calculations avoiding the handling of large matrices. We consider the important case of an isotropic two--qudit state and decompose it accordi…
The Bloch sphere is a familiar and useful geometrical picture of the dynamics of a single spin or two-level system's quantum evolution. The analogous geometrical picture for three-level systems is presented, with several applications. The relevant SU(3) group and su(3) algebra are eight-dimensional objects and are realized in our picture as two four-dimensional manifolds describing the time evolution operator. The first, called the base manifold, is the counterpart of the S^2 Bloch sphere, whereas the second, called the fiber, generalizes the single U(1) phase of a single spin. Now four-dimens…
We find an optimal quantum cloning machine, which clones qubits of arbitrary symmetrical distribution around the Bloch vector with the highest fidelity. The process is referred to as phase-independent cloning in contrast to the standard phase-covariant cloning for which an input qubit state is a priori better known. We assume that the information about the input state is encoded in an arbitrary axisymmetric distribution (phase function) on the Bloch sphere of the cloned qubits. We find analytical expressions describing the optimal cloning transformation and fidelity of the clones. As an illust…
As is well known, when an SU(2) operation acts on a two-level system, its Bloch vector rotates without change of magnitude. Considering a system composed of two two-level systems, it is proven that for a class of nonlocal interactions of the two subsystems including σ_i\otimesσ_j (with i,j \in {x,y,z}) and the Heisenberg interaction, the geometric description of the motion is particularly simple: each of the two Bloch vectors follows an elliptical orbit within the Bloch sphere. The utility of this result is demonstrated in two applications, the first of which bears on quantum control via quant…
Extending the Bloch sphere model to an N-qubit system
Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha（卡斯蒂利亚-拉曼查大学）；Universidad de La Rioja（拉里奥哈大学）；Universidad Complutense de Madrid（马德里康普顿斯大学）；Roma Tre University（罗马三大学）；QSimov
