The physically allowed quantum evolutions on a single qubit can be described in terms of their geometry. From a simple parameterisation of unital single-qubit channels, the canonical form of all such channels can be given. The related geometry can be used to understand how to approximate positive maps by completely-positive maps, such as in the case of optimal eavesdropping strategies. These quantum channels can be generated by the appropriate network or through dynamical means. The Strømer-Woronowisc result can also be understood in terms of this geometry.
We give a simple way of characterising the average fidelity between a unitary and a general operation on a single qubit which only involves calculating the fidelities for a few pure input states.
We show that the set of not-completely-positive (NCP) maps is unbounded, unless further assumptions are made. This is done by first proposing a reasonable definition of a valid NCP map, which is nontrivial because NCP maps may lack a full positivity domain. The definition is motivated by specific examples. We prove that for valid NCP maps, the eigenvalue spectrum of the corresponding dynamical matrix is not bounded. Based on this, we argue that in general the volume measure of qubit maps, including NCP maps, is not well defined.
Explicit expressions for the concurrence of all positive and trace-preserving ("stochastic") 1-qubit maps are presented. By a new method we find the relevant convex roof pattern. We conclude that two component optimal decompositions always exist. Our results can be transferred to $2 \times n$-quantum systems providing the concurrence for all rank two density operators as well as a lower bound for their entanglement of formation.
We investigate the dynamics of an N -level quantum system weakly coupled to a thermal reservoir. For any fixed temperature of the bath there exists a natural reference state: the equilibrium state of the system. Among all quantum operations on the system one distinguishes Davies maps, they pre- serve the equilibrium state, satisfy the detailed balance condition and belong to a semi-group. A complete characterization of the three dimensional set of qubit Davies maps is given. We analyze these maps and find their mini- mum output entropy. A characterization of Davies maps for qutrits is also pro…
Explicit expressions for the concurrence of all positive and trace-preserving ("stochastic") 1-qubit maps are presented. We construct the relevant convex roof patterns by a new method. We conclude that two component optimal decompositions always exist. Our results can be transferred to 2xN-quantumsystems providing the concurrence for all rank two density operators as well as lower and upper bounds for their entanglement of formation. We apply these results to a study of the entanglement entropy of 1-qubit stochastic maps which preserve axial symmetry. Using analytic and numeric results we anal…
The time evolution of an initially uncorrelated system is governed by a completely positive (CP) map. More generally, the system may contain initial (quantum) correlations with an environment, in which case the system evolves according to a not-completely positive (NCP) map. It is an interesting question what the relative measure is for these two types of maps within the set of positive maps. After indicating the scope of the full problem of computing the true volume for generic maps acting on a qubit, we study the case of Pauli channels in an abstract space whose elements represent an equival…
In this paper the geometry of two and three-qubit states under local unitary groups is discussed. We first review the one qubit geometry and its relation with Riemannian sphere under the action of group $SU(2)$. We show that the quaternionic stereographic projection intertwines between local unitary group $SU(2)\otimes SU(2)$ and quaternionic Möbius transformation. The invariant term appearing in this operation is related to concurrence measure. Yet, there exists the same intertwining stereographic projection for much more global group $Sp(2)$, generalizing the familiar Bloch sphere in 2-level…
The concept of divisibility of dynamical maps is used to introduce an analogous concept for quantum channels by analyzing the \textit{simulability} of channels by means of dynamical maps. In particular, this is addressed for Lindblad divisible, completely positive divisible and positive divisible dynamical maps. The corresponding L-divisible, CP-divisible and P-divisible subsets of channels are characterized (exploiting the results by Wolf et al., Comm. Math. Phys., 279(1):147-168, 2008) and visualized for the case of qubit channels. We discuss the general inclusions among divisibility sets an…
We review single-qubit quantum process tomography for trace-preserving and nontrace-preserving processes, and derive explicit forms of the general constraints for fitting experimental data. These forms provide additional insight into the structure of the process matrix as well as reveal a tighter bound on the trace of a nontrace-preserving process than has been previously stated. We also describe, for completeness, how to incorporate measured imperfect input states.
We describe a simple way of characterizing the average fidelity between a unitary (or anti-unitary) operator and a general operation on a single qubit, which only involves calculating the fidelities for a few pure input states, and discuss possible applications to experimental techniques including Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).
We study quantum causal inference in a set-up proposed by Ried et al. [Nat. Phys. 11, 414 (2015)] in which a common-cause scenario can be mixed with a cause-effect scenario, and for which it was found that quantum mechanics can bring an advantage in distinguishing the two scenarios: Whereas in classical statistics, interventions such as randomized trials are needed, a quantum observational scheme can be enough to detect the causal structure if the common cause results from a maximally entangled state. We analyze this setup in terms of the geometry of unital positive but not completely positive…
We present two complementary ways in which Saraceno's symmetric version of the quantum baker's map can be written as a shift map on a string of quantum bits. One of these representations leads naturally to a family of quantizations of the baker's map.
We consider cloning transformations of equatorial qubits and qutrits, with the transformation covariant for rotation of the phases. The optimal cloning maps are derived without simplifying assumptions from first principles, for any number of input and output qubits, and for a single input qutrit and any number of output qutrits. We also compare the cloning maps for global and single particle fidelities, and we show that the two criteria lead to different optimal maps.
Let $Φ$ be a trace-preserving, positivity-preserving (but not necessarily completely positive) linear map on the algebra of complex $2 \times 2$ matrices, and let $Ω$ be any finite-dimensional completely positive map. For $p=2$ and $p \geq 4$, we prove that the maximal $p$-norm of the product map $Φ\ot Ω$ is the product of the maximal $p$-norms of $Φ$ and $Ω$. Restricting $Φ$ to the class of completely positive maps, this settles the multiplicativity question for all qubit channels in the range of values $p \geq 4$.
We study the relation between lack of Information Backflow and completely positive divisibility (CP divisibility) for non-invertible qubit dynamical maps. Recently, these two concepts were shown to be fully equivalent for the so called image non-increasing dynamical maps. Here we show that this equivalence is universal for any qubit dynamical map. A key ingredient in our proof is the observation that there does not exist CPTP projector onto a 3-dimensional subspace spanned by qubit density operators. Our analysis is illustrated by several examples of qubit evolution including also dynamical ma…
Identifying the Bolch sphere with the Riemann sphere(the extended complex plane), we obtain relations between single qubit unitary operations and Möbius transformations on the extended complex plane.
Examples of repeatable procedures and maps are found in the open quantum dynamics of one qubit that interacts with another qubit. They show that a mathematical map that is repeatable can be made by a physical procedure that is not.
This paper reviews recent attempts to describe the two- and three-qubit Hilbert space geometries with the help of Hopf fibrations. In both cases, it is shown that the associated Hopf map is strongly sensitive to states entanglement content. In the two-qubit case, a generalization of the one-qubit celebrated Bloch sphere representation is described.
We analyze positivity of a tensor product of two linear qubit maps, $Φ_1 \otimes Φ_2$. Positivity of maps $Φ_1$ and $Φ_2$ is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for positivity of $Φ_1 \otimes Φ_2$. We find a non-trivial sufficient condition for positivity of the tensor product map beyond the cases when both $Φ_1$ and $Φ_2$ are completely positive or completely co-positive. We find necessary and (separately) sufficient conditions for $n$-tensor-stable positive qubit maps, i.e. such qubit maps $Φ$ that $Φ^{\otimes n}$ is positive. Particular cases of 2- and 3-tensor-stable positive qubit …
Simple examples are constructed that show the entanglement of two qubits being both increased and decreased by interactions on just one of them. One of the two qubits interacts with a third qubit, a control, that is never entangled or correlated with either of the two entangled qubits and is never entangled, but becomes correlated, with the system of those two qubits. The two entangled qubits do not interact, but their state can change from maximally entangled to separable or from separable to maximally entangled. Similar changes for the two qubits are made with a swap operation between one of…
In this paper the geometry of two-qubit systems under local unitary group $SO(2)\otimes SU(2)$ is discussed. It is shown that the quaternionic conformal map intertwines between this local unitary subgroup of $Sp(2)$ and the quaternionic Möbius transformation which is rather a generalization of the results of Lee et al (2002 Quantum Inf. Process. 1 129).
We prove that the binegativity is always positive for any two-qubit state. As a result, as suggested by the previous works, the asymptotic relative entropy of entanglement in two qubits does not exceed the Rains bound, and the PPT-entanglement cost for any two-qubit state is determined to be the logarithmic negativity of the state. Further, the proof reveals some geometrical characteristics of the entangled states, and shows that the partial transposition can give another separable approximation of the entangled state in two qubits.
A geometrical description of three qubit entanglement is given. A part of the transformations corresponding to stochastic local operations and classical communication on the qubits is regarded as a gauge degree of freedom. Entangled states can be represented by the points of the Klein quadric ${\cal Q}$ a space known from twistor theory. It is shown that three-qubit invariants are vanishing on special subspaces of ${\cal Q}$. An invariant vanishing for the $GHZ$ class is proposed. A geometric interpretation of the canonical decomposition and the inequality for distributed entanglement is also …
We present a generalization to 3-qubits of the standard Bloch sphere representation for a single qubit and of the 7-dimensional sphere representation for 2 qubits presented in Mosseri {\it et al.}\cite{Mosseri2001}. The Hilbert space of the 3-qubit system is the 15-dimensional sphere $S^{15}$, which allows for a natural (last) Hopf fibration with $S^8$ as base and $S^7$ as fiber. A striking feature is, as in the case of 1 and 2 qubits, that the map is entanglement sensitive, and the two distinct ways of un-entangling 3 qubits are naturally related to the Hopf map. We define a quantity that mea…
We show how to construct an arbitrary robust one-qubit unitary operation with a control Hamiltonian of $A_x(t) σ_x + A_y(t) σ_y$, where $σ_i$ is a Pauli matrix and $A_i(t)$ is piecewise constant. Our method, based on planar geometry, admits a simple and intuitive interpretation. Furthermore, the total execution time and the number of elementary gates of the obtained sequence are comparable to those of the shortest known concatenated composite pulses.
Employing five commuting sets of five-qubit observables, we propose specific 160-661 and 160-21 state proofs of the Bell-Kochen-Specker theorem that are also proofs of Bell's theorem. A histogram of the 'Hilbert-Schmidt' distances between the corresponding maximal bases shows in both cases a noise-like behaviour. The five commuting sets are also ascribed a finite-geometrical meaning in terms of the structure of symplectic polar space W(9,2).
Two qubits is the simplest system where the notions of separable and entangled states and entanglement witnesses first appear. We give a three dimensional geometric description of these notions. This description however carries no quantitative information on the measure of entanglement. A four dimensional description captures also the entanglement measure. We give a neat formula for the Bell states which leads to a slick proof of the fundamental teleportation identity. We describe optimal distillation of two qubits geometrically and present a simple geometric proof of the Peres-Horodecki separ…
Geometric quantum mechanics aims to express the physical properties of quantum systems in terms of geometrical features preferentially selected in the space of pure states. Geometric characterisations are given here for systems of one, two, and three spin-1/2 particles, drawing attention to the classification of quantum states into entanglement types.
We study the level surfaces of quantum discord for a class of two-qubit states with parallel nonzero Bloch vectors. The dynamic behavior of quantum discord under decoherence is investigated. It is shown that a class of X states has sudden transition between classical and quantum correlations under decoherence. Our results include the ones in M. D. Lang and C. M. Caves [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 150501 (2010)] as a special case and show new pictures and structures of quantum discord.
We describe a general framework to study covariant symmetric broadcasting maps for mixed qubit states. We explicitly derive the optimal N to M superbroadcasting maps, achieving optimal purification of the single-site output copy, in both the universal and the phase covariant cases. We also study the bipartite entanglement properties of the superbroadcast states.
On account of the Abel-Galois no-go theorem for the algebraic solution to quintic and higher order polynomials, the eigenvalue problem and the associated characteristic equation for a general noise dynamics in dimension $d$ via the Choi-Jamiolkowski approach cannot be solved in general via radicals. We provide a way around this impasse by decomposing the Choi matrix into simpler, not necessarily positive, Hermitian operators that are diagonalizable via radicals, which yield a set of `positive' and `negative' Kraus operators. The price to pay is that the sufficient number of Kraus operators is …
The work deficit, as introduced by Jonathan Oppenheim \emph{et al}[Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{89}, 180402 (2002)] is a good measure of the quantum correlations in a state and provides a new standpoint for understanding quantum non-locality. In this paper, we analytically evaluate the one-way information deficit (OWID) for the Bell-diagonal states and a class of two-qubit states and further give the geometry picture for OWID. The dynamic behavior of the OWID under decoherence channel is investigated and it is shown that the OWID of some classes of $X$ states is more robust against the decoherence…
Lorentz transformations of spin density matrices for a particle with positive mass and spin 1/2 are described by maps of the kind used in open quantum dynamics. They show how the Lorentz transformations of the spin depend on the momentum. Since the spin and momentum generally are entangled, the maps generally are not completely positive and act in limited domains. States with two momentum values are considered, so the maps are for the spin qubit entangled with the qubit made from the two momentum values, and results from the open quantum dynamics of two coupled qubits can be applied. Inverse m…
We review the geometric features of negative conditional entropy and the properties of the conditional amplitude operator proposed by Cerf and Adami for two qubit states in comparison with entanglement and nonlocality of the states. We identify the region of negative conditional entropy in the tetrahedron of locally maximally mixed two-qubit states. Within this set of states, negative conditional entropy implies nonlocality and entanglement, but not vice versa, and we show that the Cerf-Adami conditional amplitude operator provides an entanglement witness equivalent to the Peres-Horodecki crit…
We study the relation between qubit entanglement and Lorentzian geometry. In an earlier paper, we had given a recipe for detecting two qubit entanglement. The entanglement criterion is based on Partial Lorentz Transformations (PLT) on individual qubits. The present paper gives the theoretical framework underlying the PLT test. The treatment is based physically, on the causal structure of Minkowski spacetime, and mathematically, on a Lorentzian Singular Value Decomposition. A surprising feature is the natural emergence of "Energy conditions" used in Relativity. All states satisfy a "Dominant En…
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…
The quantum adder is an essential attribute of a quantum computer, just as classical adder is needed for operation of a digital computer. We model the quantum full adder as a realistic complex algorithm on a large number of qubits in an Ising-spin quantum computer. Our results are an important step toward effective modeling of the quantum modular adder which is needed for Shor's and other quantum algorithms. Our full adder has the following features: (i) The near-resonant transitions with small detunings are completely suppressed, which allows us to decrease errors by several orders of magnitu…
The Lindblad generators of the master equation define which kind of decoherence happens in an open quantum system. We are working with a two qubit system and choose the generators to be projection operators on the eigenstates of the system and unitary bilocal rotations of them. The resulting decoherence modes are studied in detail. Besides the general solutions we investigate the special case of maximally entangled states - the Bell singlet states. The results are depicted in the so-called spin geometry picture which allows to illustrate the evolution of the (nonlocal) correlations stored in a…
We demonstrate how insights gained from reformulating the problem of quantum teleportation into one of reversing quantum operations, and designing optimum completely positive maps for teleportation, can enable one to explore optimal approximate reversal of quantum operations on a single qubit. In particular, we show that the optimal approximate reversal of a generalized depolarizing channel can be achieved using only unitary transformations. We also show that for a quantum channel, which reveals some information about the input state, extremal completely positive maps and not unitary transform…
When two qubits A and B are in an appropriate state, Alice can remotely steer Bob's system B into different ensembles by making different measurements on A. This famous phenomenon is known as quantum steering, or Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering. Importantly, quantum steering establishes the correspondence not only between a measurement on A (made by Alice) and an ensemble of B (owned by Bob) but also between each of Alice's measurement outcomes and an unnormalized conditional state of Bob's system. The unnormalized conditional states of B corresponding to all possible measurement outcomes of …
A group theoretic framework is introduced that simplifies the description of known quantum error-correcting codes and greatly facilitates the construction of new examples. Codes are given which map 3 qubits to 8 qubits correcting 1 error, 4 to 10 qubits correcting 1 error, 1 to 13 qubits correcting 2 errors, and 1 to 29 qubits correcting 5 errors.
We analyze how a maximally entangled state of two-qubits (e.g., the singlet $ψ_s$) is affected by action of local channels described by completely positive maps $\cE$ . We analyze the concurrence and the purity of states $\varrho_\cE=\cE\otimes\cI[ψ_s]$.Using the concurrence-{\it vs}-purity phase diagram we characterize local channels $\cE$ by their action on the singlet state $ψ_s$. We specify a region of the concurrence-{\it vs.}-purity diagram that is achievable from the singlet state via the action of unital channels. We show that even most general (including non-unital) local channels act…
Parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) are a central component of many variational quantum algorithms, yet there is a lack of understanding of how their parameterization impacts algorithm performance. We initiate this discussion by using principal bundles to geometrically characterize two-qubit PQCs. On the base manifold, we use the Mannoury-Fubini-Study metric to find a simple equation relating the Ricci scalar (geometry) and concurrence (entanglement). By calculating the Ricci scalar during a variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) optimization process, this offers us a new perspective to how a…
Classical capacity of unital qubit channels is well known, whereas that of nonunital qubit channels is not. We find lower and upper bounds on classical capacity of nonunital qubit channels by using a recently developed decomposition technique relating nonunital and unital positive qubit maps.
A new geometric representation of qubit and qutrit states based on probability simplexes is used to describe the separability and entanglement properties of density matrices of two qubits. The Peres--Horodecki positive partial transpose (ppt)-criterion and the concurrence inequalities are formulated as the conditions that the introduced probability distributions must satisfy to present entanglement. A four-level system, where one or two states are inaccessible, is considered as an example of applying the elaborated probability approach in an explicit form. The areas of three Triadas of Malevic…
Fully characterizing the steerability of a quantum state of a bipartite system has remained an open problem since the concept of steerability was defined. In this work, using our recent geometrical approach to steerability, we suggest a necessary and sufficient condition for a two-qubit state to be steerable with respect to projective measurements. To this end, we define the critical radius of local models and show that a state of two qubits is steerable with respect to projective measurements from Alice's side if and only if her critical radius of local models is less than $1$. As an example,…
It is a well-known result due to E. Størmer that every positive qubit map is decomposable into a sum of a completely positive map and a completely copositive map. Here, we generalize this result to tensor squares of qubit maps. Specifically, we show that any positive tensor product of a qubit map with itself is decomposable. This solves a recent conjecture by S. Fillipov and K. Magadov. We contrast this result with examples of non-decomposable positive maps arising as the tensor product of two distinct qubit maps or as the tensor square of a decomposable map from a qubit to a ququart. To show …
