Stochastic models for quantum state reduction give rise to statistical laws that are in most respects in agreement with those of quantum measurement theory. Here we examine the correspondence of the two theories in detail, making a systematic use of the methods of martingale theory. An analysis is carried out to determine the magnitude of the fluctuations experienced by the expectation of the observable during the course of the reduction process and an upper bound is established for the ensemble average of the greatest fluctuations incurred. We consider the general projection postulate of Lüders applicable in the case of a possibly degenerate eigenvalue spectrum, and derive this result rigorously from the underlying stochastic dynamics for state reduction in the case of both a pure and a mixed initial state. We also analyse the associated Lindblad equation for the evolution of the density matrix, and obtain an exact time-dependent solution for the state reduction that explicitly exhibits the transition from a general initial density matrix to the Lüders density matrix. Finally, we apply Girsanov's theorem to derive a set of simple formulae for the dynamics of the state in terms of a family of geometric Brownian motions, thereby constructing an explicit unravelling of the Lindblad equation.
A derivative is a financial security whose value is a function of underlying traded assets and market outcomes. Pricing a financial derivative involves setting up a market model, finding a martingale (``fair game") probability measure for the model from the given asset prices, and using that probability measure to price the derivative. When the number of underlying assets and/or the number of market outcomes in the model is large, pricing can be computationally demanding. We show that a variety of quantum techniques can be applied to the pricing problem in finance, with a particular focus on i…
We develop a martingale theory to describe fluctuations of entropy production for open quantum systems in nonequilbrium steady states. Using the formalism of quantum jump trajectories, we identify a decomposition of entropy production into an exponential martingale and a purely quantum term, both obeying integral fluctuation theorems. An important consequence of this approach is the derivation of a set of genuine universal results for stopping-time and infimum statistics of stochastic entropy production. Finally we complement the general formalism with numerical simulations of a qubit system.
We propose a strategy for modeling the behavior of an adiabatic quantum computer described by an Ising Hamiltonian with $N$ sites and the coordination number $Z$. The method is based on the $1/Z$ expansion for the density matrix of the system. In each order, the ground state energy is found neglecting the higher-order correlations between the sites, as long as the set of equations remains non-singular. The conditions of the appearance of a singularity, equivalent to the disappearance of energy gap in the given approximation, can be directly obtained from the equations. Then the next order in t…
Fidelity is known to increase through any Kraus map: the fidelity between two density matrices is less than the fidelity between their images via a Kraus map. We prove here that, in average, fidelity is also increasing for any discrete-time quantum filter: fidelity between the density matrix of the underlying Markov chain and the density matrix of its associated quantum filter is a sub-martingale. This result is not restricted to pure states. It also holds true for mixed states.
It is well-known in quantum information theory that a positive operator valued measure (POVM) is the most general kind of quantum measurement. Mathematically, a quantum probability is a normalised POVM, namely a function on certain subsets of a (locally compact and Hausdorff) sample space that satisfies the formal requirements for a probability measure and whose values are positive operators acting on a complex Hilbert space. A quantum random variable is an operator valued function which is measurable with respect to a quantum probability. In the present work, we study quantum random variables…
The dynamics of a single microscopic or mesoscopic non quantum system interacting with a macroscopic environment is generally stochastic. In the same way, the reduced density operator of a single quantum system interacting with a macroscopic environment is a priori a stochastic variable, and decoherence describes only the average dynamics of this variable, not its fluctuations. It is shown that a general unbiased quantum measurement can be reformulated as a gambler's ruin problem where the game is a martingale. Born's rule then appears as a direct consequence of the optional stopping theorem f…
We extend quantum trajectory theory to encompass the evolution of a large class of open quantum systems interacting with an environment at {arbitrary coupling strength}. Specifically, we prove that general time-local quantum master equations admit an unraveling described by ordinary jump-stochastic differential equations. The sufficient condition is to weigh the state vector Monte Carlo averages by a probability pseudo-measure which we call the "influence martingale". The influence martingale satisfies a $ 1d $ stochastic differential equation enslaved to the ones governing the quantum traject…
We use the laws of relativistic physics to show that classically motivated counterfactual statements are inadequate when discussing the principles of quantum physics and that EPR style arguments against state reduction are incorrect.
A phenomenological model for the calculation of reduction probabilities of a superposition of several states is presented. The approach bases only the idea that quantum state reduction has its origin in a mutual physical interaction between the states. The model is explicitly worked out for the gravitational reduction hypothesis of Diosi and Penrose. It agrees for typical quantum mechanical experiments with the projection postulate and predicts regimes in which other behavior could be observed. An outlook is given, how the new effects can possibly become of interest for biology. For verificati…
A theory of quantum state reduction is advanced. It is based on two principles: (1) Gauge decomposition; (2) Maximum entropy. To wit: (1) The reduction decomposition of a state vector is the Schmidt decomposition with respect to the states of a set of (dressed) gauge boson modes; (2) The reduction instant is that of the maximum entropy of a resulting mixed state. The theory determines states undergoing the reduction, its instant, resulting pure states and their probabilities. Applications: (Polarized) photon absorption and transmission, emission, particle detection, reduction of a superpositio…
We investigate a quantum video classification method using a hybrid algorithm. A quantum-classical step performs a data reduction on the video dataset and a quantum step -- which only has access to the reduced dataset -- classifies the video to one of k classes. We verify the method using sign videos and demonstrate that the reduced dataset contains enough information to successfully classify the data, using a quantum classification process. The proposed data reduction method showcases a way to alleviate the "data loading" problem of quantum computers for the problem of video classification. D…
Distributed quantum computing can give substantial noise reduction due to shallower circuits. An experiment illustrates the advantages in the case of Grover search. This motivates studying the quantum advantage of the distributed version of the Simon and Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm. We show that the distributed Simon algorithm retains the exponential advantage, but the complexity deteriorates from O(n) to O(n^2), where n = log2(N). The distributed Deutsch-Jozsa deteriorates to being probabilistic but retains a quantum advantage over classical random sampling.
It has been suggested by Diosi and Penrose that the occurrence of quantum state reduction in macroscopic objects is related to a manifestation of gravitational effects in quantum mechanics. Although within Penrose's framework the dynamics of the quantum state reduction is not prescribed, it was suggested that the so called Schrodinger-Newton equation can be used to at least identify the resulting classical end states. Here we analyze the extent to which the Schrodinger-Newton equation can be used as a model to generate a full, time dependent description of the quantum state reduction process. …
We describe exchange-only universal quantum computation and leakage reduction in the 3-qubit decoherence free subsystem (DFS). We discuss the angular momentum structure of the DFS, the proper forms for the DFS CNOT and leakage reduction operators in the total angular momentum basis, and new exchange-only pulse sequences for the CNOT and leakage reduction operators. Our new DFS CNOT sequence requires 22 pulses in 13 time steps. The DFS leakage reduction sequence, the first explicit leakage reduction sequence of its kind, requires 30 pulses in 20 time steps. Although the search for sequences was…
The well-known increase of the decoherence rate with the temperature, for a quantum system coupled to a linear thermal bath, holds no longer for a different bath dynamics. This is shown by means of a simple classical non-linear bath, as well as a quantum spin-boson model. The anomalous effect is due to the temperature dependence of the bath spectral profile. The decoherence reduction via the temperature increase can be relevant for the design of quantum computers.
The quantum threshold theorem shows that a noisy quantum computer can accurately and efficiently simulate any ideal quantum computation provided that noise is weakly correlated and its strength is below a critical value known as the quantum accuracy threshold. This thesis provides a simpler and more transparent non-inductive proof of this theorem based on the concept of level reduction. This concept is also used in proving the quantum threshold theorem for coherent and leakage noise and for quantum computation by measurements. In addition, the proof provides a methodology which allows us to es…
I distinguish two types of reduction within the context of quantum-classical relations, which I designate "formal" and "empirical". Formal reduction holds or fails to hold solely by virtue of the mathematical relationship between two theories; it is therefore a two-place, a priori relation between theories. Empirical reduction requires one theory to encompass the range of physical behaviors that are well-modeled in another theory; in a certain sense, it is a three-place, a posteriori relation connecting the theories and the domain of physical reality that both serve to describe. Focusing on th…
It is shown that the interactive error correction protocol `CASCADE' should be analyzed taking the correlation between passes and finite length of sequence into account. Furthermore we mention some problems in quantifying the reduction of Renyi entropy by information announced during the error correction process.
Quantum information processing is in real systems often limited by dissipation, stemming from remaining uncontrolled interaction with microscopic degrees of freedom. Given recent experimental progress, we consider weak dissipation, resulting in a small error probability per operation. Here, we find a simple formula for the fidelity reduction of any desired quantum operation. Interestingly, this reduction is independent of the specific operation; it depends only on the operation time and the dissipation. Using our formula, we investigate the situation where dissipation in different parts of the…
Reduction is shown to be a possible consequence of the basic principles of quantum mechanics, involving no branching of the quantum state of the universe. The key feature of a measurement is attributed to the creation of macroscopic germs of ionized tracks, bubbles, sparks and so on, in a superposed quantum state, the main mechanism being a breaking and a restoration of ``classicality'' in nearby macroscopic objects and their small patterns. A new significance of quantum probabilities, involving no absolute randomness, is also proposed.
An operational approach to quantum state reduction, the state change of the measured system caused by a measurement of an observable conditional upon the outcome of measurement, is founded without assuming the projection postulate in any stages of the measuring process. Whereas the conventional formula assumes that the probe measurement satisfies the projection postulate, a new formula for determining the state reduction shows that the state reduction does not depend on how the probe observable is measured, or in particular does not depend on whether the probe measurement satisfies the project…
At present, in the face of the huge and complex data in cloud computing, the parallel computing ability of quantum computing is particularly important. Quantum principal component analysis algorithm is used as a method of quantum state tomography. We perform feature extraction on the eigenvalue matrix of the density matrix after feature decomposition to achieve dimensionality reduction, proposed quantum principal component extraction algorithm (QPCE). Compared with the classic algorithm, this algorithm achieves an exponential speedup under certain conditions. The specific realization of the qu…
Two standard operations of model reduction for quantum feedback networks, elimination of internal connections under the instantaneous feedback limit and adiabatic elimination of fast degrees of freedom, are cast as structure-preserving transformations of Itō generator matrices. It is shown that the order in which they are applied is inconsequential.
We show for the first time that it is possible to realize laser beam focusing at the few-photon level in the four-wave-mixing process, and at the same time, reducing the quantum uncertainty in width. The reduction in quantum uncertainty results directly from the strong suppression of local intensity fluctuations. This surprising effect of simultaneous focusing and reduction of width uncertainty is enabled by multi-spatial-mode squeezing, and is not possible via any classical optical approach or single-spatial-mode squeezing. Our results open promising possibilities for quantum-enhanced imaging…
This dissertation explores the topics of parameter estimation and model reduction in the context of quantum filtering. Chapters 2 and 3 provide a review of classical and quantum probability theory, stochastic calculus and filtering. Chapter 4 studies the problem of quantum parameter estimation and introduces the quantum particle filter as a practical computational method for parameter estimation via continuous measurement. Chapter 5 applies these techniques in magnetometry and studies the estimator's uncertainty scalings in a double-pass atomic magnetometer. Chapter 6 presents an efficient fee…
Stochastic extensions of the Schrodinger equation have attracted attention recently as plausible models for state reduction in quantum mechanics. Here we formulate a general approach to stochastic Schrodinger dynamics in the case of a nonlinear state space of the type proposed by Kibble. We derive a number of new identities for observables in the nonlinear theory, and establish general criteria on the curvature of the state space sufficient to ensure collapse of the wave function.
A rigorous theory of quantum state reduction, the state change of the measured system caused by a measurement conditional upon the outcome of measurement, is developed fully within quantum mechanics without leading to the vicious circle relative to the von Neumann chain. For the basis of the theory, the local measurement theorem provides the joint probability distribution for the outcomes of local successive measurements on a noninteracting entangled system without assuming the projection postulate, and the quantum Bayes principle enables us to determine operationally the quantum state from a …
The dimension reduction method enables security proofs of quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols that are originally formulated in infinite dimensions via reduction to a tractable finite-dimensional optimization. The reduction of dimensions is associated with a correction term in the secret key rate calculation. The previously derived correction term is loose when the protocol measurements are nearly block-diagonal with respect to the projection onto the reduced finite-dimensional subspace. Here, we provide a tighter correction term. It interpolates between the two extreme cases where all me…
We demonstrate that continuous time quantum walks on several types of branching graphs, including graphs with loops, are identical to quantum walks on simpler linear chain graphs. We also show graph types for which such equivalence does not exist. Several instructive examples are discussed, and a general approach to analyze more complex branching graphs is formulated. It is further illustrated with a return quantum walk solution for a cube graph with adjustable complex hopping amplitudes.
Stochastic models for quantum state reduction give rise to statistical laws that are in many respects in agreement with those of standard quantum measurement theory. Here we construct a counterexample involving a Hamiltonian with degenerate eigenvalues such that the statistical predictions of stochastic reduction models differ from the predictions of quantum measurement theory. An idealised experiment is proposed whereby the validity of these predictions can be put to the test.
The energy-based stochastic extension of the Schrodinger equation is a rather special nonlinear stochastic differential equation on Hilbert space, involving a single free parameter, that has been shown to be very useful for modelling the phenomenon of quantum state reduction. Here we construct a general closed form solution to this equation, for any given initial condition, in terms of a random variable representing the terminal value of the energy and an independent Brownian motion. The solution is essentially algebraic in character, involving no integration, and is thus suitable as a basis f…
We consider using Hamiltonian feedback control to increase the speed at which a continuous measurement purifies (reduces) the state of a quantum system, and thus to increase the speed of the preparation of pure states. For a measurement of an observable with N equispaced eigenvalues, we show that there exists a feedback algorithm which will speed up the rate of state-reduction by at least a factor of 2(N+1)/3.
A fundamental pursuit in complexity theory concerns reducing worst-case problems to average-case problems. There exist complexity classes such as PSPACE that admit worst-case to average-case reductions. However, for many other classes such as NP, the evidence so far is typically negative, in the sense that the existence of such reductions would cause collapses of the polynomial hierarchy(PH). Basing cryptographic primitives, e.g., the average-case hardness of inverting one-way permutations, on NP-completeness is a particularly intriguing instance. As there is evidence showing that classical re…
In the presence of quantum measurements with direct photon detection the evolution of open quantum systems is usually described by stochastic master equations with jumps. Heuristically, from these equations one can obtain diffusion models as approximation. A necessary condition for a general diffusion approximation for jump master equations is presented. This approximation is rigorously proved by using techniques for Markov process which are based upon the convergence of Markov generators and martingale problems. This result is illustrated by rigorously obtaining the diffusion approximation fo…
Quantum secure signature schemes have a lot of attention recently, in particular because of the NIST call to standardize quantum safe cryptography. However, only few signature schemes can have concrete quantum security because of technical difficulties associated with the Quantum Random Oracle Model (QROM). In this paper, we show that code-based signature schemes based on the full domain hash paradigm can behave very well in the QROM i.e. that we can have tight security reductions. We also study quantum algorithms related to the underlying code-based assumption. Finally, we apply our reduction…
A general method of quantum-to-classical reduction of quantum dynamics is described. The key aspect of our method is the similarity transformation of the Liouvillian, which provides a new perspective. In conventional studies of quantum energy transport, the rotating wave approximation has been frequently regarded as an inappropriate approach because it causes the energy flow through the system to vanish. Our formulation elucidates as to why this unphysical result occurs and provides a solution for the problem. That is, not only the density matrix but also the physical quantity is to be transfo…
A quantum master equation of the Lindblad form is obtained in this paper by considering the spontaneous wave-packet reduction. Different classical equations can be derived after exactly mapping such a quantum master equation to a continuous time random walk (CTRW). Although this CTRW is a quasiclassical walk, the effects due to the quantum interference can still be important in such a walk. Macroscopically, we shall consider the uncertainty of the potential and determine the effective transition probability by a family of Schrödinger equations (or operators).
It is well known, that the causal Schrödinger evolution of a quantum state is not compatible with the reduction postulate, even when decoherence is taken into account. The violation of the causal evolution, introduced by the standard reduction postulate distinguishes certain systems (as the measurement devices), whose states are very close to statistical mixtures (as the ones resulting from the process of decoherence). In these systems, this violation has not any observable effect. In arbitrary quantum systems, the transition from the initial density matrix to a diagonal matrix predicted by th…
Quantum annealing (QA) that encodes optimization problems into Hamiltonians remains the only near-term quantum computing paradigm that provides sufficient many qubits for real-world applications. To fit larger optimization instances on existing quantum annealers, reducing Hamiltonians into smaller equivalent Hamiltonians provides a promising approach. Unfortunately, existing reduction techniques are either computationally expensive or ineffective in practice. To this end, we introduce a novel notion of non-separable~group, defined as a subset of qubits in a Hamiltonian that obtains the same va…
College of Science, China University of Petroleum（中国石油大学理学院）
In this work, we present a quantum neighborhood preserving embedding and a quantum local discriminant embedding for dimensionality reduction and classification. We demonstrate that these two algorithms have an exponential speedup over their respectively classical counterparts. Along the way, we propose a variational quantum generalized eigenvalue solver that finds the generalized eigenvalues and eigenstates of a matrix pencil $(\mathcal{G},\mathcal{S})$. As a proof-of-principle, we implement our algorithm to solve $2^5\times2^5$ generalized eigenvalue problems. Finally, our results offer two o…
The problem of reduction (wave packet reduction) is reexamined under two simple conditions: Reduction is a last step completing decoherence. It acts in commonplace circumstances and should be therefore compatible with the mathematical frame of quantum field theory and the standard model. These conditions lead to an essentially unique model for reduction. Consistency with renormalization and time-reversal violation suggest however a primary action in the vicinity of Planck's length. The inclusion of quantum gravity and the uniqueness of space-time point moreover to generalized quantum theory, f…
