The controllability property of the unitary propagator of an N-level quantum mechanical system subject to a single control field is described using the structure theory of semisimple Lie algebras. Sufficient conditions are provided for the vector fields in a generic configuration as well as in a few degenerate cases.
This paper provides a framework for the control of quantum mechanical systems with scattering states, i.e., systems with continuous spectra. We present the concept and prove a criterion of the approximate strong smooth controllability. Our results make non-trivial extensions from quantum systems with finite dimensional control Lie algebras to those with infinite dimensions. It also opens up many interesting problems for future studies.
Manipulation of infinite dimensional quantum systems is important to controlling complex quantum dynamics with many practical physical and chemical backgrounds. In this paper, a general investigation is casted to the controllability problem of quantum systems evolving on infinite dimensional manifolds. Recognizing that such problems are related with infinite dimensional controllability algebras, we introduce an algebraic mathematical framework to describe quantum control systems possessing such controllability algebras. Then we present the concept of smooth controllability on infinite dimensio…
In this paper, we define four different notions of controllability of physical interest for multilevel quantum mechanical systems. These notions involve the possibility of driving the evolution operator as well as the state of the system. We establish the connections among these different notions as well as methods to verify controllability. The paper also contains results on the relation between the controllability in arbitrary small time of a system varying on a compact transformation Lie group and the corresponding system on the associated homogeneous space. As an application, we prove that…
This paper discusses the important role of controllability played on the complexity of optimizing quantum mechanical control systems. The study is based on a topology analysis of the corresponding quantum control landscape, which is referred to as the optimization objective as a functional of control fields. We find that the degree of controllability is closely relevant with the ruggedness of the landscape, which determines the search efficiency for global optima. This effect is demonstrated via the gate fidelity control landscape of a system whose controllability is restricted on a SU(2) dyna…
An unstructured search for one item out of N can be performed quantum mechanically in time of order square root of N whereas classically this requires of order N steps. This raises the question of whether square root speedup persists in problems with more structure. In this note we focus on one example of a structured problem and find a quantum algorithm which takes time of order the square root of the classical time.
Various notions from geometric control theory are used to characterize the behavior of the Markovian master equation for N-level quantum mechanical systems driven by unitary control and to describe the structure of the sets of reachable states. It is shown that the system can be accessible but neither small-time controllable nor controllable in finite time. In particular, if the generators of quantum dynamical semigroups are unital, then the reachable sets admit easy characterizations as they monotonically grow in time. The two level case is treated in detail.
A quantum mechanical system S is indirectly controlled when the control affects an ancillary system A and the evolution of S is modified through the interaction with A only. A study of indirect controllability gives a description of the set of states that can be obtained for S with this scheme. In this paper, we study the indirect controllability of quantum systems in the finite dimensional case. After discussing the relevant definitions, we give a general necessary condition for controllability in Lie algebraic terms. We present a detailed treatment of the case where both systems, S and A, ar…
We investigate the effects of atomic collisions as well as optomechanical mirror-field coupling on the optical bistability in a hybrid system consisting of a Bose-Einstein condensate inside a driven optical cavity with a moving end mirror. It is shown that the bistability of the system can be controlled by the s-wave scattering frequency which can provide the possibility of realizing a controllable optical switch. On the other hand, by studying the effect of the Bogoliubov mode, as a secondary mechanical mode relative to the mirror vibrations, on the cooling process as well as the bipartite mi…
We investigate accessibility and controllability of a quantum system S coupled to a quantum probe P, both described by two-dimensional Hilbert spaces, under the hypothesis that the external control affects only P. In this context accessibility and controllability properties describe to what extent it is possible to drive the state of the system S by acting on P and using the interaction between the two systems. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for these properties and we discuss the relation with the entangling capability of the interaction between S and P. In particular, we show th…
A new notion of controllability, eigenstate controllability, is defined for finite-dimensional bilinear quantum mechanical systems which are neither strongly completely controllably nor completely controllable. And a quantum control algorithm based on Grover iteration is designed to perform a quantum control task of steering a system, which is eigenstate controllable but may not be (strongly) completely controllable, from an arbitrary state to a target state.
Controllability -- the possibility of performing any target dynamics by applying a set of available operations -- is a fundamental requirement for the practical use of any physical system. For finite-dimensional systems, as for instance spin systems, precise criterions to establish controllability, such as the so called rank criterion, are well known. However most physical systems require a description in terms of an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space whose controllability properties are poorly understood. Here, we investigate infinite-dimensional bosonic quantum systems -- encompassing quantu…
A qualitative but formalized representation of microstates is first established quite independently of the quantum mechanical mathematical formalism, exclusively under epistemological-operational-methodological constraints. Then, using this representation as a reference-and-imbedding-structure, the foundations of an fully intelligible reconstruction of the Hilbert-Dirac formulation of Quantum Mechanics is developed. Inside this reconstruction, the measurement problem as well as the other major problems raised by the quantum mechanical formalism, dissolve. This, now, is indeed the definitive ve…
In this paper, we study the distributions and the affine distributions of the quantum mechanical system. Also, we discuss the controllability of the quantum mechanical system with the related question concerning the minimum time needed to steer a quantum system from a unitary evolution $U(0)=I$ of the unitary propagator to a desired unitary propagator $U_f$. Furthermore, the paper introduces a description of a $\mathfrak{k} \oplus \mathfrak{p}$ sub-Finsler manifold with its geodesics, which equivalents to the problem of driving the quantum mechanical system from an arbitrary initial state $U(0…
We apply the Riccati-Padé method and the Rayleigh-Ritz method with complex rotation to the study of the resonances of a one-dimensional well with two barriers. The model exhibits two different kinds of resonances and we calculate them by means of both approaches. While the Rayleigh-Ritz method reveals each set at a particular interval of rotation angles the Riccati Padé method yields both of them as roots of the same Hankel determinants.
Fundamental limits on the controllability of quantum mechanical systems are discussed in the light of quantum information theory. It is shown that the amount of entropy-reduction that can be extracted from a quantum system by feedback controller is upper bounded by a sum of the decrease of entropy achievable in open-loop control and the mutual information between the quantum system and the controller. This upper bound sets a fundamental limit on the performance of any quantum controllers whose designs are based on the possibilities to attain low entropy states. An application of this approach …
We experimentally demonstrate the high-sensitivity optical monitoring of a micro-mechanical resonator and its cooling by active control. Coating a low-loss mirror upon the resonator, we have built an optomechanical sensor based on a very high-finesse cavity (30000). We have measured the thermal noise of the resonator with a quantum-limited sensitivity at the 10^-19 m/rootHz level, and cooled the resonator down to 5K by a cold-damping technique. Applications of our setup range from quantum optics experiments to the experimental demonstration of the quantum ground state of a macroscopic mechanic…
We introduce the third five-parametric ordinary hypergeometric energy-independent quantum-mechanical potential, after the Eckart and Pöschl-Teller potentials, which is proportional to an arbitrary variable parameter and has a shape that is independent of that parameter. Depending on an involved parameter, the potential presents either a short-range singular well (which behaves as inverse square root at the origin and vanishes exponentially at infinity) or a smooth asymmetric step-barrier (with variable height and steepness). The general solution of the Schrödinger equation for this potential, …
A quantum computer has a clear advantage over a classical computer for exhaustive search. The quantum mechanical algorithm for exhaustive search was originally derived by using subtle properties of a particular quantum mechanical operation called the Walsh-Hadamard (W-H) transform. This paper shows that this algorithm can be implemented by replacing the W-H transform by almost any quantum mechanical operation. This leads to several new applications where it improves the number of steps by a square-root. It also broadens the scope for implementation since it demonstrates quantum mechanical algo…
Seeking for a relativistic generalisation of the non-relativistic Schroedinger equation, one very soon arrives at equations with a square-root operator by having applied the quantum mechanical correspondence principle to the formula of relativistic energy. The problems of these equations are at least two fold: when coupled to an electromagnetic field, their relativistic invariance is not evident or even doubtful and due to their non-local character, it seems to be that they cannot be maintained mathematically in an easy way. For spin-1/2 particles, these difficulties can be overcome by the Dir…
This paper, mostly expository in nature, surveys four measures of distinguishability for quantum-mechanical states. This is done from the point of view of the cryptographer with a particular eye on applications in quantum cryptography. Each of the measures considered is rooted in an analogous classical measure of distinguishability for probability distributions: namely, the probability of an identification error, the Kolmogorov distance, the Bhattacharyya coefficient, and the Shannon distinguishability (as defined through mutual information). These measures have a long history of use in statis…
Many interesting computational problems can be reformulated in terms of decision trees. A natural classical algorithm is to then run a random walk on the tree, starting at the root, to see if the tree contains a node n levels from the root. We devise a quantum mechanical algorithm that evolves a state, initially localized at the root, through the tree. We prove that if the classical strategy succeeds in reaching level n in time polynomial in n, then so does the quantum algorithm. Moreover, we find examples of trees for which the classical algorithm requires time exponential in n, but for which…
Multiparametric statistical model providing stable reconstruction of parameters by observations is considered. The only general method of this kind is the root model based on the representation of the probability density as a squared absolute value of a certain function, which is referred to as a psi-function in analogy with quantum mechanics. The psi-function is represented by an expansion in terms of an orthonormal set of functions. It is shown that the introduction of the psi-function allows one to represent the Fisher information matrix as well as statistical properties of the estimator of…
Multiparametric statistical model providing stable reconstruction of parameters by observations is considered. The only general method of this kind is the root model based on the representation of the probability density as a squared absolute value of a certain function, which is referred to as a psi function in analogy with quantum mechanics. The psi function is represented by an expansion in terms of an orthonormal set of functions. It is shown that the introduction of the psi function allows one to represent the Fisher information matrix as well as statistical properties of the estimator of…
Multiparametric statistical model providing stable reconstruction of parameters by observations is considered. The only general method of this kind is the root model based on the representation of the probability density as a squared absolute value of a certain function, which is referred to as a psi-function in analogy with quantum mechanics. The psi-function is represented by an expansion in terms of an orthonormal set of functions. It is shown that the introduction of the psi-function allows one to represent the Fisher information matrix as well as statistical properties of the estimator of…
We study the uncertainties of quantum mechanical observables, quantified by the standard deviation (square root of variance) in Haar-distributed random pure states. We derive analytically the probability density functions (PDFs) of the uncertainties of arbitrary qubit observables. Based on these PDFs, the uncertainty regions of the observables are characterized by the supports of the PDFs. The state-independent uncertainty relations are then transformed into the optimization problems over uncertainty regions, which opens a new vista for studying state independent uncertainty relations. Our res…
Quantum batteries are quantum mechanical systems with many degrees of freedom which can be used to store energy and that display fast charging. The physics behind fast charging is still unclear. Is this just due to the collective behavior of the underlying interacting many-body system or does it have its roots in the quantum mechanical nature of the system itself? In this work we address these questions by studying three examples of quantum-mechanical many-body batteries with rigorous classical analogs. We find that the answer is model dependent and, even within the same model, depends on the …
Inspired by Bohr's dictum that "physical phenomena are observed relative to different experimental setups", this article investigates the notion of relativity in Bohr's sense, starting from a set of binary elements. The most general form of information coding within such sets requires a description by four-component states. By using Bohr's dictum as a guideline a quantum mechanical description of the set is obtained in the form of a SO(3,2) based spin network. For large (macroscopic) sub-networks a flat-space approximation of SO(3,2) leads to a Poincare symmetrical Hilbert space. The concept o…
This work presents some peculiarities of the near quantum ground state behaviour of curved (phonon trapping) Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) cavities when compared to a conventional mechanical resonator. The curved cavity system resolves the quandary of the conventional mechanical system where the Bose-Einstein distribution requires higher frequencies for lower quantum occupation factors contrary to the constraint of an inverse frequency dependence of the quantum fluctuations of displacement. We demonstrate how the non-trivial cavity geometry can lead to better phonon trapping, enhancing the variance…
Recent experiments have perfectly verified the fact that quantum correlations between two entangled particles are stronger than any classical, local pre-quantum worldview allows. This is famously called the EPR paradox first conceived as a thought experiment and decades later realized in the lab. We discuss in depth the nature of the paradox and show that the problematics it presents is first and foremost epistemological. After briefly exploring resolutions to the paradox that after many decades of discourse still remain controversial, we argue that the paradox is rooted in the failure of our …
We present the analytical solution in closed form for the semiclassical limit of the quantum mechanical Coulomb Green function in position space in n dimensions. We utilize a projection method which has its roots in Lambert's theorem and which allows us to treat the system as an essentially one dimensional problem. The semiclassical result assumes a simple analytical form and is well suited for a numerical evaluation. The method can also be extended to classically forbidden space regions. Already for moderately large principal quantum numbers nu >= 5, the semiclassical Green function is found …
The ability of matter to be superposed at two different locations while being intrinsically connected by a quantum phase is among the most counterintuitive predictions of quantum physics. While such superpositions have been created for a variety of systems, the in-situ observation of the phase coherence has remained out of reach. Using a heralding measurement on a spin-oscillator entangled state, we project a mechanical trapped-ion oscillator into a superposition of two spatially separated states, a situation analogous to Schrödinger's cat. Quantum interference is clearly observed by extractin…