We investigate the performance of a quantum error-correcting code when pushed beyond its intended capacity to protect information against errors, presenting formulae for the probability of failure when the errors affect more qudits than that specified by the code's minimum distance. Such formulae provide a means to rank different codes of the same minimum distance. We consider both error detection and error correction, treating explicit examples in the case of stabilizer codes constructed from qubits and encoding a single qubit.
We compare failure distributions of quantum error correction circuits for stochastic errors and coherent errors. We utilize a fully coherent simulation of a fault tolerant quantum error correcting circuit for a $d=3$ Steane and surface code. We find that the output distributions are markedly different for the two error models, showing that no simple mapping between the two error models exists. Coherent errors create very broad and heavy-tailed failure distributions. This suggests that they are susceptible to outlier events and that mean statistics, such as pseudo-threshold estimates, may not p…
Topologically quantum error corrected logical gates are complex. Chains of errors can form in space and time and diagonally in spacetime. It is highly nontrivial to determine whether a given logical gate is free of low weight combinations of errors leading to failure. We report a new tool Nestcheck capable of analyzing an arbitrary topological computation and determining the minimum number of errors required to cause failure.
In this paper we present the impact of classical electronics constraints on a solid-state quantum dot logical qubit architecture. Constraints due to routing density, bandwidth allocation, signal timing, and thermally aware placement of classical supporting electronics significantly affect the quantum error correction circuit's error rate. We analyze one level of a quantum error correction circuit using nine data qubits in a Bacon-Shor code configured as a quantum memory. A hypothetical silicon double quantum dot quantum bit (qubit) is used as the fundamental element. A pessimistic estimate of …
We investigate generalized measurements, based on positive-operator-valued measures, and von Neumann measurements for the unambiguous discrimination of two mixed quantum states that occur with given prior probabilities. In particular, we derive the conditions under which the failure probability of the measurement can reach its absolute lower bound, proportional to the fidelity of the states. The optimum measurement strategy yielding the fidelity bound of the failure probability is explicitly determined for a number of cases. One example involves two density operators of rank d that jointly spa…
Perfect cloning of a known set of states with arbitrary prior probabilities is possible if we allow the cloner to sometimes fail completely. In the optimal case the probability of failure is at its minimum allowed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Here we show that it is possible to lower the failure rate below that of the perfect probabilistic cloner but the price to pay is that the clones are not perfect; the global fidelity is less than one. We determine the optimal fidelity of a cloner with a Fixed Failure Rate (FFR cloner) in the case of a pair of known states. Optimality is shown to be a…
It is well-known that a quantum measurement can enhance the transition probability between two quantum states. Such a measurement operates after preparation of the initial state and before postselecting for the final state. Here we analyze this kind of scenario in detail and determine which probability distributions on a finite number of outcomes can occur for an intermediate measurement with postselection, for given values of the following two quantities: (i) the transition probability without measurement, (ii) the transition probability with measurement. This is done for both the cases of pr…
The uncertainty principle can be understood as constraining the probability of winning a game in which Alice measures one of two conjugate observables, such as position or momentum, on a system provided by Bob, and he is to guess the outcome. Two variants are possible: either Alice tells Bob which observable she measured, or he has to furnish guesses for both cases. Here I derive new uncertainty relations for both, formulated directly in terms of Bob's guessing probabilities. For the former these relate to the entanglement that can be recovered by action on Bob's system alone. This gives a con…
A common assumption in analyses of error thresholds and quantum computing in general is that one applies fault-tolerant quantum error correction (FTQEC) after every gate. This, however, is known not to always be optimal if the FTQEC procedure itself can introduce errors. We investigate the effect of varying the number of logical gates between FTQEC operations, and in particular the case where failure of a postselection condition in FTQEC may cause FTQEC to be skipped with high probability. By using a simplified model of errors induced in FTQEC, we derive an expression for the logical error rat…
Performance Limits of Fault-Tolerant Quantum Error Correction Schemes
University of Bologna（博洛尼亚大学）；CNIT/WiLab（国家信息技术研究与开发中心/无线实验室）；Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi”（“古列尔莫·马可尼”电气、电子和信息工程系）；Quantinuum
Quantum paradoxes show that quantum statistics can exceed the limits of positive joint probabilities for physical properties that cannot be measured jointly. It is therefore impossible to describe the relations between the different physical properties of a quantum system by assigning joint realities to their observable values. Instead, recent experimental results obtained by weak measurements suggest that non-classical correlations could be expressed by complex valued quasi-probabilities, where the phases of the complex probabilities express the action of transformations between the non-commu…
Cryptographic security of quantum key distribution is currently based on a trace distance criterion. The widespread misinterpretation of the criterion as failure probability and also its actual scope have been discussed previously. Recently its distinguishability advantage interpretation is re-emphasized as an operational guarantee, and the failure probability misinterpretation is maintained with a further failure probability per bit interpretation. In this paper we explain the basic perpetuating error as a confusion on the correspondence between mathematics and reality. We note that the assig…
Error correction, authentication, and false acceptance, probabilities for communication over noisy quantum channels: converse upper bounds on the bit transmission rate
The relativistic quantum field theory is the unique theory that combines the relativity and quantum theory and is invariant under the Poincaré transformation. The ground state, vacuum, is singlet and one particle states are transformed as elements of irreducible representation of the group. The covariant one particles are momentum eigenstates expressed by plane waves and extended in space. Although the S-matrix defined with initial and final states of these states hold the symmetries and are applied to isolated states, out-going states for the amplitude of the event that they are detected at a…
In this article, we are interested in a spin model including the quantized electromagnetic field (photons). With this model of quantum electrodynamics (QED) related to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) we give explicit quantum radiative corrections of the time evolution for the spin observables, for the electric and magnetic fields observables and for the photon number observable. As a by-product, this underlines that Bloch equations are the semiclassical limit of the model in QED considered here. In addition, transition probabilities for the same model are investigated.
We investigate potential quantum nonlinear corrections to Dirac's equation through its sub-leading effect on neutrino oscillation probabilities. Working in the plane-wave approximation and in the $μ-τ$ sector, we explore various classes of nonlinearities, with or without an accompanying Lorentz violation. The parameters in our models are first delimited by current experimental data before they are used to estimate corrections to oscillation probabilities. We find that only a small subset of the considered nonlinearities have the potential to be relevant at higher energies and thus possibly det…
