We consider the convex set of positive operator valued measures (POVM) which are covariant under a finite dimensional unitary projective representation of a group. We derive a general characterization for the extremal points, and provide bounds for the ranks of the corresponding POVM densities, also relating extremality to uniqueness and stability of optimized measurements. Examples of applications are given.
Measurements on quantum channels are described by so-called process operator valued measures, or process POVMs. We study implementing schemes of extremal process POVMs. As it turns out, the corresponding measurement must satisfy certain extremality property, which is stronger that the usual extremality given by the convex structure. This property motivates the introduction and investigation of the A-convex structure of POVMs, which generalizes both the usual convex and C*-convex structure. We show that extremal points and faces of the set of process POVMs are closely related to A-extremal poin…
We consider the convex sets of QO's (quantum operations) and POVM's (positive operator valued measures) which are covariant under a general finite-dimensional unitary representation of a group. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for extremality, and give general bounds for ranks of the extremal POVM's and QO's. Results are illustrated on the basis of simple examples.
We show that in prime dimensions not equal to three, each group covariant symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measure (SIC~POVM) is covariant with respect to a unique Heisenberg--Weyl (HW) group. Moreover, the symmetry group of the SIC~POVM is a subgroup of the Clifford group. Hence, two SIC~POVMs covariant with respect to the HW group are unitarily or antiunitarily equivalent if and only if they are on the same orbit of the extended Clifford group. In dimension three, each group covariant SIC~POVM may be covariant with respect to three or nine HW groups, and the symmet…
Concentrating on finite dimensional systems, we show that one can limit to extremal rank-1 POVMs if two simple procedures of mixing and relabeling are permitted. We demonstrate that any finite outcome POVM can be obtained from extremal rank-1 POVMs with these two procedures. In particular, extremal POVMs with higher rank are just relabelings of extremal rank-1 POVMs and their structure is therefore clarified.
We characterize the extremal points of the convex set of quantum measurements that are covariant under a finite-dimensional projective representation of a compact group, with action of the group on the measurement probability space which is generally non-transitive. In this case the POVM density is made of multiple orbits of positive operators, and, in the case of extremal measurements, we provide a bound for the number of orbits and for the rank of POVM elements. Two relevant applications are considered, concerning state discrimination with mutually unbiased bases and the maximization of the …
In order to find out for which initial states of the system the uncertainty of the measurement outcomes will be minimal, one can look for the minimizers of the Shannon entropy of the measurement. In case of group covariant measurements this question becomes closely related to the problem how informative the measurement is in the sense of its informational power. Namely, the orbit under group action of the entropy minimizer corresponds to a maximally informative ensemble of equiprobable elements. We give a characterization of such ensembles for 3-dimensional group covariant (Weyl-Heisenberg) SI…
Similarly to quantum states, also quantum measurements can be "mixed", corresponding to a random choice within an ensemble of measuring apparatuses. Such mixing is equivalent to a sort of hidden variable, which produces a noise of purely classical nature. It is then natural to ask which apparatuses are "indecomposable", i. e. do not correspond to any random choice of apparatuses. This problem is interesting not only for foundations, but also for applications, since most optimization strategies give optimal apparatuses that are indecomposable. Mathematically the problem is posed describing each…
We study the local implementation of POVMs when we require only the faithful reproduction of the statistics of the measurement outcomes for all initial states. We first demonstrate that any POVM with separable elements can be implemented by a separable super-operator, and develop techniques for calculating the extreme points of POVMs under a certain class of constraint that includes separability and PPT-ness. As examples we consider measurements that are invariant under various symmetry groups (Werner, Isotropic, Bell-diagonal, Local Orthogonal), and demonstrate that in these cases separabilit…
A measurement on a section K of the set of states of a finite dimensional C*-algebra is defined as an affine map from K to a probability simplex. Special cases of such sections are used in description of quantum networks, in particular quantum channels. Measurements on a section correspond to equivalence classes of so-called generalized POVMs, which are called quantum testers in the case of networks. We find extremality conditions for measurements on K and characterize generalized POVMs such that the corresponding measurement is extremal. These results are applied to the set of channels. We fi…
We present a correspondence between positive operator valued measures (POVMs) and sets of generalized coherent states. Positive operator valued measures describe quantum observables and, similarly to quantum states, also quantum observables can be mixed. We show how the formalism of generalized coherent states leads to a useful characterization of extremal POVMs. We prove that covariant phase space observables related to squeezed states are extremal, while the ones related to number states are not extremal.
In quantum mechanics the statistics of the outcomes of a measuring apparatus is described by a positive operator valued measure (POVM). A quantum channel transforms POVM's into POVM's, generally irreversibly, thus loosing some of the information retrieved from the measurement. This poses the problem of which POVM's are "undisturbed", namely they are not irreversibly connected to another POVM. We will call such POVM clean. In a sense, the clean POVM's would be "perfect", since they would not have any additional "extrinsical" noise. Quite unexpectedly, it turns out that such cleanness property i…
We show that the canonical phase measurement is pure in the sense that the corresponding positive operator valued measure (POVM) is extremal in the convex set of all POVMs. This means that the canonical phase measurement cannot be interpreted as a noisy measurement, even if it is not a projection valued measure.
It's known that if $d^2$ vectors from $d$-dimensional Hilbert space $H$ form a SIC-POVM (SIC for short) then tensor square of those vectors form an equiangular tight frame on the symmetric subspace of $H\otimes H$. We prove that for any SIC of WH-type (Weyl-Heisenberg group covariant) this squared frame can be obtained as a projection of WH-type basis of $H\otimes H$ onto the symmetric subspace. We give a full description of the set of all WH-type bases, so this set could be used as a search space for SIC solutions. Also we show that a particular element of this set is close to a SIC solution …
We present an operationally motivated treatment of quantum reference frames in the setting that the frame is a covariant positive operator valued measure (POVM) on a finite homogeneous space, generalising the principal homogeneous spaces studied in previous work. We focus on the case that the reference observable is the canonical covariant projection valued measure on the given space, and show that this gives rise to a rank-one covariant POVM on the group, which can be seen as a system of coherent states, thereby making contact with recent work in the perspective-neutral approach to quantum re…
Self-testing represents the strongest form of certification of a quantum system. Here we investigate theoretically and experimentally the question of self-testing non-projective quantum measurements. That is, how can one certify, from observed data only, that an uncharacterised measurement device implements a desired non-projective positive-operator-valued-measure (POVM). We consider a prepare-and-measure scenario with a bound on the Hilbert space dimension, which we argue is natural for this problem since any measurement can be made projective by artificially increasing the Hilbert space dime…
We describe the structure of the extended Clifford Group (defined to be the group consisting of all operators, unitary and anti-unitary, which normalize the generalized Pauli group (or Weyl-Heisenberg group as it is often called)). We also obtain a number of results concerning the structure of the Clifford Group proper (i.e. the group consisting just of the unitary operators which normalize the generalized Pauli group). We then investigate the action of the extended Clifford group operators on symmetric informationally complete POVMs (or SIC-POVMs) covariant relative to the action of the gener…
We consider the existence in arbitrary finite dimensions d of a POVM comprised of d^2 rank-one operators all of whose operator inner products are equal. Such a set is called a ``symmetric, informationally complete'' POVM (SIC-POVM) and is equivalent to a set of d^2 equiangular lines in C^d. SIC-POVMs are relevant for quantum state tomography, quantum cryptography, and foundational issues in quantum mechanics. We construct SIC-POVMs in dimensions two, three, and four. We further conjecture that a particular kind of group-covariant SIC-POVM exists in arbitrary dimensions, providing numerical res…
Given a unitary representation U of a compact group G and a transitive G-space $Ω$, we characterize the extremal elements of the convex set of all U-covariant positive operator valued measures.
We study the geometric measure of entanglement (GM) of pure symmetric states related to rank-one positive-operator-valued measures (POVMs) and establish a general connection with quantum state estimation theory, especially the maximum likelihood principle. Based on this connection, we provide a method for computing the GM of these states and demonstrate its additivity property under certain conditions. In particular, we prove the additivity of the GM of pure symmetric multiqubit states whose Majorana points under Majorana representation are distributed within a half sphere, including all pure …
The expectation value <O> of an arbitrary operator O can be obtained via a universal measuring apparatus that is independent of O, by changing only the data-processing of the outcomes. Such a ``universal detector'' performs a joint measurement on the system and on a suitable ancilla prepared in a fixed state, and is equivalent to a positive operator valued measure (POVM) for the system that is ``informationally complete''. The data processing functions generally are not unique, and we pose the problem of their optimization, providing some examples for covariant POVM's, in particular for SU(d) …
Positive operator valued measurements on a finite number of N identically prepared systems of arbitrary spin J are discussed. Pure states are characterized in terms of Bloch-like vectors restricted by a SU(2 J+1) covariant constraint. This representation allows for a simple description of the equations to be fulfilled by optimal measurements. We explicitly find the minimal POVM for the N=2 case, a rigorous bound for N=3 and set up the analysis for arbitrary N.
We discuss symmetric quantum measurements and the associated covariant observables modelled, respectively, as instruments and positive-operator-valued measures. The emphasis of this work are the optimality properties of the measurements, namely, extremality, informational completeness, and the rank-1 property which contrast the complementary class of (rank-1) projection-valued measures. The first half of this work concentrates solely on finite-outcome measurements symmetric w.r.t. finite groups where we derive exhaustive characterizations for the pointwise Kraus-operators of covariant instrume…
We introduce positive operator-valued measure (POVM) generated by the projective unitary representation of a direct product of locally compact Abelian group $G$ with its dual $\hat G$. The method is based upon the Pontryagin duality allowing to establish an isometrical isomorphism between the space of Hilbert-Schmidt operators in $L^2(G)$ and the Hilbert space $L^2(\hat G\times G)$. Any such a measure determines a pair of hybrid (containing classical and quantum parts) quantum channels consisting of the measurement channel and the channel transmitting an initial quantum state to the ensemble o…
We investigate the problem of cloning a set of states that is invariant under the action of an irreducible group representation. We then characterize the cloners that are "extremal" in the convex set of group covariant cloning machines, among which one can restrict the search for optimal cloners. For a set of states that is invariant under the discrete Weyl-Heisenberg group, we show that all extremal cloners can be unitarily realized using the so-called "double-Bell states", whence providing a general proof of the popular ansatz used in the literature for finding optimal cloners in a variety o…
We study the problem of separating the data produced by a given quantum measurement (on states from a memoryless source which is unknown except for its average state), described by a positive operator valued measure (POVM), into a "meaningful" (intrinsic) and a "not meaningful" (extrinsic) part. We are able to give an asymptotically tight separation of this form, with the "intrinsic" data quantfied by the Holevo mutual information of a certain state ensemble associated to the POVM and the source, in a model that can be viewed as the asymptotic version of the convex decomposition of POVMs into …
Surprisingly often decoherence is due to classical fluctuations of ambient fields and may thus be described in terms of random unitary (RU) dynamics. However, there are decoherence channels where such a representation cannot exist. Based on a simple and intuitive geometric measure for the distance of an extremal channel to the convex set of RU channels we are able to characterize the set of true quantum phase-damping channels. Remarkably, using the Caley-Menger determinant, our measure may be assessed directly from the matrix representation of the channel. We find that the channel of maximum q…
We determine the extreme points of the convex set of covariant phase observables. Such extremals describe the best phase parameter measurements of laser light - the best in the sense that they are free from classical randomness due to fluctuations in the measuring procedure. We also characterize extreme fuzzy rotated quadratures.
We study positive kernels on $X\times X$, where $X$ is a set equipped with an action of a group, and taking values in the set of $\mathcal A$-sesquilinear forms on a (not necessarily Hilbert) module over a $C^*$-algebra $\mathcal A$. These maps are assumed to be covariant with respect to the group action on $X$ and a representation of the group in the set of invertible ($\mathcal A$-linear) module maps. We find necessary and sufficient conditions for extremality of such kernels in certain convex subsets of positive covariant kernels. Our focus is mainly on a particular example of these kernels…
The space of positive operator-valued measures on the Borel sets of a compact (or even locally compact) Hausdorff space with values in the algebra of linear operators acting on a d-dimensional Hilbert space is studied from the perspectives of classical and non-classical convexity through a transform $Γ$ that associates any positive operator-valued measure with a certain completely positive linear map of the homogeneous C*-algebra $C(X)\otimes B(H)$ into $B(H)$. This association is achieved by using an operator-valued integral in which non-classical random variables (that is, operator-valued fu…