We address the problem of discriminating with minimal error probability two given quantum operations. We show that the use of entangled input states generally improves the discrimination. For Pauli channels we provide a complete comparison of the optimal strategies where either entangled or unentangled input states are used.
The problem of quantum state discrimination, which is a foundational aspect of quantum information theory, and its relation to the theory of majorization are discussed. The purpose of this study is to review different approaches to the problem and analyze different cases of quantum-state discrimination, most importantly the discrimination of bipartite entangled quantum states under local operations and classical communication. Two partial results on using entanglement as a resource for quantum-state discrimination and discrimination with remaining entanglement is given. The important points ar…
We study the discrimination of multipartite quantum states by local operations and classical communication. We derive that any optimal discrimination of quantum states spanning a two-dimensional Hilbert space in which each party's space is finite dimensional is possible by local operations and one-way classical communication, regardless of the optimality criterion used and how entangled the states are.
Discrimination of unitary operations is a fundamental quantum information processing task. Assisted with linear optical elements, we experimentally demonstrate perfect discrimination between single-bit unitary operations using two methods--sequential scheme and parallel scheme. The complexity and resource consumed in these two schemes are analyzed and compared.
We address the problem of unambiguous discrimination among a given set of quantum operations. The necessary and sufficient condition for them to be unambiguously distinguishable is derived in the cases of single use and multiple uses respectively. For the latter case we explicitly construct the input states and corresponding measurements that accomplish the task. It is found that the introduction of entanglement can improve the discrimination.
In this paper, we address the problem of discriminating two given quantum operations. Firstly, based on the Bloch representation of single qubit systems, we give the exact minimum error probability of discriminating two single qubit quantum operations by unentangled input states. In particular, for the Pauli channels discussed in [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 71}, 062340 (2005)], we use a more intuitional and visual method to deal with their discrimination problem. Secondly, we consider the condition for perfect discrimination of two quantum operations. Specially, we get that two generalized Pauli channe…
We address the limit of the Gaussian operations and classical communication in the problem of quantum state discrimination. We show that the optimal Gaussian strategy for the discrimination of the binary phase shift keyed (BPSK) coherent signal is a simple homodyne detection. We also propose practical near-optimal quantum receivers that beat the BPSK homodyne limit in all areas of the signal power. Our scheme is simple and does not require realtime electrical feedback.
Recently, the problem of discriminating multipartite unitary operations by local operations and classical communication (LOCC) has attracted significant attention. The latest work in the literature on this problem showed that two multipartite unitary operations can always be perfectly distinguished by LOCC when a finite number of runs are allowable. However, in these schemes, local entanglement (an entangled state holden by one party) was required, which seems to imply that local entanglement is necessary for perfect discrimination between unitary operations by LOCC. In this article, we show t…
Distinguishability is a fundamental and operational task generally connected to information applications. In quantum information theory, from the postulates of quantum mechanics it often has an intrinsic limitation, which then dictates and also characterises capabilities of related information tasks. In this work, we consider discrimination between bipartite two-qubit unitary transformations by local operations and classical communication (LOCC) and its relations to entangling capabilities of given unitaries. We show that a pair of entangling unitaries which do not contain local parts, if they…
We consider the problem of local operations and classical communication (LOCC) discrimination between two bipartite pure states of fermionic systems. We show that, contrary to the case of quantum systems, for fermionic systems it is generally not possible to achieve the ideal state discrimination performances through LOCC measurements. On the other hand, we show that an ancillary system made of two fermionic modes in a maximally entangled state is a sufficient additional resource to attain the ideal performances via LOCC measurements. The stability of the ideal results is studied when the prob…
We obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for a finite set of states of a finite dimensional multiparticle quantum system to be amenable to unambiguous discrimination using local operations and classical communication. This condition is valid for states which may be be mixed, entangled or both. When the support of the set of states is the entire multiparticle Hilbert space, this condition is found to have an intriguing connection with the theory of entanglement witnesses.
We consider optimal state discrimination in a general convex operational framework, so-called generalized probabilistic theories (GPTs), and present a general method of optimal discrimination by applying the complementarity problem from convex optimization. The method exploits the convex geometry of states but not other detailed conditions or relations of states and effects. We also show that properties in optimal quantum state discrimination are shared in GPTs in general: i) no measurement sometimes gives optimal discrimination, and ii) optimal measurement is not unique.
The paper studies unambiguous discrimination of Fermionic states through local operations and classical communication (LOCC). In the task of unambiguous discrimination, no error is tolerated but an inconclusive result is allowed. We show that contrary to the quantum case, it is not always possible to distinguish two Fermionic states through LOCC unambiguously with the same success probability as if global measurements were allowed. Furthermore, we prove that we can overcome such a limit through an ancillary system made of two Fermionic modes, independently of the dimension of the system, prepa…
We provide a description of the problem of the discrimination of two quantum states in terms of receiver operation characteristics analysis, a prevalent approach in classical statistics. Receiveroperation characteristics diagrams provide an expressive representation of the problem, in which quantities such as the fidelity and the trace distance also appear explicitly. In addition we introduce an alternative quantum generalization of the classical Bhattacharyya coefficient. We evaluate our quantum Bhattacharyya coefficient for certain situations and describe some of its properties. These proper…
We propose a numerical algorithm for finding optimal measurements for quantum-state discrimination. The theory of the semidefinite programming provides a simple check of the optimality of the numerically obtained results.
One of the central problems in the study of quantum resource theories is to provide a given resource with an operational meaning, characterizing physical tasks in which the resource can give an explicit advantage over all resourceless states. We show that this can always be accomplished for all convex resource theories. We establish in particular that any resource state enables an advantage in a channel discrimination task, allowing for a strictly greater success probability than any state without the given resource. Furthermore, we find that the generalized robustness measure serves as an exa…
We show that entanglement guarantees difficulty in the discrimination of orthogonal multipartite states locally. The number of pure states that can be discriminated by local operations and classical communication is bounded by the total dimension over the average entanglement. A similar, general condition is also shown for pure and mixed states. These results offer a rare operational interpretation for three abstractly defined distance like measures of multipartite entanglement.
We show that a unitary operation (quantum circuit) secretely chosen from a finite set of unitary operations can be determined with certainty by sequentially applying only a finite amount of runs of the unknown circuit. No entanglement or joint quantum operations is required in our scheme. We further show that our scheme is optimal in the sense that the number of the runs is minimal when discriminating only two unitary operations.
A collection of quantum channels is called incompatible if they cannot be obtained as marginals from a single channel. No-cloning theorem is the most prominent instance of incompatibility of quantum channels. We show that every collection of incompatible channels can be more useful than compatible ones as preprocessings in a state discrimination task with multiple ensembles of states. This is done by showing that the robustness of channel incompatibility which is a measure for incompatibility of channels exactly quantifies the maximum advantage in the state discrimination. We also show that in…
This paper constructs a LOCC protocol that achieves the global optimality in conclusive discrimination of any two states with arbitrary a priori probability. This can be interpreted that there is no ``non-locality'' in the conclusive discrimination of two multipartite states.
We investigate optimal discrimination between two projective single-qubit measurements in a scenario where the measurement can be performed only once. We consider general setting involving a tunable fraction of inconclusive outcomes and we prove that the optimal discrimination strategy requires an entangled probe state for any nonzero rate of inconclusive outcomes. We experimentally implement this optimal discrimination strategy for projective measurements on polarization states of single photons. Our setup involves a real-time electrooptical feed-forward loop which allows us to fully harness …
We propose a generalized discrimination scheme for mixed quantum states. In the present scenario we allow for certain fixed fraction of inconclusive results and we maximize the success rate of the quantum-state discrimination. This protocol interpolates between the Ivanovic-Dieks-Peres scheme and the Helstrom one. We formulate the extremal equations for the optimal positive operator valued measure describing the discrimination device and establish a criterion for its optimality. We also devise a numerical method for efficient solving of these extremal equations.
We consider the unambiguous discrimination of multipartite quantum states and provide an upper bound for the maximum success probability of optimal local discrimination. We also provide a necessary and sufficient condition to realize the upper bound. We further establish a necessary and sufficient condition for this upper bound to be saturated. Finally, we illustrate our results using examples in multidimensional multipartite quantum systems.
We present a generic study of unambiguous discrimination between two mixed quantum states. We derive operational optimality conditions and show that the optimal measurements can be classified according to their rank. In Hilbert space dimensions smaller or equal to five this leads to the complete optimal solution. We demonstrate our method with a physical example, namely the unambiguous comparison of n quantum states, and find the optimal success probability.
Quantum mechanics forbids deterministic discrimination among non-orthogonal states. Nonetheless, the capability to distinguish nonorthogonal states unambiguously is an important primitive in quantum information processing. In this work, we experimentally implement generalized measurements in an optical system and demonstrate the first optimal unambiguous discrimination between three nonorthogonal states, with a success rate of 55%, to be compared with the 25% maximum achievable using projective measurements. Furthermore we present the first realization of unambiguous discrimination between a p…
We study an optimum measurement for quantum state discrimination, which maximizes the probability of correct results when the probability of inconclusive results is fixed at a given value. The measurement describes minimum-error discrimination if this value is zero, while under certain conditions it corresponds to optimized maximum-confidence discrimination, or to optimum unambiguous discrimination, respectively, when the fixed value reaches a definite minimum. Using operator conditions that determine the optimum measurement, we derive analytical solutions for the discrimination of two mixed q…
We consider one copy of a quantum system prepared in one of two non-orthogonal pure product states of multipartite distributed among separated parties. We show that there exist protocols which obtain optimal probability in the sense of conclusive discrimination by means of local operations and classical communications(LOCC) as good as by global operations. Also, we show a protocol which minimezes the average number of local operations. Our result implies that two product pure multipartite states might not have the non-local property though more than two can have.
We show how to optimally unambiguously discriminate between two subspaces of a Hilbert space. In particular we suppose that we are given a quantum system in either the state ψ_{1}, where ψ_{1} can be any state in the subspace S_{1}, or ψ_{2}, where ψ_{2} can be any state in the subspace S_{2}, and our task is to determine in which of the subspaces the state of our quantum system lies. We do not want to make a mistake, which means that our procedure will sometimes fail if the subspaces are not orthogonal. This is a special case of the unambiguous discrimination of mixed states. We present the P…
In this paper we present the solution to the problem of optimally discriminating among quantum states, i.e., identifying the states with maximum probability of success when a certain fixed rate of inconclusive answers is allowed. By varying the inconclusive rate, the scheme optimally interpolates between Unambiguous and Minimum Error discrimination, the two standard approaches to quantum state discrimination. We introduce a very general method that enables us to obtain the solution in a wide range of cases and give a complete characterization of the minimum discrimination error as a function o…
We present an application of particle statistics to the problem of optimal ambiguous discrimination of quantum states. The states to be discriminated are encoded in the internal degrees of freedom of identical particles, and we use the bunching and antibunching of the external degrees of freedom to discriminate between various internal states. We show that we can achieve the optimal single-shot discrimination probability using only the effects of particle statistics. We discuss interesting applications of our method to detecting entanglement and purifying mixed states. Our scheme can easily be…
We consider the problem of minimum-error quantum state discrimination for single-qubit mixed states. We present a method which uses the Helstrom conditions constructively and analytically; this algebraic approach is complementary to existing geometric methods, and solves the problem for any number of arbitrary signal states with arbitrary prior probabilities.
We provide a general framework of utilizing the no-signaling principle in derivation of the guessing probability in the minimum-error quantum state discrimination. We show that, remarkably, the guessing probability can be determined by the no-signaling principle. This is shown by proving that in the semidefinite programming for the discrimination, the optimality condition corresponds to the constraint that quantum theory cannot be used for a superluminal communication. Finally, a general bound to the guessing probability is presented in a closed form.
We investigate optimal discrimination between two projective quantum measurements on a single qubit. We consider scenario where the measurement that should be identified can be performed twice and we show that adaptive discrimination strategy, entangled probe states, and feed-forward all help to increase the probability of correct identification of the measurement. We also experimentally demonstrate the studied discrimination strategies and test their performance. The employed experimental setup involves projective measurements on polarization states of single photons and preparation of requir…
We study discrimination of m quantum measurements in the scenario when the unknown measurement with n outcomes can be used only once. We show that ancilla-assisted discrimination procedures provide a nontrivial advantage over simple (ancilla-free) schemes for perfect distinguishability and we prove that inevitably m <= n. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions of perfect distinguishability of general binary measurements. We show that the optimization of the discrimination of projective qubit measurements and their mixtures with white noise is equivalent to the discrimination of specific…
Quantum discrimination and estimation are pivotal for many quantum technologies, and their performance depends on the optimal choice of probe state and measurement. Here we show that their performance can be further improved by suitably tailoring the pulses that make up the interferometer. Developing an optimal control framework and applying it to the discrimination and estimation of a magnetic field in the presence of noise, we find an increase in the overall achievable state distinguishability. Moreover, the maximum distinguishability can be stabilized for times that are more than an order o…
We investigate a state discrimination problem which interpolates minimum-error and unambiguous discrimination by introducing a margin for the probability of error. We closely analyze discrimination of two pure states with general occurrence probabilities. The optimal measurements are classified into three types. One of the three types of measurement is optimal depending on parameters (occurrence probabilities and error margin). We determine the three domains in the parameter space and the optimal discrimination success probability in each domain in a fully analytic form. It is also shown that …
We investigate a state discrimination problem in operationally the most general framework to use a probability, including both classical, quantum theories, and more. In this wide framework, introducing closely related family of ensembles (which we call a {\it Helstrom family of ensembles}) with the problem, we provide a geometrical method to find an optimal measurement for state discrimination by means of Bayesian strategy. We illustrate our method in 2-level quantum systems and in a probabilistic model with square-state space to reproduce e.g., the optimal success probabilities for binary sta…
In this work we relate the well-known no-go theorem that two non-orthogonal (mixed) quantum states cannot be perfectly discriminated, to the general principle in physics, the no-signalling condition. In fact, we derive the minimum error in discrimination between two quantum states, using the no-signalling condition.
Paper withdrawn. Results are similar to V. P. Belavkin, "Optimum distinction of non-orthogonal quantum signals," Radio Engineering and Electronic Physics, vol. 20, June 1975, p. 39-47.
Evaluating the amount of information obtained from non-orthogonal quantum states is an important topic in the field of quantum information. The commonly used evaluation method is Holevo bound, which only provides a loose upper bound for quantum measurement. In this paper, we provide a theoretical study of the positive operator-valued measure (POVM) for discriminating nonorthogonal states. We construct a generalized POVM measurement operation, and derive the optimal one for state discrimination by Lagrange multiplier method. With simulation, we find that the optimal POVM measurement provides a …
We study the discrimination of N mixed quantum states in an optimal measurement that maximizes the probability of correct results while the probability of inconclusive results is fixed at a given value. After considering the discrimination of N states in a d-dimensional Hilbert space, we focus on the discrimination of qubit states. We develop a method to determine an optimal measurement for discriminating arbitrary qubit states, taking into account that often the optimal measurement is not unique and the maximum probability of correct results can be achieved by several different measurements. …
We present reduction theorems for the problem of optimal unambiguous state discrimination (USD) of two general density matrices. We show that this problem can be reduced to that of two density matrices that have the same rank $n$ and are described in a Hilbert space of dimensions $2n$. We also show how to use the reduction theorems to discriminate unambiguously between N mixed states (N \ge 2).
We consider the optimal discrimination of nonorthogonal qubit states with post-measurement information and provide an analytic structure of the optimal measurements. We also show that there is always a null optimal measurement when post-measurement information is given. Further, in discriminating four states using post-measurement information, we analytically provide the optimal probability of correct guessing and show that the uniqueness of optimal measurement is equivalent to the non-existence of non-null optimal measurement with post-measurement information.
We study the problem of discriminating between non-orthogonal quantum states with least probability of error. We demonstrate that this problem can be simplified if we solve for the error itself rather than solving directly for the optimal measurement. This method enables us to derive solutions directly and thus make definite statements about the uniqueness of an optimal strategy. This approach immediately leads us to a state-discrimination analogue of Davies Theorem. In the course of this, a complete solution for distinguishing equally likely pure qubit states is presented.
Research in non-orthogonal state discrimination has given rise to two conventional optimal strategies: unambiguous discrimination (UD) and minimum error (ME) discrimination. This paper explores the experimentally relevant range of measurement strategies between the two, where the rate of inconclusive results is minimized for a bounded-error rate. We first provide some constraints on the problem that apply to generalized measurements (POVMs). We then provide the theory for the optimal projective measurement (PVM) in this range. Through analytical and numerical results we investigate this family…
The optimal discrimination of non-orthogonal quantum states with minimum error probability is a fundamental task in quantum measurement theory as well as an important primitive in optical communication. In this work, we propose and experimentally realize a new and simple quantum measurement strategy capable of discriminating two coherent states with smaller error probabilities than can be obtained using the standard measurement devices; the Kennedy receiver and the homodyne receiver.
We consider one copy of a quantum system prepared with equal prior probability in one of two non-orthogonal entangled states of multipartite distributed among separated parties. We demonstrate that these two states can be optimally distinguished in the sense of conclusive discrimination by local operations and classical communications(LOCC) alone. And this proves strictly the conjecture that Virmani et.al. [8] confirmed numerically and analytically. Generally, the optimal protocol requires local POVM operations which are explicitly constructed. The result manifests that the distinguishable inf…
In this work, we consider optimal state discrimination for a quantum system that interacts with an environment, i.e., states evolve under a quantum channel. We show the conditions on a quantum channel and an ensemble of states such that a measurement for optimal state discrimination is preserved. In particular, we show that when an ensemble of states with equal {\it a priori} probabilities is given, an optimal measurement can be preserved over any quantum channel by applying local operations and classical communication, that is, by manipulating the quantum states before and after the channel a…
We try to find an optimal quantum measurement for generalized quantum state discrimination problems, which include the problem of finding an optimal measurement maximizing the average correct probability with and without a fixed rate of inconclusive results and the problem of finding an optimal measurement in the Neyman-Pearson strategy. We propose an approach in which the optimal measurement is obtained by solving a modified version of the original problem. In particular, the modified problem can be reduced to one of finding a minimum error measurement for a certain state set, which is relati…
Nonlocality without entanglement(NLWE) is a nonlocal phenomenon that occurs in quantum state discrimination of multipartite separable states. In the discrimination of orthogonal separable states, the term NLWE is used when the quantum states cannot be discriminated perfectly by local operations and classical communication. In this case, the occurrence of NLWE is independent of nonzero prior probabilities of quantum states being prepared. Recently, it has been found that the occurrence of NLWE can depend on nonzero prior probabilities in minimum-error discrimination of nonorthogonal separable s…
We consider the problem of unambiguous (error-free) discrimination of N linearly independent pure quantum states with prior probabilities, where the goal is to find a measurement that maximizes the average probability of success. We derive an upper bound on the optimal average probability of success using a result on optimal local conversion between two bipartite pure states. We prove that an optimal measurement in general saturates our bound. In the exceptional cases we show that the bound is tight, but not always optimal.
We analyze the optimal unambiguous discrimination of two arbitrary mixed quantum states. We show that the optimal measurement is unique and we present this optimal measurement for the case where the rank of the density operator of one of the states is at most 2 ("solution in 4 dimensions"). The solution is illustrated by some examples. The optimality conditions proved by Eldar et al. [Phys. Rev. A 69, 062318 (2004)] are simplified to an operational form. As an application we present optimality conditions for the measurement, when only one of the two states is detected. The current status of op…
Retrieving classical information encoded in optical modes is at the heart of many quantum information processing tasks, especially in the field of quantum communication and sensing. Yet, despite its importance, the fundamental limits of optical mode discrimination have been studied only in few specific examples. Here we present a toolbox to find the optimal discrimination of any set of optical modes. The toolbox uses linear and semi-definite programming techniques, which provide rigorous (not heuristic) bounds, and which can be efficiently solved on standard computers. We study both probabilis…
We discuss the disturbance by measurements which unambiguously discriminate between given candidate states. We prove that such an optimal measurement necessarily changes distinguishable states indistinguishable when the inconclusive outcome is obtained. The result was previously shown by Chefles~[Phys. Lett. A 239, 339 (1998)] under restrictions on the class of quantum measurements and on the definition of optimality. Our theorems remove these restrictions and are also applicable to infinitely many candidate states. Combining with our previous results, one can obtain concrete mathematical cond…