8 pages, RevTeX4, 5 figures. Invited lecture at the Workshop on Quantum Information, Computation and Communication (QICC-2005), IIT Kharagpur, India, February 2005
We construct a quantum random walk algorithm, based on the Dirac operator instead of the Laplacian. The algorithm explores multiple evolutionary branches by superposition of states, and does not require the coin toss instruction of classical randomised algorithms. We use this algorithm to search for a marked vertex on a hypercubic lattice in arbitrary dimensions. Our numerical and analytical results match the scaling behaviour of earlier algorithms that use a coin toss instruction.
We show that a secure quantum protocol for coin tossing exist. The existence of quantum coin tossing support the conjecture of D.Mayers [Phys.Rev.Lett. 78, 3414(1997)] that only asymmetrical tasks as quantum bit commitment are impossible.
Classical randomized algorithms use a coin toss instruction to explore different evolutionary branches of a problem. Quantum algorithms, on the other hand, can explore multiple evolutionary branches by mere superposition of states. Discrete quantum random walks, studied in the literature, have nonetheless used both superposition and a quantum coin toss instruction. This is not necessary, and a discrete quantum random walk without a quantum coin toss instruction is defined and analyzed here. Our construction eliminates quantum entanglement from the algorithm, and the results match those obtaine…
We suggest an attack on a symmetric non-ideal quantum coin-tossing protocol suggested by Mayers Salvail and Chiba-Kohno. The analysis of the attack shows that the protocol is insecure.
A relativistic quantum information exchange protocol is proposed allowing two distant users to realize ``coin tossing'' procedure. The protocol is based on the point that in relativistic quantum theory reliable distinguishing between the two orthogonal states generally requires a finite time depending on the structure of these states.
We review the quantum version of a well known problem of cryptography called coin tossing (``flipping a coin via telephone''). It can be regarded as a game where two remote players (who distrust each other) tries to generate a uniformly distributed random bit which is common to both parties. The only resource they can use to perform this task is a classical or quantum communication channel. In this paper we provide a general overview over such coin tossing protocols, concerning in particular their security.
An unconditionally secure quantum cion tossing protocol for two remote participants via entangled swapping is presented. The security of this protocol is guaranteed by the nonlocal property of quantum entanglement and the classical complexity.
In this letter we present the first implementation of a quantum coin tossing protocol. This protocol belongs to a class of ``two-party'' cryptographic problems, where the communication partners distrust each other. As with a number of such two-party protocols, the best implementation of the quantum coin tossing requires qutrits. In this way, we have also performed the first complete quantum communication protocol with qutrits. In our experiment the two partners succeeded to remotely toss a row of coins using photons entangled in the orbital angular momentum. We also show the experimental bound…
The cryptographic protocol of coin tossing consists of two parties, Alice and Bob, that do not trust each other, but want to generate a random bit. If the parties use a classical communication channel and have unlimited computational resources, one of them can always cheat perfectly. Here we analyze in detail how the performance of a quantum coin tossing experiment should be compared to classical protocols, taking into account the inevitable experimental imperfections. We then report an all-optical fiber experiment in which a single coin is tossed whose randomness is higher than achievable by …
There had been well known claims of ``provably unbreakable'' quantum protocols for bit commitment and coin tossing. However, we, and independently Mayers, showed that all proposed quantum bit commitment (and therefore coin tossing) schemes are, in principle, insecure because the sender, Alice, can always cheat successfully by using an EPR-type of attack and delaying her measurements. One might wonder if secure quantum bit commitment and coin tossing protocols exist at all. Here we prove that an EPR-type of attack by Alice will, in principle, break {\em any} realistic quantum bit commitment and…
We discuss the security implications of noise for quantum coin tossing protocols. We find that if quantum error correction can be used, so that noise levels can be made arbitrarily small, then reasonable security conditions for coin tossing can be framed so that results from the noiseless case will continue to hold. If, however, error correction is not available (as is the case with present day technology), and significant noise is present, then tossing a single coin becomes problematic. In this case, we are led to consider random n-bit string generation in the presence of noise, rather than s…
In [1] the authors claim that "weak values are not inherently quantum but rather a purely statistical feature". I argue that their model reproduces only few elements of weak measurements but fails to reproduce all the other intrinsically quantum features.
In coin tossing two remote participants want to share a uniformly distributed random bit. At the least in the quantum version, each participant test whether or not the other has attempted to create a bias on this bit. It is requested that, for b = 0,1, the probability that Alice gets bit b and pass the test is smaller than 1/2 whatever she does, and similarly for Bob. If the bound 1/2 holds perfectly against any of the two participants, the task realised is called an exact coin tossing. If the bound is actually $1/2 + ξ$ where the bias $ξ$ vanishes when a security parameter m defined by the pr…
A simple coined quantum walk in one dimension can be characterized by a $SU(2)$ operator with three parameters which represents the coin toss. However, different such coin toss operators lead to equivalent dynamics of the quantum walker. In this manuscript we present the unitary equivalence classes of quantum walks and show that all the nonequivalent quantum walks can be distinguished by a single parameter. Moreover, we argue that the electric quantum walks are equivalent to quantum walks with time dependent coin toss operator.
Ferrie and Combes [PRL 113 120404 (2014)] produce a classical measurement scheme that supposedly exhibits `anomalous' weak values. I show that their model is flawed due to an incorrect definition of the weak value. As a consequence their claims are invalid.
We show that the phenomenon of anomalous weak values is not limited to quantum theory. In particular, we show that the same features occur in a simple model of a coin subject to a form of classical backaction with pre- and post-selection. This provides evidence that weak values are not inherently quantum, but rather a purely statistical feature of pre- and post-selection with disturbance.
In a recent Letter [PRL 113, 120404 (2014)] Ferrie and Combes claimed to show "that weak values are not inherently quantum, but rather a purely statistical feature of pre- and post-selection with disturbance." In this Comment I will show that this claim is not valid. It follows from Ferrie and Combes misunderstanding of the concept of weak value.
The relativistic quantum protocols realizing the bit commitment and distant coin tossing schemes are proposed. The protocols are based on the fact that the non-stationary orthogonal extended quantum states cannot be reliably distinguished if they are not fully accessible for the measurement. As the states propagate from the domain controlled by one of the user to the domain accessible for the measurements performed by the other user, they become reliably distinguishable for the second user. Important for the protocol are both the quantum nature of the states and the existence of a finite maxim…
The "anomalous" values of C. Ferrie and J. Combes in Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 120404 (2014) say nothing about quantum - or even classical - physics. They are not analogues of the weak values that emerge when we describe the quantum world via an initial state evolving forwards in time and a final state evolving backwards in time, and couple this world weakly to realistic measuring devices.
The authors of a recent paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 120404 (2014)] suggest that "weak values are not inherently quantum but rather a purely statistical feature of pre- and postselection with disturbance". We argue that this claim is erroneous, since such values require averaging with distributions which change sign. This type of averaging arises naturally in quantum mechanics, but may not occur in classical statistics.
Quantum coin tossing (QCT) is an important primitive of quantum cryptography and has received continuous interest. However, in practical QCT, Bob's detectors can be subjected to detector-side channel attacks launched by dishonest Alice, which will possibly make the protocol completely insecure. Here, we report a simple strategy of a detector-blinding attack based on a recent experiment. To remove all the detector side channels, we present a solution of measurement-device-independent QCT (MDI-QCT). This method is similar to the idea of MDI quantum key distribution (QKD). MDI-QCT is loss toleran…
Comprehensive and physically consistent model of a tossed coin is presented in terms of geometric algebra. The model clearly shows that there is nothing elementary particle specific in the half-spin quantum mechanical formalism. It also demonstrates what really is behind this formalism, feasibly reveals the probabilistic meaning of wave function and shows that arithmetic of packed objects, namely wave functions and Pauli matrices, reduces the amount of available information.
It is well-known that pure quantum states are typically almost maximally entangled, and thus have close to maximally mixed subsystems. We consider whether this is true for probabilistic theories more generally, and not just for quantum theory. We derive a formula for the expected purity of a subsystem in any probabilistic theory for which this quantity is well-defined. It applies to typical entanglement in pure quantum states, coin tossing in classical probability theory, and randomization in post-quantum theories; a simple generalization yields the typical entanglement in (anti)symmetric quan…
There had been well known claims of unconditionally secure quantum protocols for bit commitment. However, we, and independently Mayers, showed that all proposed quantum bit commitment schemes are, in principle, insecure because the sender, Alice, can almost always cheat successfully by using an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) type of attack and delaying her measurements. One might wonder if secure quantum bit commitment protocols exist at all. We answer this question by showing that the same type of attack by Alice will, in principle, break any bit commitment scheme. The cheating strategy genera…
When elementary quantum systems, such as polarized photons, are used to transmit digital information, the uncertainty principle gives rise to novel cryptographic phenomena unachievable with traditional transmission media, e.g. a communications channel on which it is impossible in principle to eavesdrop without a high probability of disturbing the transmission in such a way as to be detected. Such a quantum channel can be used in conjunction with ordinary insecure classical channels to distribute random key information between two users with the assurance that it remains unknown to anyone else,…
Alice is a charismatic quantum cryptographer who believes her parties are unmissable; Bob is a (relatively) glamorous string theorist who believes he is an indispensable guest. To prevent possibly traumatic collisions of self-perception and reality, their social code requires that decisions about invitation or acceptance be made via a cryptographically secure variable bias coin toss (VBCT). This generates a shared random bit by the toss of a coin whose bias is secretly chosen, within a stipulated range, by one of the parties; the other party learns only the random bit. Thus one party can secre…
Coin tossing is a cryptographic task in which two parties who do not trust each other aim to generate a common random bit. Using classical communication this is impossible, but non trivial coin tossing is possible using quantum communication. Here we consider the case when the parties do not want to toss a single coin, but many. This is called bit string generation. We report the experimental generation of strings of coins which are provably more random than achievable using classical communication. The experiment is based on the ``plug and play'' scheme developed for quantum cryptography, and…
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research（联合核研究所）；Universidade de São Paulo（圣保罗大学）
The procedure of tossing quantum coins and dice is described. This case is an important example of a quantum procedure because it presents a typical framework employed in quantum information processing and quantum computing. The emphasis is on the clarification of the difference between quantum and classical conditional probabilities. These probabilities are designed for characterizing different systems, either quantum or classical, and they, generally, cannot be reduced to each other. Thus the Lüders probability cannot be treated as a generalization of the classical conditional probability. T…
Aaronson and Drucker (2011) asked whether there exists a quantum finite automaton that can distinguish fair coin tosses from biased ones by spending significantly more time in accepting states, on average, given an infinite sequence of tosses. We answer this question negatively.
A significant branch of classical cryptography deals with the problems which arise when mistrustful parties need to generate, process or exchange information. As Kilian showed a while ago, mistrustful classical cryptography can be founded on a single protocol, oblivious transfer, from which general secure multi-party computations can be built. The scope of mistrustful quantum cryptography is limited by no-go theorems, which rule out, inter alia, unconditionally secure quantum protocols for oblivious transfer or general secure two-party computations. These theorems apply even to protocols which…
We investigate sampling procedures that certify that an arbitrary quantum state on $n$ subsystems is close to an ideal mixed state $φ^{\otimes n}$ for a given reference state $φ$, up to errors on a few positions. This task makes no sense classically: it would correspond to certifying that a given bitstring was generated according to some desired probability distribution. However, in the quantum case, this is possible if one has access to a prover who can supply a purification of the mixed state. In this work, we introduce the concept of mixed-state certification, and we show that a natural sam…
After a general introduction, the thesis is divided into four parts. In the first, we discuss the task of coin tossing, principally in order to highlight the effect different physical theories have on security in a straightforward manner, but, also, to introduce a new protocol for non-relativistic strong coin tossing. This protocol matches the security of the best protocol known to date while using a conceptually different approach to achieve the task. In the second part variable bias coin tossing is introduced. This is a variant of coin tossing in which one party secretly chooses one of two b…
Many-particles quantum walks of particles obeying Bose statistics moving on graphs of various topologies are introduced. A single coin tossing commands the conditional shift operation over the whole graph. Vertices particle densities, the mean values of the phase space variables, second order spatial correlation and counting statistics are evaluated and simulated. Evidence of an universal dynamics is presented.
A long sequence of tosses of a classical coin produces an apparently random bit string, but classical randomness is an illusion: the algorithmic information content of a classically-generated bit string lies almost entirely in the description of initial conditions. This letter presents a simple argument that, by contrast, a sequence of bits produced by tossing a quantum coin is, almost certainly, genuinely (algorithmically) random. This result can be interpreted as a strengthening of Bell's no-hidden-variables theorem, and relies on causality and quantum entanglement in a manner similar to Bel…
We introduce a multi-coin discrete quantum random walk where the amplitude for a coin flip depends upon previous tosses. Although the corresponding classical random walk is unbiased, a bias can be introduced into the quantum walk by varying the history dependence. By mixing the biased random walk with an unbiased one, the direction of the bias can be reversed leading to a new quantum version of Parrondo's paradox.
We show how multi-walker quantum walks can be implemented in a quantum quincunx created via cavity quantum electrodynamics. The implementation of a quantum walk with a multi-walker opens up the interesting possibility to introduce entanglement and more advanced walks. With different coin tosses and initial states the multi-walker quantum walk shows different probability distributions which deviate strongly from the classical random walks with quadratic enhanced spreadings and localization effects. By introducing decoherence, the transition from quantum walks to the classical versions is observ…
The security of quantum communication using a weak coherent source requires an accurate knowledge of the source's mean photon number. Finite calibration precision or an active manipulation by an attacker may cause the actual emitted photon number to deviate from the known value. We model effects of this deviation on the security of three quantum communication protocols: the Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol without decoy states, Scarani-Acin-Ribordy-Gisin 2004 (SARG04) QKD protocol, and a coin-tossing protocol. For QKD, we model both a strong attack using tec…
We analyze the quantum walk in higher spatial dimensions and compare classical and quantum spreading as a function of time. Tensor products of Hadamard transformations and the discrete Fourier transform arise as natural extensions of the quantum coin toss in the one-dimensional walk simulation, and other illustrative transformations are also investigated. We find that entanglement between the dimensions serves to reduce the rate of spread of the quantum walk. The classical limit is obtained by introducing a random phase variable.
We elaborate on a model of quantum random walk proposed by Hillery et. al., and Jeong et. al., which uses the multiports for quantum "coin tossing". The dynamics of this model is analyzed for the case when the multiports are arranged on the hypercube. If the hypercube is attached to semi-infinite lines, then it can act as a scattering potential, which can be reduced to a quantum walk on the line with non-unitary evolution. We also show how this model can be implemented using simple quantum gates.
We devise a protocol to build 1D time-dependent quantum walks in 1D maximizing the spatial spread throughout the procedure. We allow only one of the physical parameters of the coin-tossing operator to vary, i.e. the angle $θ$, such that for $θ=0$ we have the $\hatσ_z$, while for $θ=π/4$ we obtain the Hadamard gate. The optimal $θ$ sequences present non-trivial patterns, with mostly $θ\approx 0$ alternated with $θ\approx π/4$ values after increasingly long periods. We provide an analysis of the entanglement properties, quasi-energy spectrum and survival probability, providing a full physical pi…
Each step in a quantum random walk is typically understood to have two basic components; a `coin-toss' which produces a random superposition of two states, and a displacement which moves each component of the superposition by different amounts. Here we suggest the realization of a walk in momentum space with a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate subject to a quantum ratchet realized with a pulsed, off-resonant optical lattice. By an appropriate choice of the lattice detuning, we show how the atomic momentum can be entangled with the internal spin states of the atoms. For the coin-toss, we propose …
We consider a quantum particle (walker) on a line who coherently chooses to jump to the left or right depending on the result of toss of a quantum coin. The lengths of the jumps are considered to be independent and identically distributed quenched Poisson random variables. We find that the spread of the walker is significantly inhibited, whereby it resides in the near-origin region, with respect to the case when there is no disorder. The scaling exponent of the quenched-averaged dispersion of the walker is sub-ballistic but super-diffusive. We also show that the features are universal to a cla…
We experimentally demonstrate a quantum walk on a line in phase space using one and two trapped ion. A walk with up to 23 steps is realized by subjecting an ion to state-dependent displacement operations interleaved with quantum coin tossing operations. To analyze the ion's motional state after each step we apply a technique that directly maps the probability density distribution onto the ion's internal state. The measured probability distributions and the position's second moment clearly show the non-classical character of the quantum walk. To further highlight the difference between the clas…
We present a mathematical formalism for the description of unrestricted quantum walks with entangled coins and one walker. The numerical behaviour of such walks is examined when using a Bell state as the initial coin state, two different coin operators, two different shift operators, and one walker. We compare and contrast the performance of these quantum walks with that of a classical random walk consisting of one walker and two maximally correlated coins as well as quantum walks with coins sharing different degrees of entanglement. We illustrate that the behaviour of our walk with entangled …
We report on the possibility of controlling quantum random walks with a step-dependent coin. The coin is characterized by a (single) rotation angle. Considering different rotation angles, one can find diverse probability distributions for this walk including: complete localization, Gaussian and asymmetric likes. In addition, we explore the entropy of walk in two contexts; for probability density distributions over position space and walker's internal degrees of freedom space (coin space). We show that entropy of position space can decrease for a step-dependent coin with the step-number, quite …
We introduce and analyze a one-dimensional quantum walk with two time-independent rotations on the coin. We study the influence on the property of quantum walk due to the second rotation on the coin. Based on the asymptotic solution in the long time limit, a ballistic behaviour of this walk is observed. This quantum walk retains the quadratic growth of the variance if the combined operator of the coin rotations is unitary. That confirms no localization exhibits in this walk. This result can be extended to the walk with multiple time-independent rotations on the coin.
We consider two independent quantum walks on separate lines augmented by partial or full swapping of coins after each step. For classical random walks, swapping or not swapping coins makes little difference to the random walk characteristics, but we show that quantum walks with partial swapping of coins have complicated yet elegant inter-walker correlations. Specifically we study the joint position distribution of the reduced two-walker state after tracing out the coins and analyze total, classical and quantum correlations in terms of the mutual information, the quantum mutual information, and…
A coinless, discrete-time quantum walk possesses a Hilbert space whose dimension is smaller compared to the widely-studied coined walk. Coined walks require the direct product of the site basis with the coin space, coinless walks operate purely in the site basis, which is clearly minimal. These coinless quantum walks have received considerable attention recently because they have evolution operators that can be obtained by a graphical method based on lattice tessellations and they have been shown to be as efficient as the best known coined walks when used as a quantum search algorithm. We argu…
The connection between coined and continuous-time quantum walk models has been addressed in a number of papers. In most of those studies, the continuous-time model is derived from coined quantum walks by employing dimensional reduction and taking appropriate limits. In this work, we produce the evolution of a coined quantum walk on a generic graph using a continuous-time quantum walk on a larger graph. In addition to expanding the underlying structure, we also have to switch on and off edges during the continuous-time evolution to accommodate the alternation between the shift and coin operator…
We demonstrate a quantum walk with time-dependent coin bias. With this technique we realize an experimental single-photon one-dimensional quantum walk with a linearly-ramped time-dependent coin flip operation and thereby demonstrate two periodic revivals of the walker distribution. In our beam-displacer interferometer, the walk corresponds to movement between discretely separated transverse modes of the field serving as lattice sites, and the time-dependent coin flip is effected by implementing a different angle between the optical axis of half-wave plate and the light propagation at each step…
We introduce some new perfect state transfer and teleportation schemes by quantum walks with two coins. Encoding the transferred information in coin 1 state and alternatively using two coin operators, we can perfectly recover the information on coin 1 state at target position only by at most two times of flipping operation. Based on quantum walks with two coins either on the line or on the $N$-circle, we can perfectly transfer any qubit state. In addition, using quantum walks with two coins either on complete graphs or regular graphs, we can first implement perfect qudit state transfer by quan…
We provide a theoretical framework for encoding arbitrary logical states of a quantum bit (qubit) into a continuous-variable quantum mode through quantum walks. Starting with a squeezed-vacuum state of the quantum mode, we show that quantum walks of the state in phase space can generate output states that are variants of codeword states originally put forward by Gottesman, Kitaev, and Preskill (GKP) [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 64}, 012310 (2001)]. In particular, with a coin-toss transformation that projects the quantum coin onto the diagonal coin-state, we show that the resulting {\em dissipative} quan…
Szegedy's quantum walk is a quantization of a classical random walk or Markov chain, where the walk occurs on the edges of the bipartite double cover of the original graph. To search, one can simply quantize a Markov chain with absorbing vertices. Recently, Santos proposed two alternative search algorithms that instead utilize the sign-flip oracle in Grover's algorithm rather than absorbing vertices. In this paper, we show that these two algorithms are exactly equivalent to two algorithms involving coined quantum walks, which are walks on the vertices of the original graph with an internal deg…
We present the first robust implementation of a coined quantum walk over five steps using only passive optical elements. By employing a fiber network loop we keep the amount of required resources constant as the walker's position Hilbert space is increased. We observed a non-Gaussian distribution of the walker's final position, thus characterizing a faster spread of the photon wave-packet in comparison to the classical random walk. The walk is realized for many different coin settings and initial states, which opens the way for the implementation of a quantum walk-based search algorithm.
We advance the previous studies of quantum walks on the line with two coins. Such four-state quantum walks driven by a three-direction shift operator may have nonzero stationary distributions (localization), thus distinguishing themselves from the quantum walks on the line in the basic scenario (i.e., driven by a single coin). In this work, asymptotic position distributions of the quantum walks are examined. We derive a weak limit for the quantum walks and explicit formulas of stationary probability distribution, whose dependencies on the coin parameter and the initial state of quantum walks a…
We investigated discrete-time quantum walks with an arbitary unitary coin. Here we discover that the average position $<x> =\max(<x> \sin(α+γ)$, while the initial state is $1/\sqrt{2}(\mid0L>+i\mid0R>)$. We prove the result and get some symmetry properties of quantum walks with a U(2) coin with $\mid0L>$ and $\mid0R>$ as the initial state.
We generalize the discrete quantum walk on the line using a time dependent unitary coin operator. We find an analytical relation between the long-time behaviors of the standard deviation and the coin operator. Selecting the coin time sequence allows to obtain a variety of predetermined asymptotic wave-function spreadings: ballistic, sub-ballistic, diffusive, sub-diffusive and localized.
Within a special multi-coin quantum walk scheme we analyze the effect of the entanglement of the initial coin state. For states with a special entanglement structure it is shown that this entanglement can be meausured with the mean value of the walk, which depends on the i-concurrence of the initial coin state. Further on the entanglement evolution is investigated and it is shown that the symmetry of the probability distribution is reflected by the symmetry of the entanglement distribution.
