We investigate Gaussian quantum states in view of their exceptional role within the space of all continuous variables states. A general method for deriving extremality results is provided and applied to entanglement measures, secret key distillation and the classical capacity of Bosonic quantum channels. We prove that for every given covariance matrix the distillable secret key rate and the entanglement, if measured appropriately, are minimized by Gaussian states. This result leads to a clearer picture of the validity of frequently made Gaussian approximations. Moreover, it implies that Gaussian encodings are optimal for the transmission of classical information through Bosonic channels, if the capacity is additive.
Security bounds for unidimensional discrete-modulated CV-QKD: a Gaussian extremality approach
QuIIN - Quantum Industrial Innovation, EMBRAPII CIMATEC Competence Center in Quantum Technologies, SENAI CIMATEC（QuIIN - 量子工业创新，EMBRAPII CIMATEC 量子技术能力中心，SENAI CIMATEC）；Instituto de Fı́sica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro（物理研究所，里约热内卢联邦大学）；Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark（电气与光子工程系，丹麦技术大学）
A generalized channel is a completely positive map that preserves trace on a given subspace. We find conditions under which a generalized channel with respect to a positively generated subspace J is an extreme point in the set of all such generalized channels. As a special case, this yields extremality conditions for quantum protocols. In particular, we obtain new extremality conditions for quantum 1-testers with 2 outcomes, which correspond to yes/no measurements on the set of quantum channels.
Convex sets of completely positive maps and positive semidefinite kernels are considered in the most general context of modules over $C^*$-algebras and a complete charaterization of their extreme points is obtained. As a byproduct, we determine extreme quantum instruments, preparations, channels, and extreme autocorrelation functions. Various applications to quantum information and measurement theories are given. The structure of quantum instruments is analyzed thoroughly.
The set of all channels with fixed input and output is convex. We first give a convenient formulation of necessary and sufficient condition for a channel to be extreme point of this set in terms of complementary channel, a notion of big importance in quantum information theory. This formulation is based on the general approach to extremality of completely positive maps in an operator algebra due to Arveson. We then apply this formulation to prove the main result of this note: under certain nondegeneracy conditions, purity of the environment is necessary and sufficient for extremality of Bosoni…
A fully general approach to the security analysis of continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) is presented. Provided that the quantum channel is estimated via the covariance matrix of the quadratures, Gaussian attacks are shown to be optimal against all eavesdropping strategies, including collective and coherent attacks. The proof is made strikingly simple by combining a physical model of measurement, an entanglement-based description of CV-QKD, and a recent powerful result on the extremality of Gaussian states [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 080502 (2006)].
In this paper, we consider continuous-variable quantum key distribution with a discrete modulation, either binary or quaternary. We establish the security of these protocols against the class of collective attacks that induce a linear quantum channel. In particular, all Gaussian attacks are taken into account, as well as linear attacks which add a non-Gaussian noise. We give lower bounds for the secret key rate using extremality properties of Gaussian states.
We investigate the asymptotic security of one-way continuous variable quantum key distribution against Gaussian two-mode coherent attacks. The one-way protocol is implemented by arranging the channel uses in two-mode blocks. By applying symmetric random permutations over these blocks, the security analysis is in fact reduced to study two-mode coherent attacks and, in particular, Gaussian ones, due to the extremality of Gaussian states. We explicitly show that the use of two-mode Gaussian correlations by an eavesdropper leads to asymptotic secret key rates which are strictly larger than the rat…
Quantum information leverages properties of quantum behaviors in order to perform useful tasks such as secure communication and randomness certification. Nevertheless, not much is known about the intricate geometric features of the set quantum behaviors. In this paper we study the structure of the set of quantum correlators using semidefinite programming. Our main results are (i) a generalization of the analytic description by Tsirelson-Landau-Masanes, (ii) necessary and sufficient conditions for extremality and exposedness, and (iii) an operational interpretation of extremality in the case of…
The extremality of Gaussian states is exploited to show that Gaussian states are the most robust, among all possible bipartite continuous-variable states at fixed energy, against disentanglement due to noisy evolutions in Markovian Gaussian channels involving dissipation and thermal hopping. This proves a conjecture raised recently in [M. Allegra, P. Giorda, and M. G. A. Paris, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 105}, 100503 (2010)], providing a rigorous validation of the conclusions of that work. The problem of identifying continuous variable states with maximum resilience to entanglement damping in more …
We consider how to quantify non-Gaussianity for the correlation of a bipartite quantum state by using various measures such as relative entropy and geometric distances. We first show that an intuitive approach, i.e., subtracting the correlation of a reference Gaussian state from that of a target non-Gaussian state, fails to yield a non-negative measure with monotonicity under local Gaussian channels. Our finding clearly manifests that quantum-state correlations generally have no Gaussian extremality. We therefore propose a different approach by introducing relevantly averaged states to address…
We show using simple arguments, that the conceptual triad of a {\it classical} black hole, semi-classical Hawking emission and geometry quantization is inherently, mutually incompatible. Presence of any two explicitly violates the third. We argue that geometry quantization, if realized in nature, magnifies the quantum gravity features hugely to catapult them into the realm of observational possibilities. We also explore a quantum route towards extremality of the black holes.
A major roadblock for large-scale photonic quantum technologies is the lack of practical reliable certification tools. We introduce an experimentally friendly - yet mathematically rigorous - certification test for experimental preparations of arbitrary m-mode pure Gaussian states, pure non-Gaussian states generated by linear-optical circuits with n-boson Fock-basis states as inputs, and states of these two classes subsequently post-selected with local measurements on ancillary modes. The protocol is efficient in m and the inverse post-selection success probability for all Gaussian states and a…
Operator-sum or Kraus representations for single-mode Bosonic Gaussian channels are developed, and several of their consequences explored. Kraus operators are employed to bring out the manner in which the unphysical matrix transposition map when accompanied by injection of a threshold classical noise becomes a physical channel. The action of the quantum-limited attenuator and amplifier channels as simply scaling maps on suitable quasi-probabilities in phase space is examined in the Kraus picture. Consideration of cumulants is used to examine the issue of fixed points. In the cases of entanglem…
We address the quantification of non-Gaussianity of states and operations in continuous-variable systems and its use in quantum information. We start by illustrating in details the properties and the relationships of two recently proposed measures of non-Gaussianity based on the Hilbert-Schmidt (HS) distance and the quantum relative entropy (QRE) between the state under examination and a reference Gaussian state. We then evaluate the non-Gaussianities of several families of non-Gaussian quantum states and show that the two measures have the same basic properties and also share the same qualita…
We determine the maximum squashed entanglement achievable between sender and receiver of the noiseless quantum Gaussian attenuators and amplifiers and we prove that it is achieved sending half of an infinitely squeezed two-mode vacuum state. The key ingredient of the proof is a lower bound to the squashed entanglement of the quantum Gaussian states obtained applying a two-mode squeezing operation to a quantum thermal Gaussian state tensored with the vacuum state. This is the first lower bound to the squashed entanglement of a quantum Gaussian state and opens the way to determine the squashed e…
In this paper we prove two results related to the Gaussian optimizers conjecture for multimode bosonic system with gauge symmetry. First, we argue that the classical capacity of a Gaussian observable is attained on a Gaussian ensemble of coherent states. This generalizes results previously known for heterodyne measurement in one mode. By using this fact and continuous variable version of ensemble-observable duality, we prove an old conjecture that accessible information of a Gaussian ensemble is attained on the multimode generalization of the heterodyne measurement.
In this lecture we present a brief outline of boson Fock space stochastic calculus based on the creation, conservation and annihilation operators of free field theory, as given in the 1984 paper of Hudson and Parthasarathy. We show how a part of this architecture yields Gaussian fields stationary under a group action. Then we introduce the notion of semigroups of quasifree completely positive maps on the algebra of all bounded operators in the boson Fock space $Γ(\mathbb{C}^n)$ over $\mathbb{C}^n.$ These semigroups are not strongly continuous but their preduals map Gaussian states to Gaussian …
We determine the p->q norms of the Gaussian one-mode quantum-limited attenuator and amplifier and prove that they are achieved by Gaussian states, extending to noncommutative probability the seminal theorem "Gaussian kernels have only Gaussian maximizers" (Lieb in Invent Math 102(1):179-208, 1990). The quantum-limited attenuator and amplifier are the building blocks of quantum Gaussian channels, which play a key role in quantum communication theory since they model in the quantum regime the attenuation and the noise affecting any electromagnetic signal. Our result is crucial to prove the longs…
Quantum Gaussian states on Bosonic Fock spaces are quantum versions of Gaussian distributions. In this paper, we explore infinite mode quantum Gaussian states. We extend many of the results of Parthasarathy in \cite{Par10} and \cite{Par13} to the infinite mode case, which includes various characterizations, convexity and symmetry properties.
We develop a theory of Gaussian states over general quantum kinematical systems with finitely many degrees of freedom. The underlying phase space is described by a locally compact abelian (LCA) group $G$ with a symplectic structure determined by a 2-cocycle on $G$. We use the concept of Gaussian distributions on LCA groups in the sense of Bernstein to define Gaussian states and completely characterize Gaussian states over 2-regular LCA groups of the form $G= F\times\hat{F}$ endowed with a canonical normalized 2-cocycle. This covers, in particular, the case of $n$-bosonic modes, $n$-qudit syste…
We prove in the multimode scenario a fundamental relation between the Wehrl and the von Neumann entropy, stating that the minimum Wehrl entropy among all the quantum states with a given von Neumann entropy is achieved by thermal Gaussian states. We also prove that thermal Gaussian input states minimize the output von Neumann entropy of multimode quantum Gaussian attenuators, amplifiers and phase-contravariant channels among all the input states diagonal in some product basis and with a given entropy. This result constitutes a major step towards the proof of the same property for generic input …
We introduce a geometric quantification of quantum coherence in single-mode Gaussian states and we investigate the behavior of distance measures as functions of different physical parameters. In the case of squeezed thermal states, we observe that re-quantization yields an effect of noise-enhanced quantum coherence for increasing thermal photon number.
We prove that quantum thermal Gaussian input states minimize the output entropy of the multi-mode quantum Gaussian attenuators and amplifiers that are entanglement breaking and of the multi-mode quantum Gaussian phase contravariant channels among all the input states with a given entropy. This is the first time that this property is proven for a multi-mode channel without restrictions on the input states. A striking consequence of this result is a new lower bound on the output entropy of all the multi-mode quantum Gaussian attenuators and amplifiers in terms of the input entropy. We apply this…
We prove the longstanding conjecture stating that Gaussian thermal input states minimize the output von Neumann entropy of one-mode phase-covariant quantum Gaussian channels among all the input states with a given entropy. Phase-covariant quantum Gaussian channels model the attenuation and the noise that affect any electromagnetic signal in the quantum regime. Our result is crucial to prove the converse theorems for both the triple trade-off region and the capacity region for broadcast communication of the Gaussian quantum-limited amplifier. Our result extends to the quantum regime the Entropy…
We show that every Gaussian mixed quantum state can be disentangled by conjugation with a metaplectic operator associated with a symplectic rotation. The main tools we use are the Werner-Wolf condition on covariance matrices and the symplectic covariance of Weyl quantization.
We survey the state of the art for the proof of the quantum Gaussian optimizer conjectures of quantum information theory. These fundamental conjectures state that quantum Gaussian input states are the solution to several optimization problems involving quantum Gaussian channels. These problems are the quantum counterpart of three fundamental results of functional analysis and probability: the Entropy Power Inequality, the sharp Young's inequality for convolutions, and the theorem "Gaussian kernels have only Gaussian maximizers." Quantum Gaussian channels play a key role in quantum communicatio…
We develop a general framework to assess capabilities and limitations of the Gaussian toolbox in continuous variable quantum information theory. Our framework allows us to characterize the structure and properties of quantum resource theories specialized to Gaussian states and Gaussian operations, establishing rigorous methods for their description and yielding a unified approach to their quantification. We show in particular that, under a few intuitive and physically motivated assumptions on the set of free states, no Gaussian quantum resource can be distilled with free Gaussian operations, e…
Quantum Non-Gaussian states are considered as a useful resource for many tasks in quantum information processing, from quantum metrology and quantum sensing to quantum communication and quantum key distribution. Another useful tool that is growing attention is the newly constructed quantum switch. Its applications in many tasks in quantum information have been proved to be outperforming many existing schemes in quantum communication and quantum thermometry. In this contribution, we are addressing this later to be very useful to engineer highly non-Gaussian states from Gaussian operations whose…
Even though Gaussian quantum states of multimode light are promising quantum resources due to their scalability, non-Gaussianity is indispensable for quantum technologies, in particular to reach quantum computational advantage. However, embodying non-Gaussianity in a multimode Gaussian state remains a challenge as controllable non-Gaussian operations are hard to implement in a multimode scenario. Here, we report the first generation of non-Gaussian quantum states of a multimode light field by subtracting a photon in a desired mode from multimode Gaussian states, and observe negativity of the W…
In this paper, we give a simple proof of the fact that the optimal collective attacks against continous-variable quantum key distribution with a Gaussian modulation are Gaussian attacks. Our proof makes use of symmetry properties of the quantum key distribution protocol in phase-space.
Quantum optical Gaussian states are a type of important robust quantum states which are manipulatable by the existing technologies. So far, most of the important quantum information experiments are done with such states, including bright Gaussian light and weak Gaussian light. Extending the existing results of quantum information with discrete quantum states to the case of continuous variable quantum states is an interesting theoretical job. The quantum Gaussian states play a central role in such a case. We review the properties and applications of Gaussian states in quantum information with e…
Coherence is a basic notion for quantum states. Instead of quantum states, in this work, We establish a resource theory for quantifying the coherence of Gaussian channels. To do this, we propose the definitions of incoherent Gaussian channels and incoherent Gaussian superchannels.
In recent years the paradigm based on entanglement as the unique measure of quantum correlations has been challenged by the rise of new correlation concepts, such as quantum discord, able to reveal quantum correlations that are present in separable states. It is in general difficult to compute quantum discord, because it involves a minimization over all possible local measurements in a bipartition. In the realm of continuous variable (CV) systems, a Gaussian version of quantum discord has been put forward upon restricting to Gaussian measurements. It is natural to ask whether non-Gaussian meas…
In this paper, we theoretically prove that the Gaussian quantum discord state of optical field can be used to complete continuous variable (CV) quantum key distribution (QKD). The calculation shows that secret key can be distilled with a Gaussian quantum discord state against entangling cloner attack. Secret key rate is increased with the increasing of quantum discord for CV QKD with the Gaussian quantum discord state. Although the calculated results point out that secret key rate using the Gaussian quantum discord state is lower than that using squeezed state and coherent state at the same en…
We characterise Gaussian quantum channels that are Gaussian incompatibility breaking, that is, transform every set of Gaussian measurements into a set obtainable from a joint Gaussian observable via Gaussian postprocessing. Such channels represent local noise which renders measurements useless for Gaussian EPR-steering, providing the appropriate generalisation of entanglement breaking channels for this scenario. Understanding the structure of Gaussian incompatibility breaking channels contributes to the resource theory of noisy continuous variable quantum information protocols.
We consider Gaussian quantum circuits supplemented with non-Gaussian input states and derive sufficient conditions for efficient classical strong simulation of these circuits. In particular, we generalise the stellar representation of continuous-variable quantum states to the multimode setting and relate the stellar rank of the input non-Gaussian states, a recently introduced measure of non-Gaussianity, to the cost of evaluating classically the output probability densities of these circuits. Our results have consequences for the strong simulability of a large class of near-term continuous-vari…
We report a scheme for deterministic preparation of non-Gaussian quantum states on-demand. In contrast to probabilistic approaches for preparation of non-Gaussian quantum states, conditioned on photon subtraction or addition, we present a scheme that can prepare non-Gaussian quantum states on-demand, by applying a unitary transformation which removes the Gaussianity of measurement statistics of field quadratures, namely a quadrature rotation via transmission through a beam-splitter, using a two-mode photon-number squeezed state as input. The resulting state exhibits a quantum vortex structure …
Besides quantum entanglement and steering, quantum coherence has also been identified as a useful quantum resource in quantum information. It is important to investigate the evolution of quantum coherence in practical quantum channels. In this paper, we experimentally quantify the quantum coherence of a squeezed state and a Gaussian Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) entangled state transmitted in Gaussian thermal noise channel, respectively. By reconstructing the covariance matrix of the transmitted states, quantum coherence of these Gaussian states is quantified by calculating the relative entrop…
The Gaussian states are essential ingredients in many tasks of quantum information processing. The presence of the noises imposes limitations on achieving these quantum protocols. Therefore, examining the evolution of quantum entanglement and quantum correlations under the coherence of Gaussian states in noisy channels is of paramount importance. In this paper, we propose and analyze a scheme that aims to specify and examine the dynamic evolution of the quantum correlations in two-modes Gaussian states submitted to the influence of the Gaussian thermal environment. We describe the time evoluti…
For a quantum channel with additive Gaussian quantum noise, at the large input energy side, we prove that the one shot capacity is achieved by the thermal noise state for all Gaussian state inputs, it is also true for non-Gaussian input in the sense of first order perturbation. For a general case of $n$ copies input, we show that up to first order perturbation, any non-Gaussian perturbation to the product thermal state input has a less quantum information transmission rate when the input energy tend to infinitive.
We introduce a measure of quantum non-Gaussianity (QNG) for those quantum states not accessible by a mixture of Gaussian states in terms of quantum relative entropy. Specifically, we employ a convex-roof extension using all possible mixed-state decompositions beyond the usual pure-state decompositions. We prove that this approach brings a QNG measure fulfilling the properties desired as a proper monotone under Gaussian channels and conditional Gaussian operations. As an illustration, we explicitly calculate QNG for the noisy single-photon states and demonstrate that QNG coincides with non-Gaus…
We propose a non-Gaussianity measure of a multimode quantum state based on the negentropy of quadrature distributions. Our measure satisfies desirable properties as a non-Gaussianity measure, i.e., faithfulness, invariance under Gaussian unitary operations, and monotonicity under Gaussian channels. Furthermore, we find a quantitative relation between our measure and the previously proposed non-Gaussianity measures defined via quantum relative entropy and the quantum Hilbert-Schmidt distance. This allows us to estimate the non-Gaussianity measures readily by homodyne detection, which would othe…
It is proven that Gaussian operations are of no use for protecting Gaussian states against Gaussian errors in quantum communication protocols. Specifically, we introduce a new quantity characterizing any single-mode Gaussian channel, called entanglement degradation, and show that it cannot decrease via Gaussian encoding and decoding operations only. The strength of this no-go theorem is illustrated with some examples of Gaussian channels.
A classification of one-mode Gaussian channels is given up to canonical unitary equivalence. A complementary to the quantum channel with additive classical Gaussian noise is described providing an example of one-mode Gaussian channel which is neither degradable nor anti-degradable.
The non-Gaussian operation can be used not only to enhance and distill the entanglement between Gaussian entangled states, but also to improve quantum communications. In this paper, we propose an non-Gaussian continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) by using quantum catalysis (QC), which is an intriguing non-Gaussian operation in essence that can be implemented with current technologies. We perform quantum catalysis on both ends of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) pair prepared by a sender, Alice, and find that for the single-photon QC-CVQKD, the bilateral symmetrical quantum cata…
For a quantum channel of additive Gaussian noise with loss, in the general case of $n$ copies input, we show that up to first order perturbation, any non-Gaussian perturbation to the product thermal state input has a less quantum information transmission rate when the input energy tend to infinitive.
Gaussian states have played on important role in the physics of continuous-variable quantum systems. They are appealing for the experimental ease with which they can be produced, and for their compact and elegant mathematical description. Nevertheless, many proposed quantum technologies require us to go beyond the realm of Gaussian states and introduce non-Gaussian elements. In this Tutorial, we provide a roadmap for the physics of non-Gaussian quantum states. We introduce the phase-space representations as a framework to describe the different properties of quantum states in continuous-variab…
We evaluate a Gaussian distance-type degree of nonclassicality for a single-mode Gaussian state of the quantum radiation field by use of the recently discovered quantum Chernoff bound. The general properties of the quantum Chernoff overlap and its relation to the Uhlmann fidelity are interestingly illustrated by our approach.
We cast the problem of illuminating an object in a noisy environment into a communication protocol. A probe is sent into the environment, and the presence or absence of the object constitutes a signal encoded on the probe. The probe is then measured to decode the signal. We calculate the Holevo information and bounds to the accessible information between the encoded and received signal with two different Gaussian probes---an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) state and a coherent state. We also evaluate the Gaussian discord consumed during the encoding process with the EPR probe. We find that the H…
Quantum steering---a strong correlation to be verified even when one party or its measuring device is fully untrusted---not only provides a profound insight into quantum physics but also offers a crucial basis for practical applications. For continuous-variable (CV) systems, Gaussian states among others have been extensively studied, however, mostly confined to Gaussian measurements. While the fulfillment of Gaussian criterion is sufficient to detect CV steering, whether it is also necessary for Gaussian states is a question of fundamental importance in many contexts. This critically questions…
We address the issue of quantifying the non-Gaussian character of a bosonic quantum state and introduce a non-Gaussianity measure based on the Hilbert-Schmidt distance between the state under examination and a reference Gaussian state. We analyze in details the properties of the proposed measure and exploit it to evaluate the non-Gaussianity of some relevant single- and multi-mode quantum states. The evolution of non-Gaussianity is also analyzed for quantum states undergoing the processes of Gaussification by loss and de-Gaussification by photon-subtraction. The suggested measure is easily com…
