We report on a search for mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) in 6 dimensions. We find only triplets of MUBs, and thus do not come close to the theoretical upper bound 7. However, we point out that the natural habitat for sets of MUBs is the set of all complex Hadamard matrices of the given order, and we introduce a natural notion of distance between bases in Hilbert space. This allows us to draw a detailed map of where in the landscape the MUB triplets are situated. We use available tools, such as the theory of the discrete Fourier transform, to organise our results. Finally we present some evidence for the conjecture that there exists a four dimensional family of complex Hadamard matrices of order 6. If this conjecture is true the landscape in which one may search for MUBs is much larger than previously thought.
A new type of complex Hadamard matrices of order 9 are constructed. The studied matrices are symmetric, block circulant with circulant blocks ($BCCB$) and form an until now unknown non-reducible and non-affine two-parameter orbit. Several suborbits are identified, including a one-parameter intersection with the Fourier orbit $F_{9}^{(4)}$. The defect of this new type of Hadamard matrices is observed to vary, from a generic value 2 to the anomalous values 4 and 10 for some sub-orbits, and to 12 and 16 for some single matrices. The latter matrices are shown to be related to complete sets of MUBs…
Constructing four six-dimensional mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) is an open problem in quantum physics and measurement. We investigate the existence of four MUBs including the identity, and a complex Hadamard matrix (CHM) of Schmidt rank three. The CHM is equivalent to a controlled unitary operation on the qubit-qutrit system via local unitary transformation $I_2\otimes V$ and $I_2\otimes W$. We show that $V$ and $W$ have no zero entry, and apply it to exclude examples as members of MUBs. We further show that the maximum of entangling power of controlled unitary operation is $\log_2 3$ ebits. …
We provide a partial solution to the problem of constructing mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) and symmetric informationally complete POVMs (SIC-POVMs) in non-prime-power dimensions. An algebraic description of a SIC-POVM in dimension six is given. Furthermore it is shown that several sets of three mutually unbiased bases in dimension six are maximal, i.e., cannot be extended.
Excluding the existence of four MUBs in $\bbC^6$ is an open problem in quantum information. We investigate the number of product vectors in the set of four mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) in dimension six, by assuming that the set exists and contains a product-vector basis. We show that in most cases the number of product vectors in each of the remaining three MUBs is at most two. We further construct the exceptional case in which the three MUBs respectively contain at most three, two and two product vectors. We also investigate the number of vectors mutually unbiased to an orthonormal basis.
In quantum information, complementarity of quantum mechanical observables plays a key role. If a system resides in an eigenstate of an observable, the probability distribution for the values of a complementary observable is flat. The eigenstates of these two observables form a pair of mutually unbiased bases (MUBs). More generally, a set of MUBs consists of bases that are all pairwise unbiased. Except for specific dimensions of the Hilbert space, the maximal sets of MUBs are unknown in general. Even for a dimension as low as six, the identification of a maximal set of MUBs remains an open prob…
Finding four six-dimensional mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) containing the identity matrix is a long-standing open problem in quantum information. We show that if they exist, then the $H_2$-reducible matrix in the four MUBs has exactly nine $2\times2$ Hadamard submatrices. We apply our result to exclude from the four MUBs some known CHMs, such as symmetric $H_2$-reducible matrix, the Hermitian matrix, Dita family, Bjorck's circulant matrix, and Szollosi family. Our results represent the latest progress on the existence of six-dimensional MUBs.
We offer a piece of evidence that the problems of finding the number of mutually unbiased bases (MUB) and mutually orthogonal Latin squares (MOLS) might not be equivalent. We study a particular procedure which has been shown to relate the two problems and generates complete sets of MUBs in power-of-prime dimensions and three MUBs in dimension six. For these cases, every square from an augmented set of MOLS has a corresponding MUB. We show that this no longer holds for certain composite dimensions.
Mutually unbiased bases correspond to highly useful pairs of measurements in quantum information theory. In the smallest composite dimension, six, it is known that between three and seven mutually unbiased bases exist, with a decades-old conjecture, known as Zauner's conjecture, stating that there exist at most three. Here we tackle Zauner's conjecture numerically through the construction of Bell inequalities for every pair of integers $n,d \ge 2$ that can be maximally violated in dimension $d$ if and only if $n$ MUBs exist in that dimension. Hence we turn Zauner's conjecture into an optimisat…
The density matrix of a qudit may be reconstructed with optimal efficiency if the expectation values of a specific set of observables are known. In dimension six, the required observables only exist if it is possible to identify six mutually unbiased complex 6x6 Hadamard matrices. Prescribing a first Hadamard matrix, we construct all others mutually unbiased to it, using algebraic computations performed by a computer program. We repeat this calculation many times, sampling all known complex Hadamard matrices, and we never find more than two that are mutually unbiased. This result adds consider…
We show that if a set of four mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) in $\mathbb{C}^6$ exists and contains the identity, then any other basis in the set contains at most two product states and at the same time has Schmidt rank at least three. Here both the product states and the Schmidt rank are defined over the bipartite space $\mathbb{C}^2\otimes\mathbb{C}^3$. We also investigate the connection of the Sinkhorn normal form of unitary matrices to the fact that there is at least one vector unbiased to any two orthonormal bases in any dimension.
The complete classification of all 6x6 complex Hadamard matrices is an open problem. The 3-parameter Karlsson family encapsulates all Hadamards that have been parametrised explicitly. We prove that such matrices satisfy a non-trivial constraint conjectured to hold for (almost) all 6x6 Hadamard matrices. Our result imposes additional conditions in the linear programming approach to the mutually unbiased bases problem recently proposed by Matolcsi et al. Unfortunately running the linear programs we were unable to conclude that a complete set of mutually unbiased bases cannot be constructed from …
In this paper we provide a general method to construct four-parameter families of complex Hadamard matrices of order six. Our approach is to write a 6-dimensional matrix as composed of four blocks, each one in the form of a circulant matrix. Use of Sylvester method of inverse orthogonal matrices leads to two constraints on the six parameters, and their fulfilment generates complex Hadamard matrices when the free parameters take values on the unit circle. We hope that the problem of mutually unbiased bases could be solved for six-level systems by using our results.
We study the problem of constructing mutually unbiased bases in dimension six. This approach is based on an efficient numerical method designed to find solutions to the quantum state reconstruction problem in finite dimensions. Our technique suggests the existence of previously unknown symmetries in Karlsson's non-affine family $K_6^{(2)}$ which we confirm analytically. Also, we obtain strong evidence that no more than three mutually unbiased bases can be constructed from pairs which contain members of some non-affine families of complex Hadamard matrices.
We present a new method for constructing affine families of complex Hadamard matrices in every even dimension. This method has an intersection with the Diţă construction and it generalizes the Szöllősi's method. We reproduce well-known results, extend some families and present new families of complex Hadamard matrices in even dimensions. In particular, found more than 13 millon inequivalent affine families of complex Hadamard matrices in dimension 32. We also find analytical restrictions for any set of four mutually unbiased bases existing in dimension six.
All complex Hadamard matrices in dimensions two to five are known. We use this fact to derive all inequivalent sets of mutually unbiased (MU) bases in low dimensions. We find a three-parameter family of triples of MU bases in dimension four and two inequivalent classes of MU triples in dimension five. We confirm that the complete sets of (d+1) MU bases are unique (up to equivalence) in dimensions below six, using only elementary arguments for d less than five.
