There has been much interest in so-called SIC-POVMs: rank 1 symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures. In this paper we discuss the larger class of POVMs which are symmetric and informationally complete but not necessarily rank 1. This class of POVMs is of some independent interest. In particular it includes a POVM which is closely related to the discrete Wigner function. However, it is interesting mainly because of the light it casts on the problem of constructing rank 1 symmetric informationally complete POVMs. In this connection we derive an extremal condition alternative to the one derived by Renes et al.
We propose entanglement criteria for multipartite systems via symmetric informationally complete (SIC) measurement and general symmetric informationally complete (GSIC) measurement. We apply these criteria to detect entanglement of multipartite states, such as the convex of Bell states, entangled states mixed with white noise. It is shown that these criteria are stronger than some existing ones.
A broad class of informationally complete symmetric measurements is introduced. It can be understood as a common generalization of symmetric, informationally complete POVMs and mutually unbiased bases. Additionally, it provides a natural way to define two new families of mutually unbiased symmetric measurement operators in any finite dimension. We show a general method of their construction, together with an example of an optimal measurement. Finally, we analyze the properties of symmetric measurements and provide applications in entropic relations and entanglement detection.
We study the quantum separability problem by using general symmetric informationally complete measurements and present a separability criterion for arbitrary dimensional bipartite systems. We show by detailed examples that our criterion is more powerful than the existing ones in entanglement detection.
We study entanglement witness and present a construction of entanglement witnesses in terms of the symmetric informationally complete measurements (SIC-POVM). The capability of our witness is shown by some examples and it can be found this witness detects more entanglement than previous separability method given also by SIC-POVM. What's more, comparing with the dimension dependence of SIC-POVM, we also give the entanglement witnesses can be always constructed from general symmetric informationally complete measurements (GSIC-POVM).
This short note reviews the notion and fundamental properties of SIC-POVM and its connection with the length of separable states. We also review the t-design.
We show that a special type of measurements, called symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures (SIC POVMs), provide a stronger entanglement detection criterion than the computable cross-norm or realignment criterion based on local orthogonal observables. As an illustration, we demonstrate the enhanced entanglement detection power in simple systems of qubit and qutrit pairs. This observation highlights the significance of SIC POVMs for entanglement detection.
The Lüders rule provides a way to define a quantum channel given a quantum measurement. Using this construction, we establish an if-and-only-if condition for the existence of a $d$-dimensional Symmetric Informationally Complete quantum measurement (a SIC) in terms of a particular depolarizing channel. Moreover, the channel in question satisfies two entropic optimality criteria.
We examine the geometric structure of qutrit state space by identifying the outcome probabilities of symmetric informationally complete (SIC) measurements with quantum states. We categorize the infinitely many qutrit SICs into eight SIC families corresponding to independent orbits of the extended Clifford group. Every SIC can be uniquely identified from a set of geometric invariants that we use to establish several properties of the convex body of qutrits, which include a simple formula describing its extreme points, an expression for the rotation between the probability vectors for distinct q…
A quantum measurement is Fisher symmetric if it provides uniform and maximal information on all parameters that characterize the quantum state of interest. Using (complex projective) 2-designs, we construct measurements on a pair of identically prepared quantum states that are Fisher symmetric for all pure states. Such measurements are optimal in achieving the minimal statistical error without adaptive measurements. We then determine all collective measurements on a pair that are Fisher symmetric for the completely mixed state and for all pure states simultaneously. For a qubit, these measurem…
A general symmetric-informationally-complete (GSIC)-positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) is known to provide an optimal quantum state tomography among minimal IC POVMs with a fixed average purity. In this paper we provide a general construction of a GSIC POVM by means of a complete orthogonal basis (COB), also interpreted as a normal quasiprobability representation. A spectral property of a COB is shown to play a key role in the construction of SIC POVMs and also for the bound of the mean-square error of the state tomography. In particular, a necessary and sufficient condition to construct …
Mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) and symmetric informationally complete projectors (SICs) are crucial to many conceptual and practical aspects of quantum theory. Here, we develop their role in quantum nonlocality by: i) introducing families of Bell inequalities that are maximally violated by $d$-dimensional MUBs and SICs respectively, ii) proving device-independent certification of natural operational notions of MUBs and SICs, and iii) using MUBs and SICs to develop optimal-rate and nearly optimal-rate protocols for device independent quantum key distribution and device-independent quantum rando…
We introduce a class of informationally complete positive-operator-valued measures which are, in analogy with a tight frame, "as close as possible" to orthonormal bases for the space of quantum states. These measures are distinguished by an exceptionally simple state-reconstruction formula which allows "painless" quantum state tomography. Complete sets of mutually unbiased bases and symmetric informationally complete positive-operator-valued measures are both members of this class, the latter being the unique minimal rank-one members. Recast as ensembles of pure quantum states, the rank-one me…
Bell state measurement (BSM) plays crucial roles in photonic quantum information processing. The standard linear optical BSM is based on Hong-Ou-Mandel interference where two photons meet and interfere at a beamsplitter (BS). However, a generalized two-photon interference is not based on photon-photon interaction, but interference between two-photon probability amplitudes. Therefore, it might be possible to implement BSM without interfering photons at a BS. Here, we investigate a linear optical BSM scheme which does not require two photon overlapping at a BS. By unleashing the two photon coexi…
Generalized symmetric informationally complete (SIC) measurements are SIC measurements that are not necessarily rank one. They are interesting originally because of their connection with rank-one SICs. Here we reveal several merits of generalized SICs in connection with quantum state tomography and Lie algebra that are interesting in their own right. These properties uniquely characterize generalized SICs among minimal IC measurements although, on the face of it, they bear little resemblance to the original definition. In particular, we show that in quantum state tomography generalized SICs ar…
We introduce a new kind of quantum measurement that is defined to be symmetric in the sense of uniform Fisher information across a set of parameters that injectively represent pure quantum states in the neighborhood of a fiducial pure state. The measurement is locally informationally complete---i.e., it uniquely determines these parameters, as opposed to distinguishing two arbitrary quantum states---and it is maximal in the sense of a multi-parameter quantum Cramer-Rao bound. For a $d$-dimensional quantum system, requiring only local informational completeness allows us to reduce the number of…
Since Renes et al. [J. Math. Phys. 45, 2171 (2004)], there has been much effort in the quantum information community to prove (or disprove) the existence of symmetric informationally complete (SIC) sets of quantum states in arbitrary finite dimension. This paper strengthens the urgency of this question by showing that if SIC-sets exist: 1) by a natural measure of orthonormality, they are as close to being an orthonormal basis for the space of density operators as possible, and 2) in prime dimensions, the standard construction for complete sets of mutually unbiased bases and Weyl-Heisenberg cov…
Symmetric informationally complete measurements (SICs) are elegant, celebrated and broadly useful discrete structures in Hilbert space. We introduce a more sophisticated discrete structure compounded by several SICs. A SIC-compound is defined to be a collection of $d^3$ vectors in $d$-dimensional Hilbert space that can be partitioned in two different ways: into $d$ SICs and into $d^2$ orthonormal bases. While a priori their existence may appear unlikely when $d>2$, we surprisingly answer it in the positive through an explicit construction for $d=4$. Remarkably this SIC-compound admits a close …
It is crucial for various quantum information processing tasks that the state of a quantum system can be determined reliably and efficiently from general quantum measurements. One important class of measurements for this purpose is symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measurements (SIC-POVMs). SIC-POVMs have the advantage of providing an unbiased estimator for the quantum state with the minimal number of outcomes needed for full tomography. By virtue of Naimark's dilation theorem, any POVM can always be realized with a suitable coupling between the system and an auxiliar…
We consider measurements, described by a positive-operator-valued measure (POVM), whose outcome probabilities determine an arbitrary pure state of a D-dimensional quantum system. We call such a measurement a pure-state informationally complete (PSI-complete) POVM. We show that a measurement with 2D-1 outcomes cannot be PSI-complete, and then we construct a POVM with 2D outcomes that suffices, thus showing that a minimal PSI-complete POVM has 2D outcomes. We also consider PSI-complete POVMs that have only rank-one POVM elements and construct an example with 3D-2 outcomes, which is a generalizat…
C. A. Fuchs and M. Sasaki defined the quantumness of a set of quantum states in \cite{Quantumness}, which is closely related to the fidelity loss in transmission of the quantum states through a classical channel. In \cite{Fuchs}, Fuchs showed that in $d$-dimensional Hilbert space, minimum quantumness is $\frac{2}{d+1}$, and this can be achieved by all rays in the space. He left an open problem, asking whether fewer than $d^2$ states can achieve this bound. Recently, in a different context, A. J. Scott introduced a concept of generalized $t$-design in \cite{GenSphet}, which is a natural general…
In the four-dimensional Hilbert space, there exist 16 Heisenberg--Weyl (HW) covariant symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures (SIC~POVMs) consisting of 256 fiducial states on a single orbit of the Clifford group. We explore the structure of these SIC~POVMs by studying the symmetry transformations within a given SIC~POVM and among different SIC~POVMs. Furthermore, we find 16 additional SIC~POVMs by a regrouping of the 256 fiducial states, and show that they are unitarily equivalent to the original 16 SIC~POVMs by establishing an explicit unitary transformation. We t…
I construct a POVM which has 2d rank-one elements and which is informationally complete for generic pure states in d dimensions, thus confirming a conjecture made by Flammia, Silberfarb, and Caves (quant-ph/0404137). I show that if a rank-one POVM is required to be informationally complete for all pure states in d dimensions, it must have at least 3d-2 elements. I also show that, in a POVM which is informationally complete for all pure states in d dimensions, for any vector there must be at least 2d-1 POVM elements which do not annihilate that vector.
We consider the existence in arbitrary finite dimensions d of a POVM comprised of d^2 rank-one operators all of whose operator inner products are equal. Such a set is called a ``symmetric, informationally complete'' POVM (SIC-POVM) and is equivalent to a set of d^2 equiangular lines in C^d. SIC-POVMs are relevant for quantum state tomography, quantum cryptography, and foundational issues in quantum mechanics. We construct SIC-POVMs in dimensions two, three, and four. We further conjecture that a particular kind of group-covariant SIC-POVM exists in arbitrary dimensions, providing numerical res…
We construct the set of all general (i.e. not necessarily rank 1) symmetric informationally complete (SIC) positive operator valued measures (POVMs). In particular, we show that any orthonormal basis of a real vector space of dimension d^2-1 corresponds to some general SIC POVM and vice versa. Our constructed set of all general SIC-POVMs contains weak SIC-POVMs for which each POVM element can be made arbitrarily close to a multiple times the identity. On the other hand, it remains open if for all finite dimensions our constructed family contains a rank 1 SIC-POVM.
Detecting $k$-nonstretchability via a class of informationally complete symmetric measurements
Hebei GEO University（河北地质大学）；Intelligent Sensor Network Engineering Research Center of Hebei Province, Hebei GEO University（河北省智能传感网络工程研究中心）；Hengshui University（衡水学院）
Wigner functions provide a way to do quantum physics using quasiprobabilities, that is, "probability" distributions that can go negative. Informationally complete POVMs, a much younger subject than phase space formulations of quantum mechanics, are less familiar but provide wholly probabilistic representations of quantum theory. In this paper, we show that the Born Rule links these two classes of structure and discuss the art of interconverting between them. In particular, we demonstrate that the operator bases corresponding to minimal discrete Wigner functions (Wigner bases) are orthogonaliza…
Symmetric informationally complete measurements (SICs in short) are highly symmetric structures in the Hilbert space. They possess many nice properties which render them an ideal candidate for fiducial measurements. The symmetry of SICs is intimately connected with the geometry of the quantum state space and also has profound implications for foundational studies. Here we explore those SICs that are most symmetric according to a natural criterion and show that all of them are covariant with respect to the Heisenberg-Weyl groups, which are characterized by the discrete analogy of the canonical …
Recently, several intriguing conjectures have been proposed connecting symmetric informationally complete quantum measurements (SIC POVMs, or SICs) and algebraic number theory. These conjectures relate the SICs and their minimal defining algebraic number field. Testing or sharpening these conjectures requires that the SICs are expressed exactly, rather than as numerical approximations. While many exact solutions of SICs have been constructed previously using Gröbner bases, this method has probably been taken as far as is possible with current computer technology (except in special cases where …
What is the minimal number of elements in a rank-1 positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) which can uniquely determine any pure state in $d$-dimensional Hilbert space $\mathcal{H}_d$? The known result is that the number is no less than $3d-2$. We show that this lower bound is not tight except for $d=2$ or 4. Then we give an upper bound of $4d-3$. For $d=2$, many rank-1 POVMs with four elements can determine any pure states in $\mathcal{H}_2$. For $d=3$, we show eight is the minimal number by construction. For $d=4$, the minimal number is in the set of $\{10,11,12,13\}$. We show that if this n…
Examples of symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures (SIC-POVMs) have been constructed in every dimension less than or equal to 67. However, it remains an open question whether they exist in all finite dimensions. A SIC-POVM is usually thought of as a highly symmetric structure in quantum state space. However, its elements can equally well be regarded as a basis for the Lie algebra gl(d,C). In this paper we examine the resulting structure constants, which are calculated from the traces of the triple products of the SIC-POVM elements and which, it turns out, characte…
Symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures (SIC-POVMs) are studied within the framework of the probability representation of quantum mechanics. A SIC-POVM is shown to be a special case of the probability representation. The problem of SIC-POVM existence is formulated in terms of symbols of operators associated with a star-product quantization scheme. We show that SIC-POVMs (if they do exist) must obey general rules of the star product, and, starting from this fact, we derive new relations on SIC-projectors. The case of qubits is considered in detail, in particular, th…
Mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) and symmetric informationally complete (SIC) positive operator-valued measurements (POVMs) are two related topics in quantum information theory. They are generalized to mutually unbiased measurements (MUMs) and general symmetric informationally complete (GSIC) measurements, respectively, that are both not necessarily rank 1. We study the quantum separability problem by using these measurements and present separability criteria for bipartite systems with arbitrary dimensions and multipartite systems of multi-level subsystems. These criteria are proved to be more e…
Recently introduced shadow tomography protocols use classical shadows of quantum states to predict many target functions of an unknown quantum state. Unlike full quantum state tomography, shadow tomography does not insist on accurate recovery of the density matrix for high rank mixed states. Yet, such a protocol makes multiple accurate predictions with high confidence, based on a moderate number of quantum measurements. One particular influential algorithm, proposed by Huang, Kueng, and Preskill arXiv:2002.08953, requires additional circuits for performing certain random unitary transformation…
In the present work, we suggest an approach for describing dynamics of finite-dimensional quantum systems in terms of pseudostochastic maps acting on probability distributions, which are obtained via minimal informationally complete quantum measurements. The suggested method for probability representation of quantum dynamics preserves the tensor product structure, which makes it favourable for the analysis of multi-qubit systems. A key advantage of the suggested approach is that minimal informationally complete positive operator-valued measures (MIC-POVMs) are easier to construct in comparison…
The geometry of the Quantum State Space, described by Bloch vectors, is a very intricate one. A deeper understanding of this geometry could lead to the solution of some difficult problems in Quantum Foundations and Quantum Information such as the existence of SIC-POVMs and the cardinality of the maximal set of MUBs. In this paper we show that the geometry of quantum states can be described by the probability distributions that quantum states induce over the outcomes of symmetric POVMs not necessarily of arbitrary rank or informationally complete. We also describe the properties of these symmet…
Starting from a simple estimation problem, here we propose a general approach for decoding quantum measurements from the perspective of information extraction. By virtue of the estimation fidelity only, we provide surprisingly simple characterizations of rank-1 projective measurements, mutually unbiased measurements, and symmetric informationally complete measurements. Notably, our conclusions do not rely on any assumption on the rank, purity, or the number of measurement outcomes, and we do not need bases to start with. Our work demonstrates that all these elementary quantum measurements are …
Minimal Informationally Complete quantum measurements, or MICs, illuminate the structure of quantum theory and how it departs from the classical. Central to this capacity is their role as tomographically complete measurements with the fewest possible number of outcomes for a given finite dimension. Despite their advantages, little is known about them. We establish general properties of MICs, explore constructions of several classes of them, and make some developments to the theory of MIC Gram matrices. These Gram matrices turn out to be a rich subject of inquiry, relating linear algebra, numbe…
Every quantum state can be represented as a probability distribution over the outcomes of an informationally complete measurement. But not all probability distributions correspond to quantum states. Quantum state space may thus be thought of as a restricted subset of all potentially available probabilities. A recent publication [1] advocates such a representation using symmetric informationally complete (SIC) measurements. Building upon this work we study how this subset--quantum-state space--might be characterized. Our leading characteristic is that the inner products of the probabilities are…
We introduce and study the entanglement breaking rank of an entanglement breaking channel. We show that the entanglement breaking rank of the channel $\mathfrak Z: M_d \to M_d$ defined by \begin{align*} \mathfrak Z(X) = \frac{1}{d+1}(X+\text{Tr}(X)\mathbb I_d) \end{align*} is $d^2$ if and only if there exists a symmetric informationally-complete POVM in dimension $d$.
We propose an experiment that realizes a symmetric informationally complete (SIC) probability-operator measurement (POM) in the four-dimensional Hilbert space of a qubit pair. The qubit pair is carried by a single photon as a polarization qubit and a path qubit. The implementation of the SIC POM is accomplished with the means of linear optics. The experimental scheme exploits a new approach to SIC POMs that uses a two-step process: a measurement with full-rank outcomes, followed by a projective measurement on a basis that is chosen in accordance with the result of the first measurement. The ba…
We consider the problem of quantum-state tomography under the assumption that the state is pure, and more generally that its rank is bounded by a given value. In this scenario, new notions of informationally complete POVMs emerge, which allow for high-fidelity state estimation with fewer measurement outcomes than are required for an arbitrary rank state. We study this in the context of matrix completion, where the POVM outcomes determine only a few of the density matrix elements. We give an analytic solution that fully characterizes informational completeness and elucidates the important role …
We investigate the average coherence with respect to a complete set of complementary measurements. By using a Wigner-Yanase skew information-based coherence measure introduced in [Phys. Rev. A \textbf{96}, 022130, 2017], we evaluate the average coherence of a state with respect to any complete set of mutually unbiased measurements and general symmetric informationally complete measurements, respectively. We also establish analytically the relations among these average coherences.
A complete set of mutually unbiased bases for a Hilbert space of dimension N is analogous in some respects to a certain finite geometric structure, namely, an affine plane. Another kind of quantum measurement, known as a symmetric informationally complete positive-operator-valued measure, is, remarkably, also analogous to an affine plane, but with the roles of points and lines interchanged. In this paper I present these analogies and ask whether they shed any light on the existence or non-existence of such symmetric quantum measurements for a general quantum system with a finite-dimensional st…
We describe a connection between entanglement and designs. It involves the conical 2-designs introduced in a previous paper. These are a generalization of projective 2-designs which includes full sets of arbitrary rank mutually unbiased measurements (MUMs) and arbitrary rank symmetric informationally complete measurements (SIMs), as well as the more familiar MUBs and SICs. We show that a POVM is a conical 2-design if and only if there exists what we call a regular entanglement monotone whose restriction to the pure states is a function of the norm of the probability vector. In that case the co…
We consider the problem of quantum-state tomography under the assumption that the state is pure, and more generally that its rank is bounded by a given value $r$. In this scenario two notions of informationally complete measurements emerge: rank-$r$ complete measurements and rank-$r$ strictly-complete measurements. Whereas in the first notion, a rank-$r$ state is uniquely identified from within the set of rank-$r$ states, in the second notion the same state is uniquely identified from within the set of all physical states, of any rank. We argue, therefore, that strictly-complete measurements a…
We consider the implementation of a symmetric informationally complete probability-operator measurement (SIC POM) in the Hilbert space of a d-level system by a two-step measurement process: a diagonal-operator measurement with high-rank outcomes, followed by a rank-1 measurement in a basis chosen in accordance with the result of the first measurement. We find that any Heisenberg-Weyl group-covariant SIC POM can be realized by such a sequence where the second measurement is simply a measurement in the Fourier basis, independent of the result of the first measurement. Furthermore, at least for t…
