arXiv · 2402.17114
Central Charge in Quantum Optics
Abstract
The product of two unitaries can normally be expressed as a single exponential through the famous Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula. We present here a counterexample in quantum optics, by showing that an expression in terms of a single exponential is possible only at the expense of the introduction of a new element (a central extension of the algebra), implying that there will be unitaries, generated by a sequence of gates, that cannot be generated by any time-independent quadratic Hamiltonian. A quantum-optical experiment is proposed that brings to light this phenomenon.
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Daniel Burgarth, Paolo Facchi, Hiromichi Nakazato, Saverio Pascazio, Kazuya Yuasa. 2024-02-27. Central Charge in Quantum Optics. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.6.l042011
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