arXiv subjects

Alexei Kitaev

Publications and source records attributed to Alexei Kitaev.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Interacting anyons in topological quantum liquids: The golden chain

We discuss generalizations of quantum spin Hamiltonians using anyonic degrees of freedom. The simplest model for interacting anyons energetically favors neighboring anyons to fuse into the trivial (`identity') channel, similar to the quantum Heisenberg model favoring neighboring spins to form spin singlets. Numerical simulations of a chain of Fibonacci anyons show that the model is critical with a dynamical critical exponent z=1, and described by a two-dimensional conformal field theory with central charge c=7/10. An exact mapping of the anyonic chain onto the two-dimensional tricritical Ising model is given using the restricted-solid-on-solid (RSOS) representation of the Temperley-Lieb algebra. The gaplessness of the chain is shown to have topological origin.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Detecting non-Abelian Statistics with Electronic Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

Fractionally charged quasiparticles in the quantum Hall state with filling factor $ν=5/2$ are expected to obey non-Abelian statistics. We demonstrate that their statistics can be probed by transport measurements in an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The tunneling current through the interferometer exhibits a characteristic dependence on the magnetic flux and a non-analytic dependence on the tunneling amplitudes which can be controlled by gate voltages.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2006

Protected qubit based on a superconducting current mirror

We propose a qubit implementation based on exciton condensation in capacitively coupled Josephson junction chains. The qubit is protected in the sense that all unwanted terms in its effective Hamiltonian are exponentially suppressed as the chain length increases. We also describe an implementation of a universal set of quantum gates. Most gates also offer exponential error suppression. The only gate that is not intrinsically fault-tolerant needs to be realized with about 50% precision, provided the other gates are exact.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2006

Detecting Non-Abelian Statistics in the nu=5/2 Fractional Quantum Hall State

In this letter we propose an interferometric experiment to detect non-Abelian quasiparticle statistics -- one of the hallmark characteristics of the Moore-Read state expected to describe the observed FQHE plateau at nu=5/2. The implications for using this state for constructing a topologically protected qubit as has been recently proposed by Das Sarma et. al. are also addressed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2006

Topological entanglement entropy

We formulate a universal characterization of the many-particle quantum entanglement in the ground state of a topologically ordered two-dimensional medium with a mass gap. We consider a disk in the plane, with a smooth boundary of length L, large compared to the correlation length. In the ground state, by tracing out all degrees of freedom in the exterior of the disk, we obtain a marginal density operator ρfor the degrees of freedom in the interior. The von Neumann entropy S(ρ) of this density operator, a measure of the entanglement of the interior and exterior variables, has the form S(ρ)= αL -γ+ ..., where the ellipsis represents terms that vanish in the limit L\to\infty. The coefficient α, arising from short wavelength modes localized near the boundary, is nonuniversal and ultraviolet divergent, but -γis a universal additive constant characterizing a global feature of the entanglement in the ground state. Using topological quantum field theory methods, we derive a formula for γin terms of properties of the superselection sectors of the medium.

hep-th↗

arXiv2005

Universal manifold pairings and positivity

Gluing two manifolds M_1 and M_2 with a common boundary S yields a closed manifold M. Extending to formal linear combinations x=Sum_i(a_i M_i) yields a sesquilinear pairing p=<,> with values in (formal linear combinations of) closed manifolds. Topological quantum field theory (TQFT) represents this universal pairing p onto a finite dimensional quotient pairing q with values in C which in physically motivated cases is positive definite. To see if such a "unitary" TQFT can potentially detect any nontrivial x, we ask if is non-zero whenever x is non-zero. If this is the case, we call the pairing p positive. The question arises for each dimension d=0,1,2,.... We find p(d) positive for d=0,1, and 2 and not positive for d=4. We conjecture that p(3) is also positive. Similar questions may be phrased for (manifold, submanifold) pairs and manifolds with other additional structure. The results in dimension 4 imply that unitary TQFTs cannot distinguish homotopy equivalent simply connected 4-manifolds, nor can they distinguish smoothly s-cobordant 4-manifolds. This may illuminate the difficulties that have been met by several authors in their attempts to formulate unitary TQFTs for d=3+1. There is a further physical implication of this paper. Whereas 3-dimensional Chern-Simons theory appears to be well-encoded within 2-dimensional quantum physics, eg in the fractional quantum Hall effect, Donaldson-Seiberg-Witten theory cannot be captured by a 3-dimensional quantum system. The positivity of the physical Hilbert spaces means they cannot see null vectors of the universal pairing; such vectors must map to zero.

math.GT↗

arXiv2005

Fault-tolerant quantum computation with long-range correlated noise

We prove a new version of the quantum accuracy threshold theorem that applies to non-Markovian noise with algebraically decaying spatial correlations. We consider noise in a quantum computer arising from a perturbation that acts collectively on pairs of qubits and on the environment, and we show that an arbitrarily long quantum computation can be executed with high reliability in D spatial dimensions, if the perturbation is sufficiently weak and decays with the distance r between the qubits faster than 1/r^D.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

The Complexity of the Local Hamiltonian Problem

The k-local Hamiltonian problem is a natural complete problem for the complexity class QMA, the quantum analog of NP. It is similar in spirit to MAX-k-SAT, which is NP-complete for k<=2. It was known that the problem is QMA-complete for any k <= 3. On the other hand 1-local Hamiltonian is in P, and hence not believed to be QMA-complete. The complexity of the 2-local Hamiltonian problem has long been outstanding. Here we settle the question and show that it is QMA-complete. We provide two independent proofs; our first proof uses only elementary linear algebra. Our second proof uses a powerful technique for analyzing the sum of two Hamiltonians; this technique is based on perturbation theory and we believe that it might prove useful elsewhere. Using our techniques we also show that adiabatic computation with two-local interactions on qubits is equivalent to standard quantum computation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2004

Universal Quantum Computation with ideal Clifford gates and noisy ancillas

We consider a model of quantum computation in which the set of elementary operations is limited to Clifford unitaries, the creation of the state $|0\rangle$ computational basis. In addition, we allow the creation of a one-qubit ancilla in a mixed state $ρ$, which should be regarded as a parameter of the model. Our goal is to determine for which $ρ$ universal quantum computation (UQC) can be efficiently simulated. To answer this question, we construct purification protocols that consume several copies of $ρ$ and produce a single output qubit with higher polarization. The protocols allow one to increase the polarization only along certain "magic" directions. If the polarization of $ρ$ along a magic direction exceeds a threshold value (about 65%), the purification asymptotically yields a pure state, which we call a magic state. We show that the Clifford group operations combined with magic states preparation are sufficient for UQC. The connection of our results with the Gottesman-Knill theorem is discussed.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2004

Superselection rules and quantum protocols

We show that superselection rules do not enhance the information-theoretic security of quantum cryptographic protocols. Our analysis employs two quite different methods. The first method uses the concept of a reference system -- in a world subject to a superselection rule, unrestricted operations can be simulated by parties who share access to a reference system with suitable properties. By this method, we prove that if an n-party protocol is secure in a world subject to a superselection rule, then the security is maintained even if the superselection rule is relaxed. However, the proof applies only to a limited class of superselection rules, those in which the superselection sectors are labeled by unitary irreducible representations of a compact symmetry group. The second method uses the concept of the format of a message sent between parties -- by verifying the format, the recipient of a message can check whether the message could have been sent by a party who performed charge-conserving operations. By this method, we prove that protocols subject to general superselection rules (including those pertaining to nonabelian anyons in two dimensions) are no more secure than protocols in the unrestricted world. However, the proof applies only to two-party protocols. Our results show in particular that, if no assumptions are made about the computational power of the cheater, then secure quantum bit commitment and strong quantum coin flipping with arbitrarily small bias are impossible in a world subject to superselection rules.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2002

Diameters of Homogeneous Spaces

Let G be a compact connected Lie group with trivial center. Using the action of G on its Lie algebra, we define an operator norm | |_{G} which induces a bi-invariant metric d_G(x,y)=|Ad(yx^{-1})|_{G} on G. We prove the existence of a constant β\approx .12 (independent of G) such that for any closed subgroup H \subsetneq G, the diameter of the quotient G/H (in the induced metric) is \geq β.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2002

Topological Quantum Computation

The theory of quantum computation can be constructed from the abstract study of anyonic systems. In mathematical terms, these are unitary topological modular functors. They underlie the Jones polynomial and arise in Witten-Chern-Simons theory. The braiding and fusion of anyonic excitations in quantum Hall electron liquids and 2D-magnets are modeled by modular functors, opening a new possibility for the realization of quantum computers. The chief advantage of anyonic computation would be physical error correction: An error rate scaling like $e^{-\ał}$, where $ł$ is a length scale, and $α$ is some positive constant. In contrast, the $\q$presumptive" qubit-model of quantum computation, which repairs errors combinatorically, requires a fantastically low initial error rate (about $10^{-4}$) before computation can be stabilized.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2001

Topological quantum memory

We analyze surface codes, the topological quantum error-correcting codes introduced by Kitaev. In these codes, qubits are arranged in a two-dimensional array on a surface of nontrivial topology, and encoded quantum operations are associated with nontrivial homology cycles of the surface. We formulate protocols for error recovery, and study the efficacy of these protocols. An order-disorder phase transition occurs in this system at a nonzero critical value of the error rate; if the error rate is below the critical value (the accuracy threshold), encoded information can be protected arbitrarily well in the limit of a large code block. This phase transition can be accurately modeled by a three-dimensional Z_2 lattice gauge theory with quenched disorder. We estimate the accuracy threshold, assuming that all quantum gates are local, that qubits can be measured rapidly, and that polynomial-size classical computations can be executed instantaneously. We also devise a robust recovery procedure that does not require measurement or fast classical processing; however for this procedure the quantum gates are local only if the qubits are arranged in four or more spatial dimensions. We discuss procedures for encoding, measurement, and performing fault-tolerant universal quantum computation with surface codes, and argue that these codes provide a promising framework for quantum computing architectures.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2001

Measurability of Wilson loop operators

We show that the nondemolition measurement of a spacelike Wilson loop operator W(C) is impossible in a relativistic non-Abelian gauge theory. In particular, if two spacelike-separated magnetic flux tubes both link with the loop C, then a nondemolition measurement of W(C) would cause electric charge to be transferred from one flux tube to the other, a violation of relativistic causality. A destructive measurement of W(C) is possible in a non-Abelian gauge theory with suitable matter content. In an Abelian gauge theory, many cooperating parties distributed along the loop C can perform a nondemolition measurement of the Wilson loop operator if they are equipped with a shared entangled ancilla that has been prepared in advance. We also note that Abelian electric charge (but not non-Abelian charge) can be transported superluminally, without any accompanying transmission of information.

hep-th↗

arXiv2001

Encoding a qubit in an oscillator

Quantum error-correcting codes are constructed that embed a finite-dimensional code space in the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space of a system described by continuous quantum variables. These codes exploit the noncommutative geometry of phase space to protect against errors that shift the values of the canonical variables q and p. In the setting of quantum optics, fault-tolerant universal quantum computation can be executed on the protected code subspace using linear optical operations, squeezing, homodyne detection, and photon counting; however, nonlinear mode coupling is required for the preparation of the encoded states. Finite-dimensional versions of these codes can be constructed that protect encoded quantum information against shifts in the amplitude or phase of a d-state system. Continuous-variable codes can be invoked to establish lower bounds on the quantum capacity of Gaussian quantum channels.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2000

Unpaired Majorana fermions in quantum wires

Certain one-dimensional Fermi systems have an energy gap in the bulk spectrum while boundary states are described by one Majorana operator per boundary point. A finite system of length $L$ possesses two ground states with an energy difference proportional to $\exp(-L/l_0)$ and different fermionic parities. Such systems can be used as qubits since they are intrinsically immune to decoherence. The property of a system to have boundary Majorana fermions is expressed as a condition on the bulk electron spectrum. The condition is satisfied in the presence of an arbitrary small energy gap induced by proximity of a 3-dimensional p-wave superconductor, provided that the normal spectrum has an odd number of Fermi points in each half of the Brillouin zone (each spin component counts separately).

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2000

Fermionic quantum computation

We define a model of quantum computation with local fermionic modes (LFMs) -- sites which can be either empty or occupied by a fermion. With the standard correspondence between the Foch space of $m$ LFMs and the Hilbert space of $m$ qubits, simulation of one fermionic gate takes $O(m)$ qubit gates and vice versa. We show that using different encodings, the simulation cost can be reduced to $O(\log m)$ and a constant, respectively. Nearest-neighbors fermionic gates on a graph of bounded degree can be simulated at a constant cost. A universal set of fermionic gates is found. We also study computation with Majorana fermions which are basically halves of LFMs. Some connection to qubit quantum codes is made.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2000

Simulation of topological field theories by quantum computers

Quantum computers will work by evolving a high tensor power of a small (e.g. two) dimensional Hilbert space by local gates, which can be implemented by applying a local Hamiltonian H for a time t. In contrast to this quantum engineering, the most abstract reaches of theoretical physics has spawned topological models having a finite dimensional internal state space with no natural tensor product structure and in which the evolution of the state is discrete, H = 0. These are called topological quantum filed theories (TQFTs). These exotic physical systems are proved to be efficiently simulated on a quantum computer. The conclusion is two-fold: 1. TQFTs cannot be used to define a model of computation stronger than the usual quantum model BQP. 2. TQFTs provide a radically different way of looking at quantum computation. The rich mathematical structure of TQFTs might suggest a new quantum algorithm.

quant-ph↗