arXiv subjects

Arthur O. Pittenger

Publications and source records attributed to Arthur O. Pittenger.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2008

Generalized Circulant Densities and a Sufficient Condition for Separability

In a series of papers with Kossakowski, the first author has examined properties of densities for which the positive partial transpositrionm (PPT) property can be readily checked. These densities were also investigated from a different perspective by Baumgartner, Hiesmayr and Narnhofer. In this paper we show how the support of such densities can be expressed in terms of lines in a finite geometry and how that same structure lends itself to checking the necessary PPT condition and to a novel sufficient condition for separability.

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arXiv2005

Classicality in discrete Wigner functions

Gibbons et al. [Phys. Rev. A 70, 062101(2004)] have recently defined a class of discrete Wigner functions W to represent quantum states in a Hilbert space with finite dimension. We show that the only pure states having non-negative W for all such functions are stabilizer states, as conjectured by one of us [Phys. Rev. A 71, 042302 (2005)]. We also show that the unitaries preserving non-negativity of W for all definitions of W form a subgroup of the Clifford group. This means pure states with non-negative W and their associated unitary dynamics are classical in the sense of admitting an efficient classical simulation scheme using the stabilizer formalism.

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arXiv2005

Wigner Functions and Separability for Finite Systems

A discussion of discrete Wigner functions in phase space related to mutually unbiased bases is presented. This approach requires mathematical assumptions which limits it to systems with density matrices defined on complex Hilbert spaces of dimension p^n where p is a prime number. With this limitation it is possible to define a phase space and Wigner functions in close analogy to the continuous case. That is, we use a phase space that is a direct sum of n two-dimensional vector spaces each containing p^2 points. This is in contrast to the more usual choice of a two-dimensional phase space containing p^(2n) points. A useful aspect of this approach is that we can relate complete separability of density matrices and their Wigner functions in a natural way. We discuss this in detail for bipartite systems and present the generalization to arbitrary numbers of subsystems when p is odd. Special attention is required for two qubits (p=2) and our technique fails to establish the separability property for more than two qubits.

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arXiv2004

Mutually Unbiased Bases, Generalized Spin Matrices and Separability

A collection of orthonormal bases for a complex dXd Hilbert space is called mutually unbiased (MUB) if for any two vectors v and w from different bases the square of the inner product equals 1/d: | | ^{2}=1/d. The MUB problem is to prove or disprove the the existence of a maximal set of d+1 bases. It has been shown in [W. K. Wootters, B. D. Fields, Annals of Physics, 191, no. 2, 363-381, (1989)] that such a collection exists if d is a power of a prime number p. We revisit this problem and use dX d generalizations of the Pauli spin matrices to give a constructive proof of this result. Specifically we give explicit representations of commuting families of unitary matrices whose eigenvectors solve the MUB problem. Additionally we give formulas from which the orthogonal bases can be readily computed. We show how the techniques developed here provide a natural way to analyze the separability of the bases. The techniques used require properties of algebraic field extensions, and the relevant part of that theory is included in an Appendix.

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arXiv2002

Unextendible product bases and the construction of inseparable states

Let H[N] denote the tensor product of n finite dimensional Hilbert spaces H(r). A state |phi> of H[N] is separable if |phi> is the tensor product of states in the respective product spaces. An orthogonal unextendible product basis is a finite set B of separable orthonormal states |phi(k)> such that the non-empty space B9perp), the set of vectors orthogonal to B, contains no separable projection. Examples of orthogonal UPB sets were first constructed by Bennett et al [1] and other examples appear, for example, in [2] and [3]. If F denotes the set of convex combinations of the projections |phi(k)><phi(k)|, then F is a face in the set S of separable densities. In this note we show how to use F to construct families of positive partial transform states (PPT) which are not separable. We also show how to make an analogous construction when the condition of orthogonality is dropped. The analysis is motivated by the geometry of the faces of the separable states and leads to a natural construction of entanglement witnesses separating the inseparable PPT states from S.

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arXiv2002

The geometry of entanglement witnesses and local detection of entanglement

Let $H^{[ N]}=H^{[ d_{1}]}\otimes ... \otimes H^{[ d_{n}]}$ be a tensor product of Hilbert spaces and let $τ_{0}$ be the closest separable state in the Hilbert-Schmidt norm to an entangled state $ρ_{0}$. Let $\tildeτ_{0}$ denote the closest separable state to $ρ_{0}$ along the line segment from $I/N$ to $ρ_{0}$ where $I$ is the identity matrix. Following [pitrubmat] a witness $W_{0}$ detecting the entanglement of $ρ_{0}$ can be constructed in terms of $I, τ_{0}$ and $\tildeτ_{0}$. If representations of $τ_{0}$ and $\tildeτ_{0}$ as convex combinations of separable projections are known, then the entanglement of $ρ_{0}$ can be detected by local measurements. Gühne \textit{et. al.} in [bruss1] obtain the minimum number of measurement settings required for a class of two qubit states. We use our geometric approach to generalize their result to the corresponding two qudit case when $d$ is prime and obtain the minimum number of measurement settings. In those particular bipartite cases, $τ_{0}=\tildeτ_{0}$. We illustrate our general approach with a two parameter family of three qubit bound entangled states for which $τ_{0} \neq \tildeτ_{0}$ and we show our approach works for $n$ qubits. In [pitt] we elaborated on the role of a ``far face'' of the separable states relative to a bound entangled state $ρ_{0}$ constructed from an orthogonal unextendible product base. In this paper the geometric approach leads to an entanglement witness expressible in terms of a constant times $I$ and a separable density $μ_{0}$ on the far face from $ρ_{0}$. Up to a normalization this coincides with the witness obtained in [bruss1] for the particular example analyzed there.

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arXiv2001

Convexity and the Separability Problem of Quantum Mechanical Density Matrices

A finite dimensional quantum mechanical system is modeled by a density rho, a trace one, positive semi-definite matrix on a suitable tensor product space H[N] . For the system to demonstrate experimentally certain non-classical behavior, rho cannot be in S, a closed convex set of densities whose extreme points have a specificed tensor product form. Two mathematical problems in the quantum computing literature arise from this context: (1) the determination whether a given rho is in S and (2) a measure of the ``entanglement'' of such a rho in terms of its distance from S. In this paper we describe these two problems in detail for a linear algebra audience, discuss some recent results from the quantum computing literature, and prove some new results.We emphasize the roles of densities rho as both operators on the Hilbert space H[N] and also as points in a real Hilbert space M. We are able to compute the nearest separable densities tau0 to rho0 in particular classes of inseparable densities and we use the Euclidean distance between the two in M to quantify the entanglement of rho0. We also show the role of tau0 in the construction of separating hyperplanes, so-called entanglement witnesses in the quantum computing literature.

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arXiv2000

Note on Separability of the Werner states in arbitrary dimensions

Great progress has been made recently in establishing conditions for separability of a particular class of Werner densities on the tensor product space of $n$ $d$--level systems (qudits). In this brief note we complete the process of establishing necessary and sufficient conditions for separability of these Werner densities by proving the sufficient condition for general n and d.

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arXiv2000

Separability and Fourier representations of density matrices

Using the finite Fourier transform, we introduce a generalization of Pauli-spin matrices for $d$-dimensional spaces, and the resulting set of unitary matrices $S(d) $ is a basis for $d\times d$ matrices. If $N=d_{1}\times d_{2}\times...\times d_{b}$ and $H^{[ N]}=\bigotimes H^{% [ d_{k}]}$, we give a sufficient condition for separability of a density matrix $ρ$ relative to the $H^{[ d_{k}]}$ in terms of the $L_{1}$ norm of the spin coefficients of $ρ>.$ Since the spin representation depends on the form of the tensor product, the theory applies to both full and partial separability on a given space $H^{[ N]}$% . It follows from this result that for a prescribed form of separability, there is always a neighborhood of the normalized identity in which every density matrix is separable. We also show that for every prime $p$ and $n>1$ the generalized Werner density matrix $W^{[ p^{n}]}(s) $ is fully separable if and only if $s\leq (1+p^{n-1}) ^{-1}$.

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arXiv1999

Complete Separability and Fourier representations of n-qubit states

Necessary conditions for separability are most easily expressed in the computational basis, while sufficient conditions are most conveniently expressed in the spin basis. We use the Hadamard matrix to define the relationship between these two bases and to emphasize its interpretation as a Fourier transform. We then prove a general sufficient condition for complete separability in terms of the spin coefficients and give necessary and sufficient conditions for the complete separability of a class of generalized Werner densities. As a further application of the theory, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for full separability for a particular set of $n$-qubit states whose densities all satisfy the Peres condition.

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