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B. Kraus

Publications and source records attributed to B. Kraus.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2009

Local unitary equivalence of multipartite pure states

Necessary and sufficient conditions for the equivalence of arbitrary n-qubit pure quantum states under Local Unitary (LU) operations are derived. First, an easily computable standard form for multipartite states is introduced. Two generic states are shown to be LU-equivalent iff their standard forms coincide. The LU-equivalence problem for non--generic states is solved by presenting a systematic method to determine the LU operators (if they exist) which interconvert the two states.

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arXiv2008

Preparation of Entangled States by Quantum Markov Processes

We investigate the possibility of using a dissipative process to prepare a quantum system in a desired state. We derive for any multipartite pure state a dissipative process for which this state is the unique stationary state and solve the corresponding master equation analytically. For certain states, like the Cluster states, we use this process to show that the jump operators can be chosen quasi-locally, i.e. they act non-trivially only on a few, neighboring qubits. Furthermore, the relaxation time of this dissipative process is independent of the number of subsystems. We demonstrate the general formalism by considering arbitrary MPS-PEPS states. In particular, we show that the ground state of the AKLT-model can be prepared employing a quasi--local dissipative process.

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arXiv2008

Multipartite Entanglement and Global Information

We investigate the entanglement properties of pure quantum states describing $n$ qubits. We characterize all multipartite states which can be maximally entangled to local auxiliary systems using controlled operations. A state has this property iff one can construct out of it an orthonormal basis by applying independent local unitary operations. This implies that those states can be used to encode locally the maximum amount of $n$ bits. Examples of these states are the so--called stabilizer states, which are used for quantum error correction and one--way quantum computing. We give a simple characterization of these states and construct a complete set of commuting unitary observables which characterize the state uniquely. Furthermore we show how these states can be prepared and discuss their applications.

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arXiv2008

Quantum States and Phases in Driven Open Quantum Systems with Cold Atoms

An open quantum system, whose time evolution is governed by a master equation, can be driven into a given pure quantum state by an appropriate design of the system-reservoir coupling. This points out a route towards preparing many body states and non-equilibrium quantum phases by quantum reservoir engineering. Here we discuss in detail the example of a \emph{driven dissipative Bose Einstein Condensate} of bosons and of paired fermions, where atoms in an optical lattice are coupled to a bath of Bogoliubov excitations via the atomic current representing \emph{local dissipation}. In the absence of interactions the lattice gas is driven into a pure state with long range order. Weak interactions lead to a weakly mixed state, which in 3D can be understood as a depletion of the condensate, and in 1D and 2D exhibits properties reminiscent of a Luttinger liquid or a Kosterlitz-Thouless critical phase at finite temperature, with the role of the ``finite temperature'' played by the interactions.

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arXiv2006

On the role of memory errors in quantum repeaters

We investigate the influence of memory errors in the quantum repeater scheme for long-range quantum communication. We show that the communication distance is limited in standard operation mode due to memory errors resulting from unavoidable waiting times for classical signals. We show how to overcome these limitations by (i) improving local memory, and (ii) introducing two new operational modes of the quantum repeater. In both operational modes, the repeater is run blindly, i.e. without waiting for classical signals to arrive. In the first scheme, entanglement purification protocols based on one-way classical communication are used allowing to communicate over arbitrary distances. However, the error thresholds for noise in local control operations are very stringent. The second scheme makes use of entanglement purification protocols with two-way classical communication and inherits the favorable error thresholds of the repeater run in standard mode. One can increase the possible communication distance by an order of magnitude with reasonable overhead in physical resources. We outline the architecture of a quantum repeater that can possibly ensure intercontinental quantum communication.

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arXiv2006

Quantum Kolmogorov complexity and its applications

Kolmogorov complexity is a measure of the information contained in a binary string. We investigate here the notion of quantum Kolmogorov complexity, a measure of the information required to describe a quantum state. We show that for any definition of quantum Kolmogorov complexity measuring the number of classical bits required to describe a pure quantum state, there exists a pure n-qubit state which requires exponentially many bits of description. This is shown by relating the classical communication complexity to the quantum Kolmogorov complexity. Furthermore we give some examples of how quantum Kolmogorov complexity can be applied to prove results in different fields, such as quantum computation and thermodynamics, and we generalize it to the case of mixed quantum states.

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arXiv2005

Trojan Horse attacks on Quantum Key Distribution systems

General Trojan horse attacks on quantum key distribution systems are analyzed. We illustrate the power of such attacks with today's technology and conclude that all system must implement active counter-measures. In particular all systems must include an auxiliary detector that monitors any incoming light. We show that such counter-measures can be efficient, provided enough additional privacy amplification is applied to the data. We present a practical way to reduce the maximal information gain that an adversary can gain using Trojan horse attacks. This does reduce the security analysis of the 2-way {\it Plug-&-Play} system to those of the standard 1-way systems.

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arXiv2005

An information-theoretic security proof for QKD protocols

We present a new technique for proving the security of quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols. It is based on direct information-theoretic arguments and thus also applies if no equivalent entanglement purification scheme can be found. Using this technique, we investigate a general class of QKD protocols with one-way classical post-processing. We show that, in order to analyze the full security of these protocols, it suffices to consider collective attacks. Indeed, we give new lower and upper bounds on the secret-key rate which only involve entropies of two-qubit density operators and which are thus easy to compute. As an illustration of our results, we analyze the BB84, the six-state, and the B92 protocol with one-way error correction and privacy amplification. Surprisingly, the performance of these protocols is increased if one of the parties adds noise to the measurement data before the error correction. In particular, this additional noise makes the protocols more robust against noise in the quantum channel.

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arXiv2005

Lower and upper bounds on the secret key rate for QKD protocols using one--way classical communication

We investigate a general class of quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols using one-way classical communication. We show that full security can be proven by considering only collective attacks. We derive computable lower and upper bounds on the secret key rate of those QKD protocol involving only entropies of two--qubit density operators. As an illustration of our results, we determine new bounds for the BB84, the six-state, and the B92 protocol. We show that in all these cases the first classical processing that the legitimate partners should apply consists in adding noise. This is precisely why any entanglement based proof would generally fail here.

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arXiv2001

Characterization of Distillable and Activable States using Entanglement Witnesses

We introduce a formalism that connections entanglement witnesses and the distillation and activation properties of a state. We apply this formalism to two cases: First, we rederive the results presented in quant-ph/0104095 by Eggeling et al., namely that on copy of any bipartite state with non--positive partial transpose (NPPT) is either distillable, or activable. Second, we show that there exist three--partite NPPT states, with the property that two copies can neither be distilled, nor activated.

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arXiv2001

Reflections upon separability and distillability

We present an abstract formulation of the so-called Innsbruck-Hannover programme that investigates quantum correlations and entanglement in terms of convex sets. We present a unified description of optimal decompositions of quantum states and the optimization of witness operators that detect whether a given state belongs to a given convex set. We illustrate the abstract formulation with several examples, and discuss relations between optimal entanglement witnesses and n-copy non-distillable states with non-positive partial transpose.

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arXiv2001

Separability Criterion for all bipartite Gaussian States

We provide a necessary and sufficient condition for separability of Gaussian states of bipartite systems of arbitrarily many modes. The condition provides an operational criterion since it can be checked by simple computation. Moreover, it allows us to find a pure product-state decomposition of any given separable Gaussian state. Our criterion is independent of the one based on partial transposition, and is strictly stronger.

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arXiv2000

Optimal Creation of Entanglement Using a Two--Qubit Gate

We consider a general unitary operator acting on two qubits in a product state. We find the conditions such that the state of the qubits after the action is as entangled as possible. We also consider the possibility of using ancilla qubits to increase the entanglement.

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arXiv2000

Separability and distillability in composite quantum systems -a primer-

Quantum mechanics is already 100 years old, but remains alive and full of challenging open problems. On one hand, the problems encountered at the frontiers of modern theoretical physics like Quantum Gravity, String Theories, etc. concern Quantum Theory, and are at the same time related to open problems of modern mathematics. But even within non-relativistic quantum mechanics itself there are fundamental unresolved problems that can be formulated in elementary terms. These problems are also related to challenging open questions of modern mathematics; linear algebra and functional analysis in particular. Two of these problems will be discussed in this article: a) the separability problem, i.e. the question when the state of a composite quantum system does not contain any quantum correlations or entanglement and b) the distillability problem, i.e. the question when the state of a composite quantum system can be transformed to an entangled pure state using local operations (local refers here to component subsystems of a given system). Although many results concerning the above mentioned problems have been obtained (in particular in the last few years in the framework of Quantum Information Theory), both problems remain until now essentially open. We will present a primer on the current state of knowledge concerning these problems, and discuss the relation of these problems to one of the most challenging questions of linear algebra: the classification and characterization of positive operator maps.

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arXiv2000

Optimization of entanglement witnesses

An entanglement witness (EW) is an operator that allows to detect entangled states. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for such operators to be optimal, i.e. to detect entangled states in an optimal way. We show how to optimize general EW, and then we particularize our results to the non-decomposable ones; the latter are those that can detect positive partial transpose entangled states (PPTES). We also present a method to systematically construct and optimize this last class of operators based on the existence of ``edge'' PPTES, i.e. states that violate the range separability criterion [Phys. Lett. A{\bf 232}, 333 (1997)] in an extreme manner. This method also permits the systematic construction of non-decomposable positive maps (PM). Our results lead to a novel sufficient condition for entanglement in terms of non-decomposable EW and PM. Finally, we illustrate our results by constructing optimal EW acting on $H=\C^2\otimes \C^4$. The corresponding PM constitute the first examples of PM with minimal ``qubit'' domain, or - equivalently - minimal hermitian conjugate codomain.

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arXiv2000

Characterization of separable states and entanglement witnesses

We provide a canonical form of mixed states in bipartite quantum systems in terms of a convex combination of a separable state and a, so-called, edge state. We construct entanglement witnesses for all edge states. We present a canonical form of nondecomposable entanglement witnesses and the corresponding positive maps. We provide constructive methods for their optimization in a finite number of steps. We present a characterization of separable states using a special class of entanglement witnesses. Finally, we present a nontrivial necessary condition for entanglement witnesses and positive maps to be extremal.

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