arXiv subjects

Erkka Haapasalo

Publications and source records attributed to Erkka Haapasalo.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Optimal quantum observables

Various forms of optimality for quantum observables described as normalized positive operator valued measures (POVMs) are studied in this paper. We give characterizations for observables that determine the values of the measured quantity with probabilistic certainty or a state of the system before or after the measurement. We investigate observables which are free from noise caused by classical post-processing, mixing, or pre-processing of quantum nature. Especially, a complete characterization of pre-processing and post-processing clean observables is given, and necessary and sufficient conditions are imposed on informationally complete POVMs within the set of pure states. We also discuss joint and sequential measurements of optimal quantum observables.

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arXiv2016

Saturation of repeated quantum measurements

We study sequential measurement scenarios where the system is repeatedly subjected to the same measurement process. We first provide examples of such repeated measurements where further repetitions of the measurement do not increase our knowledge on the system after some finite number of measurement steps. We also prove, however, that repeating the Lüders measurement of an unsharp two-outcome observable never saturates in this sense, and we characterize the observable measured in the limit of infinitely many repetitions. Our result implies that a repeated measurement can be used to correct the inherent noise of an unsharp observable.

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arXiv2016

Covariant KSGNS construction and quantum instruments

We study positive kernels on $X\times X$, where $X$ is a set equipped with an action of a group, and taking values in the set of $\mathcal A$-sesquilinear forms on a (not necessarily Hilbert) module over a $C^*$-algebra $\mathcal A$. These maps are assumed to be covariant with respect to the group action on $X$ and a representation of the group in the set of invertible ($\mathcal A$-linear) module maps. We find necessary and sufficient conditions for extremality of such kernels in certain convex subsets of positive covariant kernels. Our focus is mainly on a particular example of these kernels: a completely positive (CP) covariant map for which we obtain a covariant minimal dilation (or KSGNS construction). We determine the extreme points of the set of normalized covariant CP maps and, as a special case, study covariant quantum observables and instruments whose value space is a transitive space of a unimodular type-I group. As an example, we discuss the case of instruments that are covariant with respect to a square-integrable representation.

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arXiv2015

Compatibility properties of extreme quantum observables

Recently a problem concerning the equivalence of joint measurability and coexistence of quantum observables was solved [15]. In this paper we generalize two known joint measurability results from sharp observables to the class of extreme observables and study relationships between coexistence, joint measurability, and post-processing of quantum observables when an extreme observable is involved. We also discuss another notion of compatibility and provide a counterexample separating this from the former notions.

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arXiv2015

Robustness of incompatibility for quantum devices

A robustness measure for incompatibility of quantum devices in the lines of the robustness of entanglement is proposed. The concept of general robustness measures is first introduced in general convex-geometric settings and these ideas are then applied to measure how incompatible a given pair of quantum devices is. The robustness of quantum incompatibility is calculated in three special cases: a pair of Fourier-coupled rank-1 sharp observables, a pair of decodable channels, where decodability means left-invertibility by a channel, and a pair consisting of a rank-1 sharp observable and a decodable channel.

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arXiv2014

Distance to boundary and minimum-error discrimination

We introduce the concept of boundariness capturing the most efficient way of expressing a given element of a convex set as a probability mixture of its boundary elements. In other words, this number measures (without the need of any explicit topology) how far the given element is from the boundary. It is shown that one of the elements from the boundary can be always chosen to be an extremal element. We focus on evaluation of this quantity for quantum sets of states, channels and observables. We show that boundariness is intimately related to (semi)norms that provide an operational interpretation of this quantity. In particular, the minimum error probability for discrimination of a pair of quantum devices is lower bounded by the boundariness of each of them. We proved that for states and observables this bound is saturated and conjectured this feature for channels. The boundariness is zero for infinite-dimensional quantum objects as in this case all the elements are boundary elements.

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arXiv2012

When do pieces determine the whole? Extremal marginals of a completely positive map

We will consider completely positive maps defined on tensor products of von Neumann algebras and taking values in the algebra of bounded operators on a Hilbert space and particularly certain convex subsets of the set of such maps. We show that when one of the marginal maps of such a map is an extremal point, then the marginals uniquely determine the map. We will further prove that when both of the marginals are extremal, then the whole map is extremal. We show that this general result is the common source of several well-known results dealing with, e.g., jointly measurable observables. We also obtain new insight especially in the realm of quantum instruments and their marginal observables and channels.

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arXiv2011

Weak vs. approximate values in quantum state determination

We generalize the concept of a weak value of a quantum observable to cover arbitrary real positive operator measures. We show that the definition is operationally meaningful in the sense that it can be understood within the quantum theory of sequential measurements. We then present a detailed analysis of the recent experiment of Lundeen et al. concerning the reconstruction of the state of a photon using weak measurements. We compare their method with the reconstruction method through informationally complete phase space measurements and show that it lacks the generality of the phase space method. In particular, a completely unknown state can never be reconstructed using the method of weak measurements.

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arXiv2011

Quantum measurements on finite dimensional systems: relabeling and mixing

Concentrating on finite dimensional systems, we show that one can limit to extremal rank-1 POVMs if two simple procedures of mixing and relabeling are permitted. We demonstrate that any finite outcome POVM can be obtained from extremal rank-1 POVMs with these two procedures. In particular, extremal POVMs with higher rank are just relabelings of extremal rank-1 POVMs and their structure is therefore clarified.

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arXiv2011

Extreme Covariant Quantum Observables in the Case of an Abelian Symmetry Group and a Transitive Value Space

We represent quantum observables as POVMs (normalized positive operator valued measures) and consider convex sets of observables which are covariant with respect to a unitary representation of a locally compact Abelian symmetry group $G$. The value space of such observables is a transitive $G$-space. We characterize the extreme points of covariant observables and also determine the covariant extreme points of the larger set of all quantum observables. The results are applied to position, position difference and time observables.

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