arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G. M. D'Ariano.
We analytically diagonalize a discrete-time on-site interacting fermionic cellular automaton in the two-particle sector. Important features of the solutions sensibly differ from those of analogous Hamiltonian models. In particular, we found a wider variety of scattering processes, we have bound states for every value of the total momentum, and there exist bound states also in the free case, where the coupling constant is null.
We show how the Dirac equation in three space-dimensions emerges from the large-scale dynamics of the minimal nontrivial quantum cellular automaton satisfying unitariety, locality, homogeneity, and discrete isotropy, without using the relativity principle. The Dirac equation is recovered for small wave-vector and inertial mass, whereas Lorentz covariance is distorted in the ultra-relativistic limit. The automaton can thus be regarded as a theory unifying scales from Planck to Fermi. A simple asymptotic approach leads to a dispersive Schroedinger equation describing the evolution of narrow-band states at all scales.
Recently quantum walks have been considered as a possible fundamental description of the dynamics of relativistic quantum fields. Within this scenario we derive the analytical solution of the Weyl walk in 2+1 dimensions. We present a discrete path-integral formulation of the Feynman propagator based on the binary encoding of paths on the lattice. The derivation exploits a special feature of the Weyl walk, that occurs also in other dimensions, that is closure under multiplication of the set of the walk transition matrices. This result opens the perspective of a similar solution in the 3+1 case.
A measurement scheme to perform a repeatable phase detection on a two-mode field is presented. The interaction with the probe state (the output state of a phase-insensitive high-gain amplifier) is described by a Hamiltonian which is physically realizable in the rotating wave approximation. Information on the system is obtained through unconventional heterodyne measurements performed on the probe field after the interaction with the system. The expressions for the probability distribution and the state reduction are given.
We show that quantum theory allows for transformations of black boxes that cannot be realized by inserting the input black boxes within a circuit in a pre-defined causal order. The simplest example of such a transformation is the classical switch of black boxes, where two input black boxes are arranged in two different orders conditionally on the value of a classical bit. The quantum version of this transformation-the quantum switch-produces an output circuit where the order of the connections is controlled by a quantum bit, which becomes entangled with the circuit structure. Simulating these transformations in a circuit with fixed causal structure requires either postselection, or an extra query to the input black boxes.
It is shown how a Doubly-Special Relativity model can emerge from a quantum cellular automaton description of the evolution of countably many interacting quantum systems. We consider a one-dimensional automaton that spawns the Dirac evolution in the relativistic limit of small wave-vectors and masses (in Planck units). The assumption of invariance of dispersion relations for boosted observers leads to a non-linear representation of the Lorentz group on the $(ω,k)$ space, with an additional invariant given by the wave-vector $k=π/2$. The space-time reconstructed from the $(ω,k)$ space is intrinsically quantum, and exhibits the phenomenon of relative locality.
We introduce a quantum cellular automaton that achieves approximate phase-covariant cloning of qubits. The automaton is optimized for 1-to-2N economical cloning. The use of the automaton for cloning allows us to exploit different foliations for improving the performance with given resources.
After more than a century since its birth, Quantum Theory still eludes our understanding. If asked to describe it, we have to resort to abstract and ad hoc principles about complex Hilbert spaces. How is it possible that a fundamental physical theory cannot be described using the ordinary language of Physics? Here we offer a contribution to the problem from the angle of Quantum Information, providing a short non-technical presentation of a recent derivation of Quantum Theory from information-theoretic principles. The broad picture emerging from the principles is that Quantum Theory is the only standard theory of information compatible with the purity and reversibility of physical processes.
Quantum theory can be derived from purely informational principles. Five elementary axioms-causality, perfect distinguishability, ideal compression, local distinguishability, and pure conditioning-define a broad class of theories of information-processing that can be regarded as a standard. One postulate-purification-singles out quantum theory within this class. The main structures of quantum theory, such as the representation of mixed states as convex combinations of perfectly distinguishable pure states, are derived directly from the principles without using the Hilbert space framework.
We consider the problem of improving noisy quantum measurements by suitable preprocessing strategies making many noisy detectors equivalent to a single ideal detector. For observables pertaining to finite-dimensional systems (e.g. qubits or spins) we consider preprocessing strategies that are reminiscent of quantum error correction procedures and allows one to perfectly measure an observable on a single quantum system for increasing number of inefficient detectors. For measurements of observables with unbounded spectrum (e.g. photon number, homodyne and heterodyne detection), the purification of noisy quantum measurements can be achieved by preamplification as suggested by H. P. Yuen [1].
A single-party strategy in a multi-round quantum protocol can be implemented by sequential networks of quantum operations connected by internal memories. Here provide the most efficient realization in terms of computational-space resources.
We investigate general probabilistic theories in which every mixed state has a purification, unique up to reversible channels on the purifying system. We show that the purification principle is equivalent to the existence of a reversible realization of every physical process, namely that every physical process can be regarded as arising from a reversible interaction of the system with an environment, which is eventually discarded. From the purification principle we also construct an isomorphism between transformations and bipartite states that possesses all structural properties of the Choi-Jamiolkowski isomorphism in quantum mechanics. Such an isomorphism allows one to prove most of the basic features of quantum mechanics, like e.g. existence of pure bipartite states giving perfect correlations in independent experiments, no information without disturbance, no joint discrimination of all pure states, no cloning, teleportation, no programming, no bit commitment, complementarity between correctable channels and deletion channels, characterization of entanglement-breaking channels as measure-and-prepare channels, and others, without resorting to the mathematical framework of Hilbert spaces.
We address the problem of learning an unknown unitary transformation from a finite number of examples. The problem consists in finding the learning machine that optimally emulates the examples, thus reproducing the unknown unitary maximum fidelity. Learning a unitary is equivalent to storing it in the state of a quantum memory (the memory of the learning machine), and subsequently retrieving it. We prove that, whenever the unknown unitary is drawn from a group, the optimal strategy consists in a parallel call of the available uses followed by a "measure-and-rotate" retrieving. Differing from the case of quantum cloning, where the incoherent "measure-and-prepare" strategies are typically suboptimal, in the case of learning the "measure-and-rotate" strategy is optimal even when the learning machine is asked to reproduce a single copy of the unknown unitary. We finally address the problem of the optimal inversion of an unknown unitary evolution, showing also in this case the optimality of the "measure-and-rotate" strategies and applying our result to the optimal approximate realignment of reference frames for quantum communication.
Bit commitment protocols, whose security is based on the laws of quantum mechanics alone, are generally held to be impossible on the basis of a concealment-bindingness tradeoff. A strengthened and explicit impossibility proof has been given in: G. M. D'Ariano, D. Kretschmann, D. Schlingemann, and R. F. Werner, Phys. Rev. A 76, 032328 (2007), in the Heisenberg picture and in a C*-algebraic framework, considering all conceivable protocols in which both classical and quantum information are exchanged. In the present paper we provide a new impossibility proof in the Schrodinger picture, greatly simplifying the classification of protocols and strategies using the mathematical formulation in terms of quantum combs, with each single-party strategy represented by a conditional comb. We prove that assuming a stronger notion of concealment--worst-case over the classical information histories--allows Alice's cheat to pass also the worst-case Bob's test. The present approach allows us to restate the concealment-bindingness tradeoff in terms of the continuity of dilations of probabilistic quantum combs with respect to the comb-discriminability distance.
After proving a general no-cloning theorem for black boxes, we derive the optimal universal cloning of unitary transformations, from one to two copies. The optimal cloner is realized by quantum channels with memory, and greately outperforms the optimal measure-and-reprepare cloning strategy. Applications are outlined, including two-way quantum cryptographic protocols.
We present probability-fidelity tradeoffs for a varying quantum operation with fixed input-output states and for a varying inversion of a fixed quantum operation.
The core of quantum tomography is the possibility of writing a generally unbounded complex operator in form of an expansion over operators that are generally nonlinear functions of a generally continuous set of spectral densities--the so-called "quorum" of observables. The expansion is generally non unique, the non unicity allowing further optimization for given criteria. The mathematical problem of tomography is thus the classification of all such operator expansions for given (suitably closed) linear spaces of unbounded operators--e.g. Banach spaces of operators with an appropriate norm. Such problem is a difficult one, and remains still open, involving the theory of general basis in Banach spaces, a still unfinished chapter of analysis. In this paper we present new nontrivial operator expansions for the quorum of quadratures of the harmonic oscillator, and introduce a first very preliminary general framework to generate new expansions based on the Kolmogorov construction. The material presented in this paper is intended to be helpful for the solution of the general problem of quantum tomography in infinite dimensions, which corresponds to provide a coherent mathematical framework for operator expansions over functions of a continuous set of spectral densities.
The outcome statistics of an informationally complete quantum measurement for a system in a given state can be used to evaluate the ensemble expectation of any linear operator in the same state, by averaging a function of the outcomes that depends on the specific operator. Here we introduce two novel data-processing strategies, non-linear in the frequencies, which lead to faster convergence to theoretical expectations.