arXiv subjects

J. Solomon Ivan

Publications and source records attributed to J. Solomon Ivan.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2017

Scaling maps of $s$-ordered quasiprobabilities are either nonpositive or completely positive

Continuous-variable systems in quantum theory can be fully described through any one of the ${\rm s}$-ordered family of quasiprobabilities $Λ_{\rm s}(α)$, ${\rm s} \in [-1,1]$. We ask for what values of $({\rm s}, a)$ is the scaling map $Λ_{\rm s}(α) \rightarrow a^{-2} Λ_{\rm s}(a^{-1}α)$ a positive map? Our analysis based on a duality we establish settles this issue (i) the scaling map generically fails to be positive, showing that there is no useful entanglement witness of the scaling type beyond the transpose map, and (ii) in the two particular cases $({\rm s}=1, |a| \leq 1)$ and $({\rm s}=-1, |a| \geq 1)$, and only in these two non-trivial cases, the map is not only positive but also completely positive as seen through the noiseless attenuator and amplifier channels. We also present a `phase diagram' for the behaviour of the scaling maps in the ${\rm s}-a$ parameter space with regard to its positivity, obtained from the viewpoint of symmetric-ordered characteristic functions. This also sheds light on similar diagrams for the practically relevant attenuation and amplification maps with respect to the noise parameter, especially in the range below the complete-positivity (or quantum-limited) threshold.

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arXiv2013

Classical Light Sources with Tunable Temporal Coherence and Tailored Photon Number Distributions

We demonstrate the generation of classical incoherent light with electronic control over its temporal characteristics and photon number distribution. The tunability of the temporal coherence is shown, under both classical and quantum detection, through second order correlation ($G^2(τ)$) measurements. The tailoring of desired classical photon number distributions is illustrated by creating two representative light sources - one thermal and the other a specific classical, non-Gaussian state. Such generation of classical light sources, quite different from existing natural light sources, is likely to be a useful resource in quantum information processing. As a particular application in this direction we outline how a non-Gaussian state generated in this manner may be mixed with an appropriate non-classical Gaussian state at a beamsplitter, to generate non-Gaussian entanglement.

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arXiv2013

Is nonclassicality-breaking the same thing as entanglement-breaking?

Nonclassicality and entanglement are notions fundamental to quantum information processes involving continuous variable systems. That these two notions are intimately related has been intuitively appreciated for quite some time. An aspect of considerable interest is the behaviour of these attributes of a state under the action of a noisy channel. Inspired by the notion of entanglement-breaking channels, we define the concept of nonclassicality-breaking channels in a natural manner. We show that the notion of nonclassicality-breaking is essentially equivalent---in a clearly defined sense of the phrase `essentially'---to the notion of entanglement-breaking, as far as bosonic Gaussian channels are concerned. This is notwithstanding the fact that the very notion of entanglement-breaking requires reference to a bipartite system, whereas the definition of nonclassicality-breaking makes no such reference. Our analysis rests on our classification of channels into nonclassicality-based, as against entanglement-based, types of canonical forms. Our result takes ones intuitive understanding of the close relationship between nonclassicality and entanglement a step closer.

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arXiv2013

Quantum discord plays no distinguished role in characterization of complete positivity: Robustness of the traditional scheme

The traditional scheme for realizing open-system quantum dynamics takes the initial state of the system-bath composite as a simple product. Currently, however, the issue of system-bath initial correlations possibly affecting the reduced dynamics of the system has been attracting considerable interest. The influential work of Shabani and Lidar [PRL {\bf 102}, 100402 (2009)] famously related this issue to quantum discord, a concept which has in recent years occupied the centre-stage of quantum information theory and has led to several fundamental results. They suggested that reduced dynamics is completely positive if and only if the initial system-bath correlations have vanishing quantum discord. Here we show that there is, within the Shabani-Lidar framework, no scope for any distinguished role for quantum discord in respect of complete positivity of reduced dynamics. Since most applications of quantum theory to real systems rests on the traditional scheme, its robustness demonstrated here could be of far-reaching significance.

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arXiv2011

Robustness of non-Gaussian entanglement against noisy amplifier and attenuator environments

The recently developed Kraus representation for bosonic Gaussian channels is employed to study analytically the robustness of non-Gaussian entanglement against evolution under noisy attenuator and amplifier environments, and compare it with the robustness of Gaussian entanglement. Our results show that some non-Gaussian states with one ebit of entanglement are more robust than all Gaussian states, even the ones with arbitrarily large entanglement, a conclusion of direct consequence to the recent conjecture by Allegra et al. [PRL, 105, 100503 (2010)].

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arXiv2010

Operator-sum Representation for Bosonic Gaussian Channels

Operator-sum or Kraus representations for single-mode Bosonic Gaussian channels are developed, and several of their consequences explored. Kraus operators are employed to bring out the manner in which the unphysical matrix transposition map when accompanied by injection of a threshold classical noise becomes a physical channel. The action of the quantum-limited attenuator and amplifier channels as simply scaling maps on suitable quasi-probabilities in phase space is examined in the Kraus picture. Consideration of cumulants is used to examine the issue of fixed points. In the cases of entanglement-breaking channels a description in terms of rank one Kraus operators is shown to emerge quite simply. In contradistinction, it is shown that there is not even one finite rank operator in the entire linear span of Kraus operators of the quantum-limited amplifier or attenuator families, an assertion far stronger than the statement that these are not entanglement breaking channels. A characterization of extremality in terms of Kraus operators, originally due to Choi, is employed to show that all quantum-limited Gaussian channels are extremal. The fact that every noisy Gaussian channel can be realised as product of a pair of quantum-limited channels is used to construct a discrete set of linearly independent Kraus operators for noisy Gaussian channels, including the classical noise channel, and these Kraus operators have a particularly simple structure.

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arXiv2010

Entanglement and nonclassicality for multi-mode radiation field states

Nonclassicality in the sense of quantum optics is a prerequisite for entanglement in multi-mode radiation states. In this work we bring out the possibilities of passing from the former to the latter, via action of classicality preserving systems like beamsplitters, in a transparent manner. For single mode states, a complete description of nonclassicality is available via the classical theory of moments, as a set of necessary and sufficient conditions on the photon number distribution. We show that when the mode is coupled to an ancilla in any coherent state, and the system is then acted upon by a beamsplitter, these conditions turn exactly into signatures of NPT entanglement of the output state. Since the classical moment problem does not generalize to two or more modes, we turn in these cases to other familiar sufficient but not necessary conditions for nonclassicality, namely the Mandel parameter criterion and its extensions. We generalize the Mandel matrix from one-mode states to the two-mode situation, leading to a natural classification of states with varying levels of nonclassicality. For two--mode states we present a single test that can, if successful, simultaneously show nonclassicality as well as NPT entanglement. We also develop a test for NPT entanglement after beamsplitter action on a nonclassical state, tracing carefully the way in which it goes beyond the Mandel nonclassicality test. The result of three--mode beamsplitter action after coupling to an ancilla in the ground state is treated in the same spirit. The concept of genuine tripartite entanglement, and scalar measures of nonclassicality at the Mandel level for two-mode systems, are discussed. Numerous examples illustrating all these concepts are presented.

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arXiv2008

A measure of non-Gaussianity for quantum states

We propose a measure of non-Gaussianity for quantum states of a system of $n$ oscillator modes. Our measure is based on the quasi-probability $Q(α), α\in{\cal C}^n$. Since any measure of non-Gaussianity is necessarily an attempt at making a quantitative statement on the departure of the shape of the $Q$ function from Gaussian, any good measure of non-Gaussianity should be invariant under transformations which do not alter the shape of the $Q$ functions, namely displacements, passage through passive linear systems, and uniform scaling of all the phase space variables: $Q(α)\to λ^{2n}Q(λα)$. Our measure which meets this `shape criterion' is computed for a few families of states, and the results are contrasted with existing measures of non-Gaussianity. The shape criterion implies, in particular, that the non-Gaussianity of the photon-added thermal states should be independent of temperature.

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arXiv2008

Compatibility conditions on local and global spectra for $n$-mode Gaussian states

Compatibility conditions between the (global) spectrum of an $n$-mode Gaussian state and the spectra of the individual modes are presented, making optimal use of beam splitter and (two-mode) squeezing transformations. An unexpected bye-product of our elementary approach is the result that every two-mode Gaussian state is uniquely determined, modulo local transformations, by its global spectrum and local spectra -- a property shared not even by a pair of qubits.

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arXiv2008

Entanglement of Formation for Gaussian States

The entanglement of formation (EOF) is computed for arbitrary two-mode Gaussian states. Apart from a conjecture, our analysis rests on two main ingredients. The first is a four-parameter canonical form we develop for the covariance matrix, one of these parameters acting as a measure of EOF, and the second is a generalisation of the EPR correlation, used in the work of Giedke {\em et al} [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 91}, 107901 (2003)], to noncommuting variables. The conjecture itself is in respect of an extremal property of this generalized EPR correlation.

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arXiv2006

Generation of NPT Entanglement from Nonclassical Photon Statistics

With a product state of the form $ρ_{in} = ρ_a\otimes|0>_b_b< 0|$ as input, the output two-mode state $ρ_{\rm out}$, of the beam splitter is shown to be NPT whenever the photon number distribution (PND) statistics $\{p(n_a) \}$ associated with the possibly mixed state $ρ_a$ of the a_mode is antibunched or otherwise nonclassical, i.e., if $\{p(n_a)\}$ fails to respect any one of an infinite of classicality conditions.

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