arXiv subjects

Kate Blanchfield

Publications and source records attributed to Kate Blanchfield.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2014

States that are far from being stabilizer states

Stabilizer states are eigenvectors of maximal commuting sets of operators in a finite Heisenberg group. States that are far from being stabilizer states include magic states in quantum computation, MUB-balanced states, and SIC vectors. In prime dimensions the latter two fall under the umbrella of Minimum Uncertainty States (MUS) in the sense of Wootters and Sussman. We study the correlation between two ways in which the notion of "far from being a stabilizer state" can be quantified, and give detailed results for low dimensions. In dimension 7 we identify the MUB-balanced states as being antipodal to the SIC vectors within the set of MUS, in a sense that we make definite. In dimension 4 we show that the states that come closest to being MUS with respect to all the six stabilizer MUBs are the fiducial vectors for Alltop MUBs.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Order 3 Symmetry in the Clifford Hierarchy

We investigate the action of the first three levels of the Clifford hierarchy on sets of mutually unbiased bases comprising the Ivanovic MUB and the Alltop MUBs. Vectors in the Alltop MUBs exhibit additional symmetries when the dimension is a prime number equal to 1 modulo 3 and thus the set of all Alltop vectors splits into three Clifford orbits. These vectors form configurations with so-called Zauner subspaces, eigenspaces of order 3 elements of the Clifford group highly relevant to the SIC problem. We identify Alltop vectors as the magic states that appear in the context of fault-tolerant universal quantum computing, wherein the appearance of distinct Clifford orbits implies a surprising inequivalence between some magic states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Orbits of mutually unbiased bases

We express Alltop's construction of mutually unbiased bases as orbits under the Weyl-Heisenberg group in prime dimensions and find a related construction in dimensions 2 and 4. We reproduce Alltop's mutually unbiased bases using abelian subgroups of the Clifford group in prime dimensions, in direct analogy to the well-known construction of mutually unbiased bases using abelian subgroups of the Weyl-Heisenberg group. Finally, we prove three theorems relating to the distances and linear dependencies among different sets of mutually unbiased bases.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Linear Dependencies in Weyl-Heisenberg Orbits

Five years ago, Lane Hughston showed that some of the symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures (SICs) in dimension 3 coincide with the Hesse configuration (a structure well known to algebraic geometers, which arises from the torsion points of a certain elliptic curve). This connection with elliptic curves is signalled by the presence of linear dependencies among the SIC vectors. Here we look for analogous connections between SICs and algebraic geometry by performing computer searches for linear dependencies in higher dimensional SICs. We prove that linear dependencies will always emerge in Weyl-Heisenberg orbits when the fiducial vector lies in a certain subspace of an order 3 unitary matrix. This includes SICs when the dimension is divisible by 3 or equal to 8 mod 9. We examine the linear dependencies in dimension 6 in detail and show that smaller dimensional SICs are contained within this structure, potentially impacting the SIC existence problem. We extend our results to look for linear dependencies in orbits when the fiducial vector lies in an eigenspace of other elements of the Clifford group that are not order 3. Finally, we align our work with recent studies on representations of the Clifford group.

math-ph↗

arXiv2012

Proposed experiments of qutrit state-independent contextuality and two-qutrit contextuality-based nonlocality

Recent experiments have demonstrated ququart state-independent quantum contextuality and qutrit state-dependent quantum contextuality. So far, the most basic form of quantum contextuality pointed out by Kochen and Specker, and Bell, has eluded experimental confirmation. Here we present an experimentally feasible test to observe qutrit state-independent quantum contextuality using single photons in a three-path setup. In addition, we show that if the same measurements are performed on two entangled qutrits, rather than sequentially on the same qutrit, then the noncontextual inequality becomes a Bell inequality. We show that this connection also applies to other recently introduced noncontextual inequalities.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

A Kochen-Specker inequality from a SIC

Yu and Oh [1] have given a state independent proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem in three dimensions using only 13 rays. The proof consists of showing that a non-contextual hidden variable theory necessarily leads to an inequality that is violated by quantum mechanics. We give a similar proof making use of 21 rays that constitute a SIC and four Mutually Unbiased Bases.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

How orthogonalities set Kochen-Specker sets

We look at generalisations of sets of vectors proving the Kochen-Specker theorem in 3 and 4 dimensions. It has been shown that two such sets, although unitarily inequivalent, are part of a larger 3-parameter family of vectors that share the same orthogonality graph. We find that these sets are unusual, in that the vectors in all other Kochen-Specker sets investigated here are fully determined by orthogonality conditions and thus admit no free parameters.

quant-ph↗