arXiv subjects

Miguel Navascues

Publications and source records attributed to Miguel Navascues.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Resetting uncontrolled quantum systems

We consider a scenario where we wish to bring a closed system of known Hilbert space dimension $d_S$ (the target), subject to an unknown Hamiltonian evolution, back to its quantum state at a past time $t_0$. The target is out of our control: this means that we ignore both its free Hamiltonian and how the system interacts with other quantum systems we may use to influence it. Under these conditions, we prove that there exist protocols within the framework of non-relativistic quantum physics which reset the target system to its exact quantum state at $t_0$. Each "resetting protocol" is successful with non-zero probability for all possible free Hamiltonians and interaction unitaries, save a subset of zero measure. When the target is a qubit and the interaction is sampled from the Haar measure, the simplest resetting circuits have a significant average probability of success and their implementation is within reach of current quantum technologies. Finally, we find that, in case the resetting protocol fails, it is possible to run a further protocol that, if successful, undoes both the natural evolution of the target and the effects of the failed protocol over the latter. By chaining in this fashion several such protocols, one can substantially increase the overall probability of a successful resetting.

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arXiv2018

Bond dimension witnesses and the structure of homogeneous matrix product states

For the past twenty years, Matrix Product States (MPS) have been widely used in solid state physics to approximate the ground state of one-dimensional spin chains. In this paper, we study homogeneous MPS (hMPS), or MPS constructed via site-independent tensors and a boundary condition. Exploiting a connection with the theory of matrix algebras, we derive two structural properties shared by all hMPS, namely: a) there exist local operators which annihilate all hMPS of a given bond dimension; and b) there exist local operators which, when applied over any hMPS of a given bond dimension, decouple (cut) the particles where they act from the spin chain while at the same time join (glue) the two loose ends back again into a hMPS. Armed with these tools, we show how to systematically derive `bond dimension witnesses', or 2-local operators whose expectation value allows us to lower bound the bond dimension of the underlying hMPS. We extend some of these results to the ansatz of Projected Entangled Pairs States (PEPS). As a bonus, we use our insight on the structure of hMPS to: a) derive some theoretical limitations on the use of hMPS and hPEPS for ground state energy computations; b) show how to decrease the complexity and boost the speed of convergence of the semidefinite programming hierarchies described in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 020501 (2015)] for the characterization of finite-dimensional quantum correlations.

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arXiv2017

Convex separation from convex optimization for large-scale problems

We present a scheme, based on Gilbert's algorithm for quadratic minimization [SIAM J. Contrl., vol. 4, pp. 61-80, 1966], to prove separation between a point and an arbitrary convex set $S\subset\mathbb{R}^{n}$ via calls to an oracle able to perform linear optimizations over $S$. Compared to other methods, our scheme has almost negligible memory requirements and the number of calls to the optimization oracle does not depend on the dimensionality $n$ of the underlying space. We study the speed of convergence of the scheme under different promises on the shape of the set $S$ and/or the location of the point, validating the accuracy of our theoretical bounds with numerical examples. Finally, we present some applications of the scheme in quantum information theory. There we find that our algorithm out-performs existing linear programming methods for certain large scale problems, allowing us to certify nonlocality in bipartite scenarios with upto $42$ measurement settings. We apply the algorithm to upper bound the visibility of two-qubit Werner states, hence improving known lower bounds on Grothendieck's constant $K_G(3)$. Similarly, we compute new upper bounds on the visibility of GHZ states and on the steerability limit of Werner states for a fixed number of measurement settings.

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arXiv2016

Composing decoherence functionals

Quantum Measure Theory (QMT) is a generalization of quantum theory where physical predictions are computed from a matrix known as \emph{decoherence functional} (DF). Previous works have noted that, in its original formulation, QMT exhibits a problem with composability, since the composition of two decoherence functionals is, in general, not a valid decoherence functional. This does not occur when the DFs in question happen to be positive semidefinite (a condition known as strong positivity). In this paper, we study the concept of composability of DFs and its consequences for QMT. Firstly, we show that the problem of composability is much deeper than originally envisaged, since, for any $n$, there exists a DF that can co-exist with $n-1$ copies of itself, but not with $n$. Secondly, we prove that the set of strongly positive DFs cannot be enlarged while remaining closed under composition. Furthermore, any closed set of DFs containing all quantum DFs can only contain strongly positive DFs.

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arXiv2015

Characterizing finite-dimensional quantum behavior

We study and extend the semidefinite programming (SDP) hierarchies introduced in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 020501] for the characterization of the statistical correlations arising from finite dimensional quantum systems. First, we introduce the dimension-constrained noncommutative polynomial optimization (NPO) paradigm, where a number of polynomial inequalities are defined and optimization is conducted over all feasible operator representations of bounded dimensionality. Important problems in device independent and semi-device independent quantum information science can be formulated (or almost formulated) in this framework. We present effective SDP hierarchies to attack the general dimension-constrained NPO problem (and related ones) and prove their asymptotic convergence. To illustrate the power of these relaxations, we use them to derive new dimension witnesses for temporal and Bell-type correlation scenarios, and also to bound the probability of success of quantum random access codes.

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arXiv2014

Bounding the set of finite dimensional quantum correlations

We describe a simple method to derive high performance semidefinite programming relaxations for optimizations over complex and real operator algebras in finite dimensional Hilbert spaces. The method is very flexible, easy to program and allows the user to assess the behavior of finite dimensional quantum systems in a number of interesting setups. We use this method to bound the strength of quantum nonlocality in bipartite and tripartite Bell scenarios where the dimension of a subset of the parties is bounded from above. We derive new results in quantum communication complexity and prove the soundness of the prepare-and-measure dimension witnesses introduced in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 230501 (2010)]. Finally, we propose a new dimension witness that can distinguish between classical, real and complex two-level systems.

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arXiv2014

Device-independent tomography of multipartite quantum states

In the usual tomography of multipartite entangled quantum states one assumes that the measurement devices used in the laboratory are under perfect control of the experimenter. In this paper, using the so-called SWAP concept introduced recently, we show how one can remove this assumption in realistic experimental conditions and nevertheless be able to characterize the produced multipartite state based only on observed statistics. Such a black box tomography of quantum states is termed self-testing. As a function of the magnitude of the Bell violation, we are able to self-test emblematic multipartite quantum states such as the three-qubit W state, the three- and four-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, and the four-qubit linear cluster state.

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arXiv2014

How energy conservation limits our measurements

Observations in Quantum Mechanics are subject to complex restrictions arising from the principle of energy conservation. Determining such restrictions, however, has been so far an elusive task, and only partial results are known. In this paper we discuss how constraints on the energy spectrum of a measurement device translate into limitations on the measurements which we can effect on a target system with non-trivial energy operator. We provide efficient algorithms to characterize such limitations and we quantify them exactly when the target is a two-level quantum system. Our work thus identifies the boundaries between what is possible or impossible to measure, i.e., between what we can see or not, when energy conservation is at stake.

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arXiv2014

Quantifying Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering is a form of bipartite quantum correlation that is intermediate between entanglement and Bell nonlocality. It allows for entanglement certification when the measurements performed by one of the parties are not characterised (or are untrusted) and has applications in quantum key distribution. Despite its foundational and applied importance, EPR steering lacks a quantitative assessment. Here we propose a way of quantifying this phenomenon and use it to study the steerability of several quantum states. In particular we show that every pure entangled state is maximally steerable, the projector onto the anti-symmetric subspace is maximally steerable for all dimensions, we provide a new example of one-way steering, and give strong support that states with positive-partial-transposition are not steerable.

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arXiv2014

The Physics of crypto-nonlocality

In 2003, Leggett introduced his model of crypto-nonlocality based on considerations on the reality of the photon polarization. In this note, we prove that, contrary to hints in subsequent literature, crypto-nonlocality does not follow naturally from the postulate that polarization is a realistic variable. More explicitly, consider physical theories where: a) faster-than-light communication is impossible; b) all physical photon states have a definite polarization; and c) given two separate photons, if we measure one of them and post-select on the result, the measurement statistics of the remaining system correspond to a photon state. We show that the outcomes of any two-photon polarization experiment in these theories must follow the statistics generated by measuring a separable two-qubit quantum state. Consequently, in such experiments any instance of entanglement detection -and not necessarily a Leggett inequality violation- can be regarded as a refutation of this class of theories.

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arXiv2014

Closed sets of correlations: answers from the zoo

We investigate the conditions under which a set of multipartite nonlocal correlations can describe the distributions achievable by distant parties conducting experiments in a consistent universe. Several questions are posed, such as: are all such sets "nested", i.e., contained into one another? Are they discrete or do they form a continuum? How many of them are supraquantum? Are there non-trivial polytopes among them? We answer some of these questions or relate them with established conjectures in complexity theory by introducing a "zoo" of physically consistent sets which can be characterized efficiently via either linear or semidefinite programming. As a bonus, we use the zoo to derive, for the first time, concrete impossibility results in nonlocality distillation.

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arXiv2014

Characterization of quantum correlations with local dimension constraints and its device-independent applications

The future progress of semi-device independent quantum information science depends crucially on our ability to bound the strength of the nonlocal correlations achievable with finite dimensional quantum resources. In this work, we characterize quantum nonlocality under local dimension constraints via a complete hierarchy of semidefinite programming relaxations. In the bipartite case, we find that the first level of the hierarchy returns non-trivial bounds in all cases considered, allowing to study nonlocality scenarios with four measurement settings on one side and twelve (12) on the other in a normal desktop. In the tripartite case, we apply the hierarchy to derive a Bell-type inequality that can only be violated when each of the three parties has local dimension greater than two, hence certifying three-dimensional tripartite entanglement in a device independent way. Finally, we show how the new method can be trivially modified to detect non-separable measurements in two-qubit scenarios.

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arXiv2013

Robust Self Testing of Unknown Quantum Systems into Any Entangled Two-Qubit States

Self testing is a device independent approach to estimate the state and measurement operators, without the need to assume the dimension of our quantum system. In this paper, we show that one can self test black boxes into any pure entangled two-qubit state, by performing simple Bell type experiments. The approach makes use of only one family of two-inputs/two-outputs Bell inequalities. Furthermore, we outline the sufficient conditions for one to self test any dimensional bipartite entangled state. All these methods are robust to small but inevitable experimental errors.

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arXiv2013

Testing microscopic discretization

What can we say about the spectra of a collection of microscopic variables when only their coarse-grained sums are experimentally accessible? In this paper, using the tools and methodology from the study of quantum nonlocality, we develop a mathematical theory of the macroscopic fluctuations generated by ensembles of independent microscopic discrete systems. We provide algorithms to decide which multivariate gaussian distributions can be approximated by sums of finitely-valued random vectors. We study non-trivial cases where the microscopic variables have an unbounded range, as well as asymptotic scenarios with infinitely many macroscopic variables. From a foundational point of view, our results imply that bipartite gaussian states of light cannot be understood as beams of independent d-dimensional particle pairs. It is also shown that the classical description of certain macroscopic optical experiments, as opposed to the quantum one, requires variables with infinite cardinality spectra.

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arXiv2012

Joint system quantum descriptions arising from local quantumness

Bipartite correlations generated by non-signalling physical systems that admit a finite-dimensional local quantum description cannot exceed the quantum limits, i.e., they can always be interpreted as distant measurements of a bipartite quantum state. Here we consider the effect of dropping the assumption of finite dimensionality. Remarkably, we find that the same result holds provided that we relax the tensor structure of space-like separated measurements to mere commutativity. We argue why an extension of this result to tensor representations seems unlikely.

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arXiv2012

Quantum Steering and Space-Like Separation

In non-relativistic quantum mechanics, measurements performed by separate observers are modeled via tensor products. In Algebraic Quantum Field Theory, though, local observables corresponding to space-like separated parties are just required to commute. The problem of determining whether these two definitions of "separation" lead to the same set of bipartite correlations is known in non-locality as Tsirelson's problem. In this article, we prove that the analog of Tsirelson's problem in steering scenarios is false. That is, there exists a steering inequality that can be violated or not depending on how we define space-like separation at the operator level.

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arXiv2012

Pure state estimation and the characterization of entanglement

A connection between the state estimation problem and the separability problem is noticed and exploited to find efficient numerical algorithms to solve the first one. Based on these ideas, we also derive a systematic method to obtain upper bounds on the maximum local fidelity when the states are distributed among several distant parties.

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arXiv2011

A physical approach to Tsirelson's problem

Tsirelson's problem deals with how to model separate measurements in quantum mechanics. In addition to its theoretical importance, the resolution of Tsirelson's problem could have great consequences for device independent quantum key distribution and certified randomness. Unfortunately, understanding present literature on the subject requires a heavy mathematical background. In this paper, we introduce quansality, a new theoretical concept that allows to reinterpret Tsirelson's problem from a foundational point of view. Using quansality as a guide, we recover all known results on Tsirelson's problem in a clear and intuitive way.

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