arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Paolo Perinotti.
We propose quantum cryptographic protocols to secretly communicate a reference frame- unspeakable information in the sense it cannot be encoded into a string of bits. Two distant parties can secretly align their Cartesian axes by exchanging N spin 1/2 particles, achieving the optimal accuracy 1/N. A possible eavesdropper cannot gain any information without being detected.
We consider quantum-memory assisted protocols for discriminating quantum channels. We show that for optimal discrimination of memory channels, memory assisted protocols are needed. This leads to a new notion of distance for channels with memory. For optimal discrimination and estimation of sets of unitary channels memory-assisted protocols are not required.
We introduce the quantum indirect estimation theory, which provides a general framework to address the problem of which ensemble averages can be estimated by means of an available set of measuring apparatuses, e. g. estimate the ensemble average of an observable by measuring other observable. A main ingredient in this approach is that of informationally complete (infocomplete in short) measurements, which allow to estimate the ensemble average of any arbitrary system operator, as for quantum tomography. This naturally leads to the more stringent concept of AB-informationally complete measurements, by which one can estimate jointly all the moments of two incompatible observables A and B. After analyzing all general properties of such measurements, we address the problem of their optimality, and we completely solve the case of qubits, showing that a sigma_x sigma_y-infocomplete measurement is less noisy than any infocomplete one. We will also discuss the relation between the concept of AB-infocompleteness and the notion of joint measurement of observables A and B.
We address the general problem of removing correlations from quantum states while preserving local quantum information as much as possible. We provide a complete solution in the case of two qubits, by evaluating the minimum amount of noise that is necessary to decorrelate covariant sets of bipartite states. We show that two harmonic oscillators in arbitrary Gaussian state can be decorrelated by a Gaussian covariant map. Finally, for finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces, we prove that states obtained from most cloning channels (e.g., universal and phase-covariant cloning) can be decorrelated only at the expense of a complete erasure of information about the copied state. More generally, in finite dimension, cloning without correlations is impossible for continuous sets of states. On the contrary, for continuos variables cloning, a slight modification of the customary set-up for cloning coherent states allows one to obtain clones without correlations.
We present a method for optimizing quantum circuits architecture. The method is based on the notion of "quantum comb", which describes a circuit board in which one can insert variable subcircuits. The method allows one to efficiently address novel kinds of quantum information processing tasks, such as storing-retrieving, and cloning of channels.
We consider the general measurement scenario in which the ensemble average of an operator is determined via suitable data-processing of the outcomes of a quantum measurement described by a POVM. After reviewing the optimization of data processing that minimizes the statistical error of the estimation, we provide a compact formula for the evaluation of the estimation error.
We consider the general measurement scenario in which the ensemble average of an operator is determined via suitable data-processing of the outcomes of a quantum measurement described by a POVM. We determine the optimal processing that minimizes the statistical error of the estimation.
We consider the problem of broadcasting arbitrary states of radiation modes from N to M>N copies by a map that preserves the average value of the field and optimally reduces the total noise in conjugate variables. For N>=2 the broadcasting can be achieved perfectly, and for sufficiently noisy input states one can even purify the state while broadcasting--the so-called superbroadcasting. For purification (i.e. M<=N), the reduction of noise is independent of M. Similar results are proved for broadcasting with phase-conjugation. All the optimal maps can be implemented by linear optics and linear amplification.
We consider the problem of broadcasting quantum information encoded in the average value of the field from N to M>N copies of mixed states of radiation modes. We derive the broadcasting map that preserves the complex amplitude, while optimally reducing the noise in conjugate quadratures. We find that from two input copies broadcasting is feasible, with the possibility of simultaneous purification (superbroadcasting). We prove similar results for purification (M<=N) and for phase-conjugate broadcasting.
We describe a general framework to study covariant symmetric broadcasting maps for mixed qubit states. We explicitly derive the optimal N to M superbroadcasting maps, achieving optimal purification of the single-site output copy, in both the universal and the phase covariant cases. We also study the bipartite entanglement properties of the superbroadcast states.
We consider the problem of estimating the ensemble average of an observable on an ensemble of equally prepared identical quantum systems. We show that, among all kinds of measurements performed jointly on the copies, the optimal unbiased estimation is achieved by the usual procedure that consists in performing independent measurements of the observable on each system and averaging the measurement outcomes.
"Broadcasting", namely distributing information over many users, suffers in-principle limitations when the information is quantum. This poses a critical issue in quantum information theory, for distributed processing and networked communications. For pure states ideal broadcasting coincides with the so-called "quantum cloning", describing an hypothetical ideal device capable of producing from a finite number N of copies of a state (drawn from a set) a larger number M>N of output copies of the same state. Since such a transformation is not isometric, it cannot be achieved by any physical machine for a quantum state drawn from a non orthogonal set: this is essentially the content of the "no-cloning" theorem. For mixed states the situation is quite different, since from the point of view of each single user a local marginal mixed state is indistinguishable from the partial trace of an entangled state, and there are infinitely many joint output states that correspond to ideal broadcasting. Indeed, for sufficiently large number $N$ of input copies, not only ideal broadcasting of noncommuting mixed states is possible, but one can even purify the state in the process. Such state purification with an increasing number of copies has been named "superbroadcasting". In this paper we will review some recent results on superbroadcasting of qubits, for two different sets of input states, corresponding to universally covariant broadcasting and to phase-covariant broadcasting of equatorial states.
We review some partial results for two strictly related problems. The first problem consists in finding the optimal joint unitary transformation on system and ancilla which is the most efficient in programming any desired channel on the system by changing the state of the ancilla. In this respect we present a solution for dimension two for both system and ancilla. The second problem consists in finding the optimal universal programmable detector, namely a device that can be tuned to perform any desired measurement on a given quantum system, by changing the state of an ancilla. With a finite dimension for the ancilla only approximate universal programmability is possible, with minimal dimension increasing function versus the precision of the approximation. We show that one can achieve a dimension growing polynomially versus the precision, and even linearly in specific cases.
We address the problem of finding the optimal joint unitary transformation on system + ancilla which is the most efficient in programming any desired channel on the system by changing the state of the ancilla. We present a solution to the problem for dim(H)=2 for both system and ancilla.
We address the problem of optimal estimation of the relative phase for two-dimensional quantum systems in mixed states. In particular, we derive the optimal measurement procedures for an arbitrary number of qubits prepared in the same mixed state.
We derive the optimal universal broadcasting for mixed states of qubits. We show that the nobroadcasting theorem cannot be generalized to more than a single input copy. Moreover, for four or more input copies it is even possible to purify the input states while broadcasting. We name such purifying broadcasting superbroadcasting.
Similarly to quantum states, also quantum measurements can be "mixed", corresponding to a random choice within an ensemble of measuring apparatuses. Such mixing is equivalent to a sort of hidden variable, which produces a noise of purely classical nature. It is then natural to ask which apparatuses are "indecomposable", i. e. do not correspond to any random choice of apparatuses. This problem is interesting not only for foundations, but also for applications, since most optimization strategies give optimal apparatuses that are indecomposable. Mathematically the problem is posed describing each measuring apparatus by a positive operator-valued measure (POVM), which gives the statistics of the outcomes for any input state. The POVM's form a convex set, and in this language the indecomposable apparatuses are represented by extremal points--the analogous of "pure states" in the convex set of states. Differently from the case of states, however, indecomposable POVM's are not necessarily rank-one, e. g. von Neumann measurements. In this paper we give a complete classification of indecomposable apparatuses (for discrete spectrum), by providing different necessary and sufficient conditions for extremality of POVM's, along with a simple general algorithm for the decomposition of a POVM into extremals. As an interesting application, "informationally complete" measurements are analyzed in this respect. The convex set of POVM's is fully characterized by determining its border in terms of simple algebraic properties of the corresponding POVM's.
A universal programmable detector is a device that can be tuned to perform any desired measurement on a given quantum system, by changing the state of an ancilla. With a finite dimension d for the ancilla only approximate universal programmability is possible, with "size" d=f(1/e) increasing function of the "accuracy" 1/e. In this letter we show that, much better than the exponential size known in the literature, one can achieve polynomial size. An explicit example with linear size is also presented. Finally, we show that for covariant measurements exact programmability is feasible.