arXiv subjects

Rafael A. Macêdo

Publications and source records attributed to Rafael A. Macêdo.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

When Symmetry Suppresses Magic

Nonstabilizerness is a critical resource for quantum advantage, but evaluating it, especially for mixed states, requires superexponentially many samples in system size, making the problem NP-hard. While symmetries are known to reduce this complexity, it is unclear whether they also restrict the amount of magic. In this work, we provide an explicit example of such a symmetry by proving that the Robustness of Magic (RoM) for N-qubit X-states is at most $\sqrt{3}$. Leveraging this symmetry constraint, we introduce a computationally efficient method to lower-bound the RoM of arbitrary many-body states, demonstrating its utility on the ground states of a spin-1/2 Hamiltonian with system sizes well beyond the reach of exact evaluation. Furthermore, for Hamiltonians whose equilibrium states are X-states, we analytically derive the critical temperature at which magic emerges. Our work shows why certain symmetries constrain magic while others do not, provides a scalable lower-bounding method, and identifies a nontrivial regime where many-body nonstabilizerness is analytically solvable.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

A trace distance-based geometric analysis of the stabilizer polytope for few-qubit systems

Non-stabilizerness is a fundamental resource for quantum computational advantage, differentiating classically simulable circuits from those capable of universal quantum computation. Recently, non-stabilizerness has been shown to be relevant for a few qubit systems. In this work, we investigate the geometry of the stabilizer polytope in few-qubit quantum systems, using the trace distance to the stabilizer set to quantify non-stabilizerness. By randomly sampling quantum states, we analyze the distribution of non-stabilizerness for both pure and mixed states and compare the trace distance with other non-stabilizerness measures, as well as entanglement. Additionally, we give an analytical expression for the introduced quantifier, classify Bell-like inequalities corresponding to the facets of the stabilizer polytope, and establish a general concentration result connecting non-stabilizerness and entanglement via Fannes' inequality. Our findings provide new insights into the geometric structure of non-stabilizerness and its role in small-scale quantum systems, offering a deeper understanding of the interplay between quantum resources

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Every Little Thing Heat Does Is Magic

How can one certify that an unknown quantum state possesses magic without resorting to full state tomography? We address this question by introducing two thermodynamic witnesses that rely solely on energy and heat measurements. First, we define the stabilizer ground-state energy as the lowest energy achievable by any stabilizer state, and the stabilizer gap as the separation between this value and the true ground-state energy. Any state whose energy lies below the stabilizer ground-state energy is therefore necessarily nonstabilizer. This leads to a direct witness of magic using only average-energy measurements. To overcome the limitations when direct energy measurements are inconclusive, we further develop a nonlinear witness based on heat exchange with a thermal ancilla. Specifically, we derive fundamental bounds on heat that are satisfied by all stabilizer states; therefore, their violation certifies the presence of magic. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach through several examples, ranging from few-body systems where heat exchange reveals nonstabilizerness even when energy measurements alone fail, to the transverse-field Ising chain, where the stabilizer gap becomes maximal at the quantum critical point.

quant-ph↗