arXiv subjects

S. Bravyi

Publications and source records attributed to S. Bravyi.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2010

A short proof of stability of topological order under local perturbations

Recently, the stability of certain topological phases of matter under weak perturbations was proven. Here, we present a short, alternate proof of the same result. We consider models of topological quantum order for which the unperturbed Hamiltonian $H_0$ can be written as a sum of local pairwise commuting projectors on a $D$-dimensional lattice. We consider a perturbed Hamiltonian $H=H_0+V$ involving a generic perturbation $V$ that can be written as a sum of short-range bounded-norm interactions. We prove that if the strength of $V$ is below a constant threshold value then $H$ has well-defined spectral bands originating from the low-lying eigenvalues of $H_0$. These bands are separated from the rest of the spectrum and from each other by a constant gap. The width of the band originating from the smallest eigenvalue of $H_0$ decays faster than any power of the lattice size.

math-ph↗

arXiv2006

Lieb-Robinson bounds and the generation of correlations and topological quantum order

The Lieb-Robinson bound states that local Hamiltonian evolution in nonrelativistic quantum mechanical theories gives rise to the notion of an effective light-cone with exponentially decaying tails. We discuss several consequences of this result in the context of quantum information theory. First, we show that the information that leaks out to space-like separated regions is negligable, and that there is a finite speed at which correlations and entanglement can be distributed. Second, we discuss how these ideas can be used to prove lower bounds on the time it takes to convert states without topological quantum order to states with that property. Finally, we show that the rate at which entropy can be created in a block of spins scales like the boundary of that block.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2004

Commutative version of the k-local Hamiltonian problem and common eigenspace problem

We study the complexity of a problem "Common Eigenspace" -- verifying consistency of eigenvalue equations for composite quantum systems. The input of the problem is a family of pairwise commuting Hermitian operators H_1,...,H_r on a Hilbert space (C^d)^{\otimes n} and a string of real numbers h_1,...,h_r. The problem is to determine whether a common eigenspace specified by equalities (H_a - h_a)|ψ>=0, a=1,...,r, has a positive dimension. We consider two cases: (i) all operators H_a are k-local; (ii) all operators H_a are factorized. It can be easily shown that both problems belong to the class QMA - the quantum analogue of NP, and that some NP-complete problems can be reduced to either (i) or (ii). A non-trivial question is whether the problems (i) or (ii) belong to NP? We show that the answer is positive for some special values of k and d. Also we prove that the problem (ii) can be reduced to its special case, such that all operators H_a are factorized projectors and all h_a=0.

quant-ph↗