arXiv subjects

Thomas C. Fraser

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas C. Fraser.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

On the two-copy distillability of Werner states and a new partial trace inequality

Problem 5 in {\it Five Open Problems in Quantum Information Theory} [PRX Quantum 3, 010101 (2022)], asks whether the two-ququart Werner state $\varrho(4,-\tfrac12)$ is two-copy distillable, where $\varrho(d,\alpha)=(I+\alpha F)/(d^2+\alpha d)$. We answer it in the negative. To this end, we show the following stronger statement: for all $C\in M_{d_1d_2}(\mathbb{C})$ of rank at most $r \le d_1 d_2$, $\mathrm{tr}_1(C)\|_F^2+\|\mathrm{tr}_2(C)\|_F^2 \le r\|C\|_F^2+\frac{1}{r}|\mathrm{tr}(C)|^2$. A result by Costa Rico on the equivalence of this inequality with two-copy undistillability at $r = 2$ then settles Problem 5: $\varrho(4,-\tfrac{1}{2})$ is not two-copy distillable. Furthermore, we show that $\varrho(d,\alpha)$ is two-copy undistillable for every $d\ge2$, if and only if $\alpha\ge-\tfrac{1}{2}$. Thus, the one and two-copy distillability regions of $\varrho(d,\alpha)$ coincide. These results have been found and written up with AI tools, pointing towards a structural change affecting the field of quantum information and computation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Complete entanglement detection using polynomial invariants

Existing methods for deciding whether a bipartite quantum state is separable or entangled typically fall into one of two categories: they are either complete but require access to an explicit density matrix followed by numerical optimization, or they can be evaluated directly by measuring the quantum system but are incomplete, in the sense that they cannot detect all forms of entanglement. In this work, we overcome both limitations in a unified framework. First, we bypass numerical optimization by deriving separability criteria in the form of universal bounds on tensor powers of separable states. We prove that these bounds are complete: every entangled state violates them for sufficiently large tensor powers. Second, we explicitly construct a corresponding complete family of nonlinear entanglement witnesses, which can detect all forms of entanglement without requiring an explicit density matrix. The witnesses we construct are moreover basis-independent, in the sense that they are invariant under conjugation by local unitaries. Altogether, our results expand the toolbox for entanglement detection in arbitrary local dimensions in a manifestly invariant way.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

On quantum functionals for higher-order tensors

Upper and lower quantum functionals, introduced by Christandl, Vrana and Zuiddam (STOC 2018, J. Amer. Math. Soc. 2023), are families of monotone functions of tensors indexed by a weighting on the set of subsets of the tensor legs. Inspired by quantum information theory, they were crafted as obstructions to asymptotic tensor transformations, relevant in algebraic complexity theory. For tensors of order three, and more generally for weightings on singletons for higher-order tensors, the upper and lower quantum functionals coincide and are spectral points in Strassen's asymptotic spectrum. Moreover, the singleton quantum functionals characterize the asymptotic slice rank, whereas general weightings provide upper bounds on asymptotic partition rank. It has been an open question whether the upper and lower quantum functionals also coincide for other cases, or more generally, how to construct further spectral points, especially for higher-order tensors. In this work, we show that upper and lower quantum functionals generally do not coincide, but that they anchor new spectral points. With this we mean that there exist new spectral points, which equal the quantum functionals on the set of tensors on which upper and lower coincide. The set is shown to include embedded three-tensors and W-like states and concerns all laminar weightings, significantly extending the singleton case.

math.AG↗

arXiv2025

The tetrahedral Horn problem and asymptotics of U(n) 6j symbols

Horn's problem is concerned with characterizing the eigenvalues $(a,b,c)$ of Hermitian matrices $(A,B,C)$ satisfying the constraint $A+B=C$ and forming the edges of a triangle in the space of Hermitian matrices. It has deep connections to tensor product invariants, Littlewood-Richardson coefficients, geometric invariant theory and the intersection theory of Schubert varieties. This paper concerns the tetrahedral Horn problem which aims to characterize the tuples of eigenvalues $(a,b,c,d,e,f)$ of Hermitian matrices $(A,B,C,D,E,F)$ forming the edges of a tetrahedron, and thus satisfying the constraints $A+B=C$, $B+D=F$, $D+C=E$ and $A+F=E$. Here we derive new inequalities satisfied by the Schur-polynomials of such eigenvalues and, using eigenvalue estimation techniques from quantum information theory, prove their satisfaction up to degree $k$ implies the existence of approximate solutions with error $O(\ln k / k)$. Moreover, the existence of these tetrahedra is related to the semiclassical asymptotics of the $6j$-symbols for the unitary group $U(n)$, which are maps between multiplicity spaces that encode the associativity relation for tensor products of irreducible representations. Using our techniques, we prove the asymptotics of norms of these $6j$-symbols are either inverse-polynomial or exponential depending on whether there exists such tetrahedra of Hermitian matrices.

math.RT↗

arXiv2023

An estimation theoretic approach to quantum realizability problems

This thesis seeks to develop a general method for solving so-called quantum realizability problems, which are questions of the following form: under which conditions does there exist a quantum state exhibiting a given collection of properties? The approach adopted by this thesis is to utilize mathematical techniques previously developed for the related problem of property estimation which is concerned with learning or estimating the properties of an unknown quantum state. Our primary result is to recognize a correspondence between (i) property values which are realized by some quantum state, and (ii) property values which are occasionally produced as estimates of a generic quantum state. Chapter 3 reviews concepts of stability and norm minimization from geometric invariant theory and non-commutative optimization theory for the purposes of characterizing the flow of a quantum state under the action of a reductive group. Chapter 4 demonstrates how the gradient of this flow, also called the moment map, can be estimated by performing a covariant quantum measurement on a large number of identical copies of the quantum state. Chapter 5 outlines the correspondence between between the realizability of a moment map value on one hand and the asymptotic likelihood it is produced as an estimate on the other hand. By appropriately composing these moment map estimation schemes, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a quantum state jointly realizing any finite collection of moment maps. Chapter 6 applies these insights to the quantum marginal problem and is a duplication of arXiv:2211.00685.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Understanding the interplay of entanglement and nonlocality: motivating and developing a new branch of entanglement theory

A standard approach to quantifying resources is to determine which operations on the resources are freely available, and to deduce the partial order over resources that is induced by the relation of convertibility under the free operations. If the resource of interest is the nonclassicality of the correlations embodied in a quantum state, i.e., entanglement, then the common assumption is that the appropriate choice of free operations is Local Operations and Classical Communication (LOCC). We here advocate for the study of a different choice of free operations, namely, Local Operations and Shared Randomness (LOSR), and demonstrate its utility in understanding the interplay between the entanglement of states and the nonlocality of the correlations in Bell experiments. Specifically, we show that the LOSR paradigm (i) provides a resolution of the anomalies of nonlocality, wherein partially entangled states exhibit more nonlocality than maximally entangled states, (ii) entails new notions of genuine multipartite entanglement and nonlocality that are free of the pathological features of the conventional notions, and (iii) makes possible a resource-theoretic account of the self-testing of entangled states which generalizes and simplifies prior results. Along the way, we derive some fundamental results concerning the necessary and sufficient conditions for convertibility between pure entangled states under LOSR and highlight some of their consequences, such as the impossibility of catalysis for bipartite pure states. The resource-theoretic perspective also clarifies why it is neither surprising nor problematic that there are mixed entangled states which do not violate any Bell inequality. Our results motivate the study of LOSR-entanglement as a new branch of entanglement theory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

A sufficient family of necessary inequalities for the compatibility of quantum marginals

The quantum marginal problem is concerned with characterizing which collections of quantum states on different subsystems are compatible in the sense that they are the marginals of some multipartite quantum state. Presented here is a countable family of inequalities, each of which is necessarily satisfied by any compatible collection of quantum states. Additionally, this family of inequalities is shown to be sufficient: every incompatible collection of quantum states will violate at least one inequality belonging to the family.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

A Combinatorial Solution to Causal Compatibility

Within the field of causal inference, it is desirable to learn the structure of causal relationships holding between a system of variables from the correlations that these variables exhibit; a sub-problem of which is to certify whether or not a given causal hypothesis is compatible with the observed correlations. A particularly challenging setting for assessing causal compatibility is in the presence of partial information; i.e. when some of the variables are hidden/latent. This paper introduces the possible worlds framework as a method for deciding causal compatibility in this difficult setting. We define a graphical object called a possible worlds diagram, which compactly depicts the set of all possible observations. From this construction, we demonstrate explicitly, using several examples, how to prove causal incompatibility. In fact, we use these constructions to prove causal incompatibility where no other techniques have been able to. Moreover, we prove that the possible worlds framework can be adapted to provide a complete solution to the possibilistic causal compatibility problem. Even more, we also discuss how to exploit graphical symmetries and cross-world consistency constraints in order to implement a hierarchy of necessary compatibility tests that we prove converges to sufficiency.

stat.OT↗

arXiv2020

Causal Compatibility Inequalities Admitting Quantum Violations in the Triangle Structure

It has long been recognized that certain quantum correlations are incompatible with particular assumption about classical causal structure. Given a causal structure of unknown classicality, the presence of such correlations certifies the nonclassical nature of the causal structure in a device-independent fashion. In structures where all parties share a common resource, these nonclassical correlations are also known as nonlocal correlations. Any constraint satisfied by all correlations which are classically compatible with a given causal structure defines a causal compatibility criterion. Such criteria were recently derived for the Triangle structure (E. Wolfe et al., arXiv:1609.00672) in the form of polynomial inequalities, begging the question of whether any of those inequalities admit violation by quantum correlations. Numerical investigation suggests that they do not, and we further conjecture that the set of correlations admitted by the classical Triangle structure is equivalent to the set of correlations admitted by its quantum generalization whenever the three observable variables are binary. Our main contribution in this work, however, is the derivation of new causal compatibility inequalities for the Triangle structure which do admit quantum violation. This provides a robust-to-noise witness of quantum correlations in the Triangle structure. We conclude by considering the possibility of quantum resources potentially qualitatively different from those known previously.

quant-ph↗