Quantum Physics from A to Z
This is a collection of statements gathered on the occasion of the Quantum Physics of Nature meeting in Vienna.
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arXiv subjects
V. Vedral
Publications and source records attributed to V. Vedral.
Experimental One-Way Quantum Computing
Standard quantum computation is based on sequences of unitary quantum logic gates which process qubits. The one-way quantum computer proposed by Raussendorf and Briegel is entirely different. It has changed our understanding of the requirements for quantum computation and more generally how we think about quantum physics. This new model requires qubits to be initialized in a highly-entangled cluster state. From this point, the quantum computation proceeds by a sequence of single-qubit measurements with classical feedforward of their outcomes. Because of the essential role of measurement a one-way quantum computer is irreversible. In the one-way quantum computer the order and choices of measurements determine the algorithm computed. We have experimentally realized four-qubit cluster states encoded into the polarization state of four photons. We fully characterize the quantum state by implementing the first experimental four-qubit quantum state tomography. Using this cluster state we demonstrate the feasibility of one-way quantum computing through a universal set of one- and two-qubit operations. Finally, our implementation of Grover's search algorithm demonstrates that one-way quantum computation is ideally suited for such tasks.
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Quantum information processing with noisy cluster states
We provide an analysis of basic quantum information processing protocols under the effect of intrinsic non-idealities in cluster states. These non-idealities are based on the introduction of randomness in the entangling steps that create the cluster state and are motivated by the unavoidable imperfections faced in creating entanglement using condensed-matter systems. Aided by the use of an alternative and very efficient method to construct cluster state configurations, which relies on the concatenation of fundamental cluster structures, we address quantum state transfer and various fundamental gate simulations through noisy cluster states. We find that a winning strategy to limit the effects of noise, is the management of small clusters processed via just a few measurements. Our study also reinforces recent ideas related to the optical implementation of a one-way quantum computer.
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Thermodynamical Detection of Entanglement by Maxwell's Demons
Quantum correlation, or entanglement, is now believed to be an indispensable physical resource for certain tasks in quantum information processing, for which classically correlated states cannot be useful. Besides information processing, what kind of physical processes can exploit entanglement? In this paper, we show that there is indeed a more basic relationship between entanglement and its usefulness in thermodynamics. We derive an inequality showing that we can extract more work out of a heat bath via entangled systems than via classically correlated ones. We also analyze the work balance of the process as a heat engine, in connection with the Second Law of thermodynamics.
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Toward a more economical cluster state quantum computation
We assess the effects of an intrinsic model for imperfections in cluster states by introducing {\it noisy cluster states} and characterizing their role in the one-way model for quantum computation. The action of individual dephasing channels on cluster qubits is also studied. We show that the effect of non-idealities is limited by using small clusters, which requires compact schemes for computation. In light of this, we address an experimentally realizable four-qubit linear cluster which simulates a controlled-{\sf NOT} ({\sf CNOT}).
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Optimal State Discrimination Using Particle Statistics
We present an application of particle statistics to the problem of optimal ambiguous discrimination of quantum states. The states to be discriminated are encoded in the internal degrees of freedom of identical particles, and we use the bunching and antibunching of the external degrees of freedom to discriminate between various internal states. We show that we can achieve the optimal single-shot discrimination probability using only the effects of particle statistics. We discuss interesting applications of our method to detecting entanglement and purifying mixed states. Our scheme can easily be implemented with the current technology.
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Classicality of spin-coherent states via entanglement and distinguishability
We investigate the classical nature of the spin coherent states. In addition to being minimum uncertainty states, as the size of the spin, S, increases, the classical nature is seen to increase in two respects: in their resistance to entanglement generation (when passed through a beam splitter) and in the distinguishability of the states. In the infinite S limit the spin coherent state is a subclass of the optical coherent states (namely the subclass of orthogonal optical coherent states). These states generate no entanglement and are obviously completely distinguishable. The decline of the generated entanglement, and in this sense increase in classicality with S, is very slow and dependent on the amplitude z of the state. Surprisingly we find that for |z| > 1 there is an initial increase in entanglement followed by an extremely gradual decline to zero. The distinguishability, on the other hand, quickly becomes classical for all z. We illustrate the distinguishability of spin coherent states in a novel manner using the representation of Majorana.
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Spin-1/2 geometric phase driven by decohering quantum fields
We calculate the geometric phase of a spin-1/2 system driven by a one and two mode quantum field subject to decoherence. Using the quantum jump approach, we show that the corrections to the phase in the no-jump trajectory are different when considering an adiabatic and non-adiabatic evolution. We discuss the implications of our results from both the fundamental as well as quantum computational perspective.
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Entanglement in The Second Quantization Formalism
We study properties of entangled systems in the (mainly non-relativistic) second quantization formalism. This is then applied to interacting and non-interacting bosons and fermions and the differences between the two are discussed. We present a general formalism to show how entanglement changes with the change of modes of the system. This is illustrated with examples such as the Bose condensation and the Unruh effect. It is then shown that a non-interacting collection of fermions at zero temperature can be entangled in spin providing that their distances do not exceed the inverse Fermi wavenumber. Beyond this distance all bipartite entanglement vanishes, although classical correlations still persist. We compute the entanglement of formation as well as the mutual information for two spin-correlated electrons as a function of their distance. The analogous non-interacting collection of bosons displays no entanglement in the internal degrees of freedom. We show how to generalize our analysis of the entanglement in the internal degrees of freedom to an arbitrary number of particles.
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Geometric phase in open systems
We calculate the geometric phase associated to the evolution of a system subjected to decoherence through a quantum-jump approach. The method is general and can be applied to many different physical systems. As examples, two main source of decoherence are considered: dephasing and spontaneous decay. We show that the geometric phase is completely insensitive to the former, i.e. it is independent of the number of jumps determined by the dephasing operator.
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Classical Correlations and Entanglement in Quantum Measurements
We analyze a quantum measurement where the apparatus is initially in a mixed state. We show that the amount of information gained in a measurement is not equal to the amount of entanglement between the system and the apparatus, but is instead equal to the degree of classical correlations between the two. As a consequence, we derive an uncertainty-like expression relating the information gain in the measurement and the initial mixedness of the apparatus. Final entanglement between the environment and the apparatus is also shown to be relevant for the efficiency of the measurement.
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Vacuum induced Spin-1/2 Berry phase
We calculate the Berry phase of a spin-1/2 particle in a magnetic field considering the quantum nature of the field. The phase reduces to the standard Berry phase in the semiclassical limit and eigenstate of the particle acquires a phase in the vacuum. We also show how to generate a vacuum induced Berry phase considering two quantized modes of the field which has a interesting physical interpretation.
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Subsystem Purity as an Enforcer of Entanglement
We show that entanglement can always arise in the interaction of an arbitrarily large system in any mixed state with a single qubit in a pure state. This small initial purity is enough to enforce entanglement even when the total entropy is close to maximum. We demonstrate this feature using the Jaynes-Cummings interaction of a two level atom in a pure state with a field in a thermal state at an arbitrarily high temperature. We find the time and temperature variation of a lower bound on the amount of entanglement produced and study the classical correlations quantified by the mutual information.
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Geometric phases of mesoscopic spin in Bose-Einstein condensates
We propose a possible scheme for generating spin-J geometric phases using a coupled two-mode Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). First we show how to observe the standard Berry phase using Raman coupling between two hyperfine states of the BEC. We find that the presence of intrinsic interatomic collisions creates degeneracy in energy that allows implementation of the non-Abelian geometric phases as well. The evolutions produced can be used to produce interference between different atomic species with high numbers of atoms or to fine control the difference in atoms between the two species. Finally, we show that errors in the standard Berry phase due to elastic collisions may be corrected by controlling inelastic collisions between atoms.
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Berry's phase in Cavity QED: proposal for observing an effect of field quantization
Geometric phases are well known in classical electromagnetism and quantum mechanics since the early works of Pantcharatnam and Berry. Their origin relies on the geometric nature of state spaces and has been studied in many different systems such as spins, polarized light and atomic physics. Recent works have explored their application in interferometry and quantum computation. Earlier works suggest how to observe these phases in single quantum systems adiabatically driven by external classical devices or sources, where, by classical, we mean any system whose state does not change considerably during the interaction time: an intense magnetic field interacting with a spin 1/2, or a birefringent medium interacting with polarized light. Here we propose a feasible experiment to investigate quantum effects in these phases, arising when this classical source drives not a single quantum system, but two interacting ones. In particular, we show how to observe a signature of field quantization through a vacuum effect in Berry's phase. To do so, we describe the interaction of an atom and a quantized cavity mode altogether driven by an external quasi-classical field.
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Reply to `Singularities of the mixed state phase'
The only difference between Bhandari's viewpoint [quant-ph/0108058] and ours [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2845 (2000)] is that our phase is defined modulo $2π$, whereas Bhandari argues that two phases that differ by $2πn$, $n$ integer, may be distinguished experimentally in a history-dependent manner.
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Spin-Space Entanglement Transfer and Quantum Statistics
Both the topics of entanglement and particle statistics have aroused enormous research interest since the advent of quantum mechanics. Using two pairs of entangled particles we show that indistinguishability enforces a transfer of entanglement from the internal to the spatial degrees of freedom without any interaction between these degrees of freedom. Moreover, sub-ensembles selected by local measurements of the path will in general have different amounts of entanglement in the internal degrees of freedom depending on the statistics (either fermionic or bosonic) of the particles involved.
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Entangling capacity of global phases and implications for Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm
We investigate the creation of entanglement by the application of phases whose value depends on the state of a collection of qubits. First we give the necessary and sufficient conditions for a given set of phases to result in the creation of entanglement in a state comprising of an arbitrary number of qubits. Then we analyze the creation of entanglement between any two qubits in three qubit pure and mixed states. We use our result to prove that entanglement is necessary for Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm to have an exponential advantage over its classical counterpart.
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