arXiv subjects

William K. Wootters

Publications and source records attributed to William K. Wootters.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2005

Discrete phase space based on finite fields

The original Wigner function provides a way of representing in phase space the quantum states of systems with continuous degrees of freedom. Wigner functions have also been developed for discrete quantum systems, one popular version being defined on a 2N x 2N discrete phase space for a system with N orthogonal states. Here we investigate an alternative class of discrete Wigner functions, in which the field of real numbers that labels the axes of continuous phase space is replaced by a finite field having N elements. There exists such a field if and only if N is a power of a prime; so our formulation can be applied directly only to systems for which the state-space dimension takes such a value. Though this condition may seem limiting, we note that any quantum computer based on qubits meets the condition and can thus be accommodated within our scheme. The geometry of our N x N phase space also leads naturally to a method of constructing a complete set of N+1 mutually unbiased bases for the state space.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2004

Quantum measurements and finite geometry

A complete set of mutually unbiased bases for a Hilbert space of dimension N is analogous in some respects to a certain finite geometric structure, namely, an affine plane. Another kind of quantum measurement, known as a symmetric informationally complete positive-operator-valued measure, is, remarkably, also analogous to an affine plane, but with the roles of points and lines interchanged. In this paper I present these analogies and ask whether they shed any light on the existence or non-existence of such symmetric quantum measurements for a general quantum system with a finite-dimensional state space.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2003

Picturing Qubits in Phase Space

Focusing particularly on one-qubit and two-qubit systems, I explain how the quantum state of a system of n qubits can be expressed as a real function--a generalized Wigner function--on a discrete 2^n x 2^n phase space. The phase space is based on the finite field having 2^n elements, and its geometric structure leads naturally to the construction of a complete set of 2^n+1 mutually conjugate bases.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2003

Entangled Chains

Consider an infinite collection of qubits arranged in a line, such that every pair of nearest neighbors is entangled: an "entangled chain." In this paper we consider entangled chains with translational invariance and ask how large one can make the nearest neighbor entanglement. We find that it is possible to achieve an entanglement of formation equal to 0.285 ebits between each pair of nearest neighbors, and that this is the best one can do under certain assumptions about the state of the chain.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2002

Between entropy and subentropy

The von Neumann entropy and the subentropy of a mixed quantum state are upper and lower bounds, respectively, on the accessible information of any ensemble consistent with the given mixed state. Here we define and investigate a set of quantities intermediate between entropy and subentropy.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2002

Parallel transport in an entangled ring

This paper defines a notion of parallel transport in a lattice of quantum particles, such that the transformation associated with each link of the lattice is determined by the quantum state of the two particles joined by that link. We focus particularly on a one-dimensional lattice--a ring--of entangled rebits, which are binary quantum objects confined to a real state space. We consider states of the ring that maximize the correlation between nearest neighbors, and show that some correlation must be sacrificed in order to have non-trivial parallel transport around the ring. An analogy is made with lattice gauge theory, in which non-trivial parallel transport around closed loops is associated with a reduction in the probability of the field configuration. We discuss the possibility of extending our result to qubits and to higher dimensional lattices.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2001

Entanglement sharing among qudits

Consider a system consisting of n d-dimensional quantum particles (qudits), and suppose that we want to optimize the entanglement between each pair. One can ask the following basic question regarding the sharing of entanglement: what is the largest possible value Emax(n,d) of the minimum entanglement between any two particles in the system? (Here we take the entanglement of formation as our measure of entanglement.) For n=3 and d=2, that is, for a system of three qubits, the answer is known: Emax(3,2) = 0.550. In this paper we consider first a system of d qudits and show that Emax(d,d) is greater than or equal to 1. We then consider a system of three particles, with three different values of d. Our results for the three-particle case suggest that as the dimension d increases, the particles can share a greater fraction of their entanglement capacity.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2001

Remote State Preparation

Quantum teleportation uses prior entanglement and forward classical communication to transmit one instance of an unknown quantum state. Remote state preparation (RSP) has the same goal, but the sender knows classically what state is to be transmitted. We show that the asymptotic classical communication cost of RSP is one bit per qubit - half that of teleportation - and becomes even less when transmitting part of a known entangled state. We explore the tradeoff between entanglement and classical communication required for RSP, and discuss RSP capacities of general quantum channels.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2000

Entangled Rings

Consider a ring of N qubits in a translationally invariant quantum state. We ask to what extent each pair of nearest neighbors can be entangled. Under certain assumptions about the form of the state, we find a formula for the maximum possible nearest-neighbor entanglement. We then compare this maximum with the entanglement achieved by the ground state of an antiferromagnetic ring consisting of an even number of spin-1/2 particles. We find that, though the antiferromagnetic ground state does not maximize the nearest-neighbor entanglement relative to all other states, it does so relative to other states having zero z-component of spin.

quant-ph↗

arXiv1999

Distributed Entanglement

Consider three qubits A, B, and C which may be entangled with each other. We show that there is a trade-off between A's entanglement with B and its entanglement with C. This relation is expressed in terms of a measure of entanglement called the "tangle," which is related to the entanglement of formation. Specifically, we show that the tangle between A and B, plus the tangle between A and C, cannot be greater than the tangle between A and the pair BC. This inequality is as strong as it could be, in the sense that for any values of the tangles satisfying the corresponding equality, one can find a quantum state consistent with those values. Further exploration of this result leads to a definition of the "three-way tangle" of the system, which is invariant under permutations of the qubits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv1998

Quantum Nonlocality without Entanglement

We exhibit an orthogonal set of product states of two three-state particles that nevertheless cannot be reliably distinguished by a pair of separated observers ignorant of which of the states has been presented to them, even if the observers are allowed any sequence of local operations and classical communication between the separate observers. It is proved that there is a finite gap between the mutual information obtainable by a joint measurement on these states and a measurement in which only local actions are permitted. This result implies the existence of separable superoperators that cannot be implemented locally. A set of states are found involving three two-state particles which also appear to be nonmeasurable locally. These and other multipartite states are classified according to the entropy and entanglement costs of preparing and measuring them by local operations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv1997

Entanglement of Formation of an Arbitrary State of Two Qubits

The entanglement of a pure state of a pair of quantum systems is defined as the entropy of either member of the pair. The entanglement of formation of a mixed state is defined as the minimum average entanglement of an ensemble of pure states that represents the given mixed state. An earlier paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 5022 (1997)] conjectured an explicit formula for the entanglement of formation of a pair of binary quantum objects (qubits) as a function of their density matrix, and proved the formula to be true for a special class of mixed states. The present paper extends the proof to arbitrary states of this system and shows how to construct entanglement-minimizing pure-state decompositions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv1997

Entanglement of a Pair of Quantum Bits

The ``entanglement of formation'' of a mixed state of a bipartite quantum system can be defined in terms of the number of pure singlets needed to create the state with no further transfer of quantum information. We find an exact formula for the entanglement of formation for all mixed states of two qubits having no more than two non-zero eigenvalues, and we report evidence suggesting that the formula is valid for all states of this system.

quant-ph↗

arXiv1996

Mixed State Entanglement and Quantum Error Correction

Entanglement purification protocols (EPP) and quantum error-correcting codes (QECC) provide two ways of protecting quantum states from interaction with the environment. In an EPP, perfectly entangled pure states are extracted, with some yield D, from a mixed state M shared by two parties; with a QECC, an arbi- trary quantum state $|ξ\rangle$ can be transmitted at some rate Q through a noisy channel $χ$ without degradation. We prove that an EPP involving one- way classical communication and acting on mixed state $\hat{M}(χ)$ (obtained by sharing halves of EPR pairs through a channel $χ$) yields a QECC on $χ$ with rate $Q=D$, and vice versa. We compare the amount of entanglement E(M) required to prepare a mixed state M by local actions with the amounts $D_1(M)$ and $D_2(M)$ that can be locally distilled from it by EPPs using one- and two-way classical communication respectively, and give an exact expression for $E(M)$ when $M$ is Bell-diagonal. While EPPs require classical communica- tion, QECCs do not, and we prove Q is not increased by adding one-way classical communication. However, both D and Q can be increased by adding two-way com- munication. We show that certain noisy quantum channels, for example a 50% depolarizing channel, can be used for reliable transmission of quantum states if two-way communication is available, but cannot be used if only one-way com- munication is available. We exhibit a family of codes based on universal hash- ing able toachieve an asymptotic $Q$ (or $D$) of 1-S for simple noise models, where S is the error entropy. We also obtain a specific, simple 5-bit single- error-correcting quantum block code. We prove that {\em iff} a QECC results in high fidelity for the case of no error the QECC can be recast into a form where the encoder is the matrix inverse of the decoder.

quant-ph↗

arXiv1995

Purification of Noisy Entanglement and Faithful Teleportation via Noisy Channels

Two separated observers, by applying local operations to a supply of not-too-impure entangled states ({\em e.g.} singlets shared through a noisy channel), can prepare a smaller number of entangled pairs of arbitrarily high purity ({\em e.g.} near-perfect singlets). These can then be used to faithfully teleport unknown quantum states from one observer to the other, thereby achieving faithful transfrom one observer to the other, thereby achieving faithful transmission of quantum information through a noisy channel. We give upper and lower bounds on the yield $D(M)$ of pure singlets ($\ket{Ψ^-}$) distillable from mixed states $M$, showing $D(M)>0$ if $\bra{Ψ^-}M\ket{Ψ^-}>\half$.

quant-ph↗