3,185 research outputs found
Noise and disturbance in quantum measurements: an information-theoretic approach
We introduce information-theoretic definitions for noise and disturbance in
quantum measurements and prove a state-independent noise-disturbance tradeoff
relation that these quantities have to satisfy in any conceivable setup.
Contrary to previous approaches, the information-theoretic quantities we define
are invariant under relabelling of outcomes, and allow for the possibility of
using quantum or classical operations to `correct' for the disturbance. We also
show how our bound implies strong tradeoff relations for mean square
deviations.Comment: v3: to appear on PRL (some issues fixed, supplemental material
expanded). v2: replaced with submitted version; 5 two-column pages + 6
one-column pages + 3 figures; one issue corrected and few references added.
v1: 17 pages, 3 figure
Philosophical Aspects of Quantum Information Theory
Quantum information theory represents a rich subject of discussion for those
interested in the philosphical and foundational issues surrounding quantum
mechanics for a simple reason: one can cast its central concerns in terms of a
long-familiar question: How does the quantum world differ from the classical
one? Moreover, deployment of the concepts of information and computation in
novel contexts hints at new (or better) means of understanding quantum
mechanics, and perhaps even invites re-assessment of traditional material
conceptions of the basic nature of the physical world. In this paper I review
some of these philosophical aspects of quantum information theory, begining
with an elementary survey of the theory, seeking to highlight some of the
principles and heuristics involved. We move on to a discussion of the nature
and definition of quantum information and deploy the findings in discussing the
puzzles surrounding teleportation. The final two sections discuss,
respectively, what one might learn from the development of quantum computation
(both about the nature of quantum systems and about the nature of computation)
and consider the impact of quantum information theory on the traditional
foundational questions of quantum mechanics (treating of the views of
Zeilinger, Bub and Fuchs, amongst others).Comment: LaTeX; 55pp; 3 figs. Forthcoming in Rickles (ed.) The Ashgate
Companion to the New Philosophy of Physic
Work and entropy production in generalised Gibbs ensembles
Recent years have seen an enormously revived interest in the study of
thermodynamic notions in the quantum regime. This applies both to the study of
notions of work extraction in thermal machines in the quantum regime, as well
as to questions of equilibration and thermalisation of interacting quantum
many-body systems as such. In this work we bring together these two lines of
research by studying work extraction in a closed system that undergoes a
sequence of quenches and equilibration steps concomitant with free evolutions.
In this way, we incorporate an important insight from the study of the dynamics
of quantum many body systems: the evolution of closed systems is expected to be
well described, for relevant observables and most times, by a suitable
equilibrium state. We will consider three kinds of equilibration, namely to (i)
the time averaged state, (ii) the Gibbs ensemble and (iii) the generalised
Gibbs ensemble (GGE), reflecting further constants of motion in integrable
models. For each effective description, we investigate notions of entropy
production, the validity of the minimal work principle and properties of
optimal work extraction protocols. While we keep the discussion general, much
room is dedicated to the discussion of paradigmatic non-interacting fermionic
quantum many-body systems, for which we identify significant differences with
respect to the role of the minimal work principle. Our work not only has
implications for experiments with cold atoms, but also can be viewed as
suggesting a mindset for quantum thermodynamics where the role of the external
heat baths is instead played by the system itself, with its internal degrees of
freedom bringing coarse-grained observables to equilibrium.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, improvements in presentatio
From Quantum Optics to Quantum Technologies
Quantum optics is the study of the intrinsically quantum properties of light.
During the second part of the 20th century experimental and theoretical
progress developed together; nowadays quantum optics provides a testbed of many
fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics such as coherence and quantum
entanglement. Quantum optics helped trigger, both directly and indirectly, the
birth of quantum technologies, whose aim is to harness non-classical quantum
effects in applications from quantum key distribution to quantum computing.
Quantum light remains at the heart of many of the most promising and
potentially transformative quantum technologies. In this review, we celebrate
the work of Sir Peter Knight and present an overview of the development of
quantum optics and its impact on quantum technologies research. We describe the
core theoretical tools developed to express and study the quantum properties of
light, the key experimental approaches used to control, manipulate and measure
such properties and their application in quantum simulation, and quantum
computing.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, Accepted, Prog. Quant. Ele
Universal Quantum Hamiltonians
Quantum many-body systems exhibit an extremely diverse range of phases and
physical phenomena. Here, we prove that the entire physics of any other quantum
many-body system is replicated in certain simple, "universal" spin-lattice
models. We first characterise precisely what it means for one quantum many-body
system to replicate the entire physics of another. We then show that certain
very simple spin-lattice models are universal in this very strong sense.
Examples include the Heisenberg and XY models on a 2D square lattice (with
non-uniform coupling strengths). We go on to fully classify all two-qubit
interactions, determining which are universal and which can only simulate more
restricted classes of models. Our results put the practical field of analogue
Hamiltonian simulation on a rigorous footing and take a significant step
towards justifying why error correction may not be required for this
application of quantum information technology.Comment: 78 pages, 9 figures, 44 theorems etc. v2: Trivial fixes. v3: updated
and simplified proof of Thm. 9; 82 pages, 47 theorems etc. v3: Small fix in
proof of time-evolution lemma (this fix not in published version
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