Mutually unbiased bases in dimension six: The four most distant bases

We consider the average distance between four bases in dimension six. The distance between two orthonormal bases vanishes when the bases are the same, and the distance reaches its maximal value of unity when the bases are unbiased. We perform a numerical search for the maximum average distance and find it to be strictly smaller than unity. This is strong evidence that no four mutually unbiased bases exist in dimension six. We also provide a two-parameter family of three bases which, together with the canonical basis, reach the numerically-found maximum of the average distance, and we conduct a detailed study of the structure of the extremal set of bases.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

On properties of Karlsson Hadamards and sets of Mutually Unbiased Bases in dimension six

The complete classification of all 6x6 complex Hadamard matrices is an open problem. The 3-parameter Karlsson family encapsulates all Hadamards that have been parametrised explicitly. We prove that such matrices satisfy a non-trivial constraint conjectured to hold for (almost) all 6x6 Hadamard matrices. Our result imposes additional conditions in the linear programming approach to the mutually unbiased bases problem recently proposed by Matolcsi et al. Unfortunately running the linear programs we were unable to conclude that a complete set of mutually unbiased bases cannot be constructed from Karlsson Hadamards alone.Comment: As published versio

Unitary reflection groups for quantum fault tolerance

This paper explores the representation of quantum computing in terms of unitary reflections (unitary transformations that leave invariant a hyperplane of a vector space). The symmetries of qubit systems are found to be supported by Euclidean real reflections (i.e., Coxeter groups) or by specific imprimitive reflection groups, introduced (but not named) in a recent paper [Planat M and Jorrand Ph 2008, {\it J Phys A: Math Theor} {\bf 41}, 182001]. The automorphisms of multiple qubit systems are found to relate to some Clifford operations once the corresponding group of reflections is identified. For a short list, one may point out the Coxeter systems of type $B_3$ and $G_2$ (for single qubits), $D_5$ and $A_4$ (for two qubits), $E_7$ and $E_6$ (for three qubits), the complex reflection groups $G(2^l,2,5)$ and groups No 9 and 31 in the Shephard-Todd list. The relevant fault tolerant subsets of the Clifford groups (the Bell groups) are generated by the Hadamard gate, the $\pi/4$ phase gate and an entangling (braid) gate [Kauffman L H and Lomonaco S J 2004 {\it New J. of Phys.} {\bf 6}, 134]. Links to the topological view of quantum computing, the lattice approach and the geometry of smooth cubic surfaces are discussed.Comment: new version for the Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, focused on "Technology Trends and Theory of Nanoscale Devices for Quantum Applications

Complex Hadamard matrices of order 6: a four-parameter family

In this paper we construct a new, previously unknown four-parameter family of complex Hadamard matrices of order 6, the entries of which are described by algebraic functions of roots of various sextic polynomials. We conjecture that the new, generic family G together with Karlsson's degenerate family K and Tao's spectral matrix S form an exhaustive list of complex Hadamard matrices of order 6. Such a complete characterization might finally lead to the solution of the famous MUB-6 problem.Comment: 17 pages; Contribution to the workshop "Quantum Physics in higher dimensional Hilbert Spaces", Traunkirchen, Austria, July 201

A study on mutually unbiased bases

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH