SU(2) and SU(1,1) Approaches to Phase Operators and Temporally Stable Phase States: Applications to Mutually Unbiased Bases and Discrete Fourier Transforms

We propose a group-theoretical approach to the generalized oscillator algebra Ak recently investigated in J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43 (2010) 115303. The case k > or 0 corresponds to the noncompact group SU(1,1) (as for the harmonic oscillator and the Poeschl-Teller systems) while the case k < 0 is described by the compact group SU(2) (as for the Morse system). We construct the phase operators and the corresponding temporally stable phase eigenstates for Ak in this group-theoretical context. The SU(2) case is exploited for deriving families of mutually unbiased bases used in quantum information. Along this vein, we examine some characteristics of a quadratic discrete Fourier transform in connection with generalized quadratic Gauss sums and generalized Hadamard matrices

Approximating Fractional Time Quantum Evolution

An algorithm is presented for approximating arbitrary powers of a black box unitary operation, $\mathcal{U}^t$, where $t$ is a real number, and $\mathcal{U}$ is a black box implementing an unknown unitary. The complexity of this algorithm is calculated in terms of the number of calls to the black box, the errors in the approximation, and a certain `gap' parameter. For general $\mathcal{U}$ and large $t$, one should apply $\mathcal{U}$ a total of $\lfloor t \rfloor$ times followed by our procedure for approximating the fractional power $\mathcal{U}^{t-\lfloor t \rfloor}$. An example is also given where for large integers $t$ this method is more efficient than direct application of $t$ copies of $\mathcal{U}$. Further applications and related algorithms are also discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure