1,102 research outputs found
Monotones and invariants for multi-particle quantum states
We introduce new entanglement monotones which generalize, to the case of many
parties, those which give rise to the majorization-based partial ordering of
bipartite states' entanglement. We give some examples of restrictions they
impose on deterministic and probabilistic conversion between multipartite
states via local actions and classical communication. These include
restrictions which do not follow from any bipartite considerations. We derive
supermultiplicativity relations between each state's monotones and the
monotones for collective processing when the parties share several states. We
also investigate polynomial invariants under local unitary transformations, and
show that a large class of these are invariant under collective unitary
processing and also multiplicative, putting restrictions, for example, on the
exact conversion of multiple copies of one state to multiple copies of another.Comment: 25 pages, LaTe
Oracles and query lower bounds in generalised probabilistic theories
We investigate the connection between interference and computational power
within the operationally defined framework of generalised probabilistic
theories. To compare the computational abilities of different theories within
this framework we show that any theory satisfying three natural physical
principles possess a well-defined oracle model. Indeed, we prove a subroutine
theorem for oracles in such theories which is a necessary condition for the
oracle to be well-defined. The three principles are: causality (roughly, no
signalling from the future), purification (each mixed state arises as the
marginal of a pure state of a larger system), and strong symmetry existence of
non-trivial reversible transformations). Sorkin has defined a hierarchy of
conceivable interference behaviours, where the order in the hierarchy
corresponds to the number of paths that have an irreducible interaction in a
multi-slit experiment. Given our oracle model, we show that if a classical
computer requires at least n queries to solve a learning problem, then the
corresponding lower bound in theories lying at the kth level of Sorkin's
hierarchy is n/k. Hence, lower bounds on the number of queries to a quantum
oracle needed to solve certain problems are not optimal in the space of all
generalised probabilistic theories, although it is not yet known whether the
optimal bounds are achievable in general. Hence searches for higher-order
interference are not only foundationally motivated, but constitute a search for
a computational resource beyond that offered by quantum computation.Comment: 17+7 pages. Comments Welcome. Published in special issue
"Foundational Aspects of Quantum Information" in Foundations of Physic
Cloning by positive maps in von Neumann algebras
We investigate cloning in the general operator algebra framework in arbitrary
dimension assuming only positivity instead of strong positivity of the cloning
operation, generalizing thus results obtained so far under that stronger assumption.
The weaker positivity assumption turns out quite natural when considering cloning in
the general C∗-algebra framework
Introduction to Quantum Error Correction
In this introduction we motivate and explain the ``decoding'' and
``subsystems'' view of quantum error correction. We explain how quantum noise
in QIP can be described and classified, and summarize the requirements that
need to be satisfied for fault tolerance. Considering the capabilities of
currently available quantum technology, the requirements appear daunting. But
the idea of ``subsystems'' shows that these requirements can be met in many
different, and often unexpected ways.Comment: 44 pages, to appear in LA Science. Hyperlinked PDF at
http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~knill/qip/ecprhtml/ecprpdf.pdf, HTML at
http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~knill/qip/ecprhtm
Local Quantum Measurement and No-Signaling Imply Quantum Correlations
We show that, assuming that quantum mechanics holds locally, the finite speed
of information is the principle that limits all possible correlations between
distant parties to be quantum mechanical as well. Local quantum mechanics means
that a Hilbert space is assigned to each party, and then all local
positive-operator-valued measurements are (in principle) available; however,
the joint system is not necessarily described by a Hilbert space. In
particular, we do not assume the tensor product formalism between the joint
systems. Our result shows that if any experiment would give nonlocal
correlations beyond quantum mechanics, quantum theory would be invalidated even
locally.Comment: Published version. 5 pages, 1 figure
Ruling out higher-order interference from purity principles
As first noted by Rafael Sorkin, there is a limit to quantum interference.
The interference pattern formed in a multi-slit experiment is a function of the
interference patterns formed between pairs of slits, there are no genuinely new
features resulting from considering three slits instead of two. Sorkin has
introduced a hierarchy of mathematically conceivable higher-order interference
behaviours, where classical theory lies at the first level of this hierarchy
and quantum theory theory at the second. Informally, the order in this
hierarchy corresponds to the number of slits on which the interference pattern
has an irreducible dependence. Many authors have wondered why quantum
interference is limited to the second level of this hierarchy. Does the
existence of higher-order interference violate some natural physical principle
that we believe should be fundamental? In the current work we show that such
principles can be found which limit interference behaviour to second-order, or
"quantum-like", interference, but that do not restrict us to the entire quantum
formalism. We work within the operational framework of generalised
probabilistic theories, and prove that any theory satisfying Causality, Purity
Preservation, Pure Sharpness, and Purification---four principles that formalise
the fundamental character of purity in nature---exhibits at most second-order
interference. Hence these theories are, at least conceptually, very "close" to
quantum theory. Along the way we show that systems in such theories correspond
to Euclidean Jordan algebras. Hence, they are self-dual and, moreover,
multi-slit experiments in such theories are described by pure projectors.Comment: 18+8 pages. Comments welcome. v2: Minor correction to Lemma 5.1, main
results are unchange
A violation of the uncertainty principle implies a violation of the second law of thermodynamics
Uncertainty relations state that there exist certain incompatible
measurements, to which the outcomes cannot be simultaneously predicted. While
the exact incompatibility of quantum measurements dictated by such uncertainty
relations can be inferred from the mathematical formalism of quantum theory,
the question remains whether there is any more fundamental reason for the
uncertainty relations to have this exact form. What, if any, would be the
operational consequences if we were able to go beyond any of these uncertainty
relations? We give a strong argument that justifies uncertainty relations in
quantum theory by showing that violating them implies that it is also possible
to violate the second law of thermodynamics. More precisely, we show that
violating the uncertainty relations in quantum mechanics leads to a
thermodynamic cycle with positive net work gain, which is very unlikely to
exist in nature.Comment: 8 pages, revte
A simple operational interpretation of the fidelity
This note presents a corollary to Uhlmann's theorem which provides a simple
operational interpretation for the fidelity of mixed states.Comment: 1 pag
Generalization of entanglement to convex operational theories: Entanglement relative to a subspace of observables
We define what it means for a state in a convex cone of states on a space of
observables to be generalized-entangled relative to a subspace of the
observables, in a general ordered linear spaces framework for operational
theories. This extends the notion of ordinary entanglement in quantum
information theory to a much more general framework. Some important special
cases are described, in which the distinguished observables are subspaces of
the observables of a quantum system, leading to results like the identification
of generalized unentangled states with Lie-group-theoretic coherent states when
the special observables form an irreducibly represented Lie algebra. Some open
problems, including that of generalizing the semigroup of local operations with
classical communication to the convex cones setting, are discussed.Comment: 19 pages, to appear in proceedings of Quantum Structures VII, Int. J.
Theor. Phy
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