Approximating quantum channels by completely positive maps with small Kraus rank

We study the problem of approximating a quantum channel by one with as few Kraus operators as possible (in the sense that, for any input state, the output states of the two channels should be close to one another). Our main result is that any quantum channel mapping states on some input Hilbert space $\mathrm{A}$ to states on some output Hilbert space $\mathrm{B}$ can be compressed into one with order $d\log d$ Kraus operators, where $d=\max(|\mathrm{A}|,|\mathrm{B}|)$, hence much less than $|\mathrm{A}||\mathrm{B}|$. In the case where the channel's outputs are all very mixed, this can be improved to order $d$. We discuss the optimality of this result as well as some consequences.Comment: 13 page

Weak approximate unitary designs and applications to quantum encryption

Unitary t-designs are the bread and butter of quantum information theory and beyond. An important issue in practice is that of efficiently constructing good approximations of such unitary t-designs. Building on results by Aubrun (Comm. Math. Phys. 2009), we prove that sampling dtpoly(t,logd,1/ϵ) unitaries from an exact t-design provides with positive probability an ϵ-approximate t-design, if the error is measured in one-to-one norm distance of the corresponding t-twirling channels. As an application, we give a partially derandomized construction of a quantum encryption scheme that has roughly the same key size and security as the quantum one-time pad, but possesses the additional property of being non-malleable against adversaries without quantum side information

Random private quantum states

The study of properties of randomly chosen quantum states has in recent years led to many insights into quantum entanglement. In this work, we study private quantum states from this point of view. Private quantum states are bipartite quantum states characterised by the property that carrying out simple local measurements yields a secret bit. This feature is shared by the maximally entangled pair of quantum bits, yet private quantum states are more general and can in their most extreme form be almost bound entangled. In this work, we study the entanglement properties of random private quantum states and show that they are hardly distinguishable from separable states and thus have low repeatable key, despite containing one bit of key. The technical tools we develop are centred around the concept of locally restricted measurements and include a new operator ordering, bounds on norms under tensoring with entangled states and a continuity bound for a relative entropy measure.Comment: v3: published version. v2: 13+7 pages, 1 figure, corrected statements. v1: 16+8 pages, no figure

Distinguishing multi-partite states by local measurements

We analyze the distinguishability norm on the states of a multi-partite system, defined by local measurements. Concretely, we show that the norm associated to a tensor product of sufficiently symmetric measurements is essentially equivalent to a multi-partite generalisation of the non-commutative 2-norm (aka Hilbert-Schmidt norm): in comparing the two, the constants of domination depend only on the number of parties but not on the Hilbert spaces dimensions. We discuss implications of this result on the corresponding norms for the class of all measurements implementable by local operations and classical communication (LOCC), and in particular on the leading order optimality of multi-party data hiding schemes.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, 1 unreferenced referenc

High dimension and symmetries in quantum information theory

If a one-phrase summary of the subject of this thesis were required, it would be something like: miscellaneous large (but finite) dimensional phenomena in quantum information theory. That said, it could nonetheless be helpful to briefly elaborate. Starting from the observation that quantum physics unavoidably has to deal with high dimensional objects, basically two routes can be taken: either try and reduce their study to that of lower dimensional ones, or try and understand what kind of universal properties might precisely emerge in this regime. We actually do not choose which of these two attitudes to follow here, and rather oscillate between one and the other. In the first part of this manuscript (Chapters 5 and 6), our aim is to reduce as much as possible the complexity of certain quantum processes, while of course still preserving their essential characteristics. The two types of processes we are interested in are quantum channels and quantum measurements. In both cases, complexity of a transformation is measured by the number of operators needed to describe its action, and proximity of the approximating transformation towards the original one is defined in terms of closeness between the two outputs, whatever the input. We propose universal ways of achieving our quantum channel compression and quantum measurement sparsification goals (based on random constructions) and prove their optimality. Oppositely, the second part of this manuscript (Chapters 7, 8 and 9) is specifically dedicated to the analysis of high dimensional quantum systems and some of their typical features. Stress is put on multipartite systems and on entanglement-related properties of theirs. We essentially establish the following: as the dimensions of the underlying spaces grow, being barely distinguishable by local observers is a generic trait of multipartite quantum states, and being very rough approximations of separability itself is a generic trait of separability relaxations. On the technical side, these statements stem mainly from average estimates for suprema of Gaussian processes, combined with the concentration of measure phenomenon. In the third part of this manuscript (Chapters 10 and 11), we eventually come back to a more dimensionality reduction state of mind. This time though, the strategy is to make use of the symmetries inherent to each particular situation we are looking at in order to derive a problem-dependent simplification. By quantitatively relating permutation symmetry and independence, we are able to show the multiplicative behavior of several quantities showing up in quantum information theory (such as support functions of sets of states, winning probabilities in multi-player non-local games etc.). The main tool we develop for that purpose is an adaptable de Finetti type resultS'il fallait résumer le sujet de cette thèse en une expression, cela pourrait être quelque chose comme: phénomènes de grande dimension (mais néanmoins finie) en théorie quantique de l'information. Cela étant dit, essayons toutefois de développer brièvement. La physique quantique a inéluctablement affaire à des objets de grande dimension. Partant de cette observation, il y a, en gros, deux stratégies qui peuvent être adoptées: ou bien essayer de ramener leur étude à celle de situations de plus petite dimension, ou bien essayer de comprendre quels sont les comportements universels précisément susceptibles d'émerger dans ce régime. Nous ne donnons ici notre préférence à aucune de ces deux attitudes, mais au contraire oscillons constamment entre l'une et l'autre. Notre but dans la première partie de ce manuscrit (Chapitres 5 et 6) est de réduire autant que possible la complexité de certains processus quantiques, tout en préservant, évidemment, leurs caractéristiques essentielles. Les deux types de processus auxquels nous nous intéressons sont les canaux quantiques et les mesures quantiques. Dans les deux cas, la complexité d'une transformation est mesurée par le nombre d'opérateurs nécessaires pour décrire son action, tandis que la proximité entre la transformation d'origine et son approximation est définie par le fait que, quel que soit l'état d'entrée, les deux états de sortie doivent être proches l'un de l'autre. Nous proposons des solutions universelles (basées sur des constructions aléatoires) à ces problèmes de compression de canaux quantiques et d'amenuisement de mesures quantiques, et nous prouvons leur optimalité. La deuxième partie de ce manuscrit (Chapitres 7, 8 et 9) est, au contraire, spécifiquement dédiée à l'analyse de systèmes quantiques de grande dimension et certains de leurs traits typiques. L'accent est mis sur les systèmes multi-partites et leurs propriétés ayant un lien avec l'intrication. Les principaux résultats auxquels nous aboutissons peuvent se résumer de la façon suivante: lorsque les dimensions des espaces sous-jacents augmentent, il est générique pour les états quantiques multi-partites d'être à peine distinguables par des observateurs locaux, et il est générique pour les relaxations de la notion de séparabilité d'en être des approximations très grossières. Sur le plan technique, ces assertions sont établies grâce à des estimations moyennes de suprema de processus gaussiens, combinées avec le phénomène de concentration de la mesure. Dans la troisième partie de ce manuscrit (Chapitres 10 et 11), nous revenons pour finir à notre état d'esprit de réduction de dimensionnalité. Cette fois pourtant, la stratégie est plutôt: pour chaque situation donnée, tenter d'utiliser au maximum les symétries qui lui sont inhérentes afin d'obtenir une simplification qui lui soit propre. En reliant de manière quantitative symétrie par permutation et indépendance, nous nous retrouvons en mesure de montrer le comportement multiplicatif de plusieurs quantités apparaissant en théorie quantique de l'information (fonctions de support d'ensembles d'états, probabilités de succès dans des jeux multi-joueurs non locaux etc.). L'outil principal que nous développons dans cette optique est un résultat de type de Finetti particulièrement malléabl

Characterizing expansion, classically and quantumly

International audienc

Locally restricted measurements on a multipartite quantum system: data hiding is generic

International audienceWe study the distinguishability norms associated to families of locally restricted POVMs on multipartite systems. These norms (introduced by Matthews, Wehner and Winter) quantify how quantum measurements, subject to locality constraints, perform in the task of discriminating two multipartite quantum states. We mainly address the following question regarding the behaviour of these distinguishability norms in the high-dimensional regime: On a bipartite space, what are the relative strengths of standard classes of locally restricted measurements? We show that the class of PPT measurements typically performs almost as well as the class of all measurements whereas restricting to local measurements and classical communication, or even just to separable measurements , implies a substantial loss. We also provide examples of state pairs which can be perfectly distinguished by local measurements if (one-way) classical communication is allowed between the parties, but very poorly without it. Finally, we study how many POVMs are needed to distinguish almost perfectly any pair of states on C d , showing that the answer is exp(Θ(d 2))