136 research outputs found
Dilemma that cannot be resolved by biased quantum coin flipping
We show that a biased quantum coin flip (QCF) cannot provide the performance
of a black-boxed biased coin flip, if it satisfies some fidelity conditions.
Although such a QCF satisfies the security conditions of a biased coin flip, it
does not realize the ideal functionality, and therefore, does not fulfill the
demands for universally composable security. Moreover, through a comparison
within a small restricted bias range, we show that an arbitrary QCF is
distinguishable from a black-boxed coin flip unless it is unbiased on both
sides of parties against insensitive cheating. We also point out the difficulty
in developing cheat-sensitive quantum bit commitment in terms of the
uncomposability of a QCF.Comment: 5 pages and 1 figure. Accepted versio
Hamiltonian Oracles
Hamiltonian oracles are the continuum limit of the standard unitary quantum
oracles. In this limit, the problem of finding the optimal query algorithm can
be mapped into the problem of finding shortest paths on a manifold. The study
of these shortest paths leads to lower bounds of the original unitary oracle
problem. A number of example Hamiltonian oracles are studied in this paper,
including oracle interrogation and the problem of computing the XOR of the
hidden bits. Both of these problems are related to the study of geodesics on
spheres with non-round metrics. For the case of two hidden bits a complete
description of the geodesics is given. For n hidden bits a simple lower bound
is proven that shows the problems require a query time proportional to n, even
in the continuum limit. Finally, the problem of continuous Grover search is
reexamined leading to a modest improvement to the protocol of Farhi and
Gutmann.Comment: 16 pages, REVTeX 4 (minor corrections in v2
Tight bounds for classical and quantum coin flipping
Coin flipping is a cryptographic primitive for which strictly better
protocols exist if the players are not only allowed to exchange classical, but
also quantum messages. During the past few years, several results have appeared
which give a tight bound on the range of implementable unconditionally secure
coin flips, both in the classical as well as in the quantum setting and for
both weak as well as strong coin flipping. But the picture is still incomplete:
in the quantum setting, all results consider only protocols with perfect
correctness, and in the classical setting tight bounds for strong coin flipping
are still missing. We give a general definition of coin flipping which unifies
the notion of strong and weak coin flipping (it contains both of them as
special cases) and allows the honest players to abort with a certain
probability. We give tight bounds on the achievable range of parameters both in
the classical and in the quantum setting.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; v2: published versio
Experimental quantum tossing of a single coin
The cryptographic protocol of coin tossing consists of two parties, Alice and
Bob, that do not trust each other, but want to generate a random bit. If the
parties use a classical communication channel and have unlimited computational
resources, one of them can always cheat perfectly. Here we analyze in detail
how the performance of a quantum coin tossing experiment should be compared to
classical protocols, taking into account the inevitable experimental
imperfections. We then report an all-optical fiber experiment in which a single
coin is tossed whose randomness is higher than achievable by any classical
protocol and present some easily realisable cheating strategies by Alice and
Bob.Comment: 13 page
Kitaev's quantum double model from a local quantum physics point of view
A prominent example of a topologically ordered system is Kitaev's quantum
double model for finite groups (which in particular
includes , the toric code). We will look at these models from
the point of view of local quantum physics. In particular, we will review how
in the abelian case, one can do a Doplicher-Haag-Roberts analysis to study the
different superselection sectors of the model. In this way one finds that the
charges are in one-to-one correspondence with the representations of
, and that they are in fact anyons. Interchanging two of such
anyons gives a non-trivial phase, not just a possible sign change. The case of
non-abelian groups is more complicated. We outline how one could use
amplimorphisms, that is, morphisms to study the superselection
structure in that case. Finally, we give a brief overview of applications of
topologically ordered systems to the field of quantum computation.Comment: Chapter contributed to R. Brunetti, C. Dappiaggi, K. Fredenhagen, J.
Yngvason (eds), Advances in Algebraic Quantum Field Theory (Springer 2015).
Mainly revie
Secure certification of mixed quantum states with application to two-party randomness generation
We investigate sampling procedures that certify that an arbitrary quantum
state on subsystems is close to an ideal mixed state
for a given reference state , up to errors on a few positions. This
task makes no sense classically: it would correspond to certifying that a given
bitstring was generated according to some desired probability distribution.
However, in the quantum case, this is possible if one has access to a prover
who can supply a purification of the mixed state.
In this work, we introduce the concept of mixed-state certification, and we
show that a natural sampling protocol offers secure certification in the
presence of a possibly dishonest prover: if the verifier accepts then he can be
almost certain that the state in question has been correctly prepared, up to a
small number of errors.
We then apply this result to two-party quantum coin-tossing. Given that
strong coin tossing is impossible, it is natural to ask "how close can we get".
This question has been well studied and is nowadays well understood from the
perspective of the bias of individual coin tosses. We approach and answer this
question from a different---and somewhat orthogonal---perspective, where we do
not look at individual coin tosses but at the global entropy instead. We show
how two distrusting parties can produce a common high-entropy source, where the
entropy is an arbitrarily small fraction below the maximum (except with
negligible probability)
On the relationship between continuous- and discrete-time quantum walk
Quantum walk is one of the main tools for quantum algorithms. Defined by
analogy to classical random walk, a quantum walk is a time-homogeneous quantum
process on a graph. Both random and quantum walks can be defined either in
continuous or discrete time. But whereas a continuous-time random walk can be
obtained as the limit of a sequence of discrete-time random walks, the two
types of quantum walk appear fundamentally different, owing to the need for
extra degrees of freedom in the discrete-time case.
In this article, I describe a precise correspondence between continuous- and
discrete-time quantum walks on arbitrary graphs. Using this correspondence, I
show that continuous-time quantum walk can be obtained as an appropriate limit
of discrete-time quantum walks. The correspondence also leads to a new
technique for simulating Hamiltonian dynamics, giving efficient simulations
even in cases where the Hamiltonian is not sparse. The complexity of the
simulation is linear in the total evolution time, an improvement over
simulations based on high-order approximations of the Lie product formula. As
applications, I describe a continuous-time quantum walk algorithm for element
distinctness and show how to optimally simulate continuous-time query
algorithms of a certain form in the conventional quantum query model. Finally,
I discuss limitations of the method for simulating Hamiltonians with negative
matrix elements, and present two problems that motivate attempting to
circumvent these limitations.Comment: 22 pages. v2: improved presentation, new section on Hamiltonian
oracles; v3: published version, with improved analysis of phase estimatio
Assessment of reproducibility of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization - Time of flight mass spectrometry for bacterial and yeast identification
Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionizationâtime of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) has revolutionized the identification of clinical bacterial and yeast isolates. However, data describing the reproducibility of MALDI-TOF MS for microbial identification are scarce. In this study, we show that MALDI-TOF MS-based microbial identification is highly reproducible and can tolerate numerous variables, including differences in testing environments, instruments, operators, reagent lots, and sample positioning patterns. Finally, we reveal that samples of bacterial and yeast isolates prepared for MALDI-TOF MS identification can be repeatedly analyzed without compromising organism identification
Controlled assembly of SNAP-PNA-fluorophore systems on DNA templates to produce fluorescence resonance energy transfer
The SNAP protein is a widely used self-labeling tag that can be used for tracking protein localization and trafficking in living systems. A model system providing controlled alignment of SNAP-tag units can provide a new way to study clustering of fusion proteins. In this work, fluorescent SNAP-PNA conjugates were controllably assembled on DNA frameworks forming dimers, trimers, and tetramers. Modification of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) with the O6-benzyl guanine (BG) group allowed the generation of site-selective covalent links between PNA and the SNAP protein. The modified BG-PNAs were labeled with fluorescent Atto dyes and subsequently chemo-selectively conjugated to SNAP protein. Efficient assembly into dimer and oligomer forms was verified via size exclusion chromatography (SEC), electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and fluorescence spectroscopy. DNA directed assembly of homo- and hetero-dimers of SNAP-PNA constructs induced homo- and hetero-FRET, respectively. Longer DNA scaffolds controllably aligned similar fluorescent SNAP-PNA constructs into higher oligomers exhibiting homo-FRET. The combined SEC and homo-FRET studies indicated the 1:1 and saturated assemblies of SNAP-PNA-fluorophore:DNA formed preferentially in this system. This suggested a kinetic/stoichiometric model of assembly rather than binomially distributed products. These BG-PNA-fluorophore building blocks allow facile introduction of fluorophores and/or assembly directing moieties onto any protein containing SNAP. Template directed assembly of PNA modified SNAP proteins may be used to investigate clustering behavior both with and without fluorescent labels which may find use in the study of assembly processes in cells
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