Pooling quantum states obtained by indirect measurements

We consider the pooling of quantum states when Alice and Bob both have one part of a tripartite system and, on the basis of measurements on their respective parts, each infers a quantum state for the third part S. We denote the conditioned states which Alice and Bob assign to S by alpha and beta respectively, while the unconditioned state of S is rho. The state assigned by an overseer, who has all the data available to Alice and Bob, is omega. The pooler is told only alpha, beta, and rho. We show that for certain classes of tripartite states, this information is enough for her to reconstruct omega by the formula omega \propto alpha rho^{-1} beta. Specifically, we identify two classes of states for which this pooling formula works: (i) all pure states for which the rank of rho is equal to the product of the ranks of the states of Alice's and Bob's subsystems; (ii) all mixtures of tripartite product states that are mutually orthogonal on S.Comment: Corrected a mistake regarding the scope of our original result. This version to be published in Phys. Rev. A. 6 pages, 1 figur

Nonlinear viscoelasticity of metastable complex fluids

Many metastable complex fluids such as colloidal glasses and gels show distinct nonlinear viscoelasticity with increasing oscillatory-strain amplitude; the storage modulus decreases monotonically as the strain amplitude increases whereas the loss modulus has a distinct peak before it decreases at larger strains. We present a qualitative argument to explain this ubiquitous behavior and use mode coupling theory (MCT) to confirm it. We compare theoretical predictions to the measured nonlinear viscoelasticity in a dense hard sphere colloidal suspensions; reasonable agreement is obtained. The argument given here can be used to obtain new information about linear viscoelasticity of metastable complex fluids from nonlinear strain measurements.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Europhys. Let

Quantum State Disturbance vs. Information Gain: Uncertainty Relations for Quantum Information

When an observer wants to identify a quantum state, which is known to be one of a given set of non-orthogonal states, the act of observation causes a disturbance to that state. We investigate the tradeoff between the information gain and that disturbance. This issue has important applications in quantum cryptography. The optimal detection method, for a given tolerated disturbance, is explicitly found in the case of two equiprobable non-orthogonal pure states.Comment: 20 pages, standard LaTeX, four png figures (also available from the authors: [email protected] and [email protected]

The mean-squared displacement of a molecule moving in a glassy system

The mean-squared displacement (MSD) of a hard sphere and of a dumbbell molecule consisting of two fused hard spheres immersed in a dense hard-sphere system is calculated within the mode-coupling theory for ideal liquid-glass transitions. It is proven that the velocity correlator, which is the second time derivative of the MSD, is the negative of a completely monotone function for times within the structural-relaxation regime. The MSD is found to exhibit a large time interval for structural relaxation prior to the onset of the $\alpha$-process which cannot be described by the asymptotic formulas for the mode-coupling-theory-bifurcation dynamics. The $\alpha$-process for molecules with a large elongation is shown to exhibit an anomalously wide cross-over interval between the end of the von-Schweidler decay and the beginning of normal diffusion. The diffusivity of the molecule is predicted to vary non-monotonically as function of its elongation.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, Phys. Rev. E, in prin

A quantitative test of the mode-coupling theory of the ideal glass transition for a binary Lennard-Jones system

Using a molecular dynamics computer simulation we determine the temperature dependence of the partial structure factors for a binary Lennard-Jones system. These structure factors are used as input data to solve numerically the wave-vector dependent mode-coupling equations in the long time limit. Using the so determined solutions, we compare the predictions of mode-coupling theory (MCT) with the results of a previously done molecular dynamics computer simulation [Phys. Rev. E 51, 4626 (1995), ibid. 52, 4134 (1995)]. From this comparison we conclude that MCT gives a fair estimate of the critical coupling constant, a good estimate of the exponent parameter, predicts the wave-vector dependence of the various nonergodicity parameters very well, except for very large wave-vectors, and gives also a very good description of the space dependence of the various critical amplitudes. In an attempt to correct for some of the remaining discrepancies between the theory and the results of the simulation, we investigate two small (ad hoc) modifications of the theory. We find that one modification gives a worse agreement between theory and simulation, whereas the second one leads to an improved agreement.Comment: Figures available from W. Ko

Information Tradeoff Relations for Finite-Strength Quantum Measurements

In this paper we give a new way to quantify the folklore notion that quantum measurements bring a disturbance to the system being measured. We consider two observers who initially assign identical mixed-state density operators to a two-state quantum system. The question we address is to what extent one observer can, by measurement, increase the purity of his density operator without affecting the purity of the other observer's. If there were no restrictions on the first observer's measurements, then he could carry this out trivially by measuring the initial density operator's eigenbasis. If, however, the allowed measurements are those of finite strength---i.e., those measurements strictly within the interior of the convex set of all measurements---then the issue becomes significantly more complex. We find that for a large class of such measurements the first observer's purity increases the most precisely when there is some loss of purity for the second observer. More generally the tradeoff between the two purities, when it exists, forms a monotonic relation. This tradeoff has potential application to quantum state control and feedback.Comment: 15 pages, revtex3, 3 eps figure

Optimal Universal and State-Dependent Quantum Cloning

We establish the best possible approximation to a perfect quantum cloning machine which produces two clones out of a single input. We analyze both universal and state-dependent cloners. The maximal fidelity of cloning is shown to be 5/6 for universal cloners. It can be achieved either by a special unitary evolution or by a novel teleportation scheme. We construct the optimal state-dependent cloners operating on any prescribed two non-orthogonal states, discuss their fidelities and the use of auxiliary physical resources in the process of cloning. The optimal universal cloners permit us to derive a new upper bound on the quantum capacity of the depolarizing quantum channel.Comment: 30 pages (RevTeX), 2 figures (epsf), further results and further authors added, to appear in Physical Review

A mode-coupling theory for the glassy dynamics of a diatomic probe molecule immersed in a simple liquid

Generalizing the mode-coupling theory for ideal liquid-glass transitions, equations of motion are derived for the correlation functions describing the glassy dynamics of a diatomic probe molecule immersed in a simple glass-forming system. The molecule is described in the interaction-site representation and the equations are solved for a dumbbell molecule consisting of two fused hard spheres in a hard-sphere system. The results for the molecule's arrested position in the glass state and the reorientational correlators for angular-momentum index $\ell = 1$ and $\ell = 2$ near the glass transition are compared with those obtained previously within a theory based on a tensor-density description of the molecule in order to demonstrate that the two approaches yield equivalent results. For strongly hindered reorientational motion, the dipole-relaxation spectra for the $\alpha$-process can be mapped on the dielectric-loss spectra of glycerol if a rescaling is performed according to a suggestion by Dixon et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 65}, 1108 (1990)]. It is demonstrated that the glassy dynamics is independent of the molecule's inertia parameters.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, Phys. Rev. E, in prin

On bit-commitment based quantum coin flipping

In this paper, we focus on a special framework for quantum coin flipping protocols,_bit-commitment based protocols_, within which almost all known protocols fit. We show a lower bound of 1/16 for the bias in any such protocol. We also analyse a sequence of multi-round protocol that tries to overcome the drawbacks of the previously proposed protocols, in order to lower the bias. We show an intricate cheating strategy for this sequence, which leads to a bias of 1/4. This indicates that a bias of 1/4 might be optimal in such protocols, and also demonstrates that a cleverer proof technique may be required to show this optimality.Comment: The lower bound shown in this paper is superceded by a result of Kitaev (personal communication, 2001