Continuous quantum error correction by cooling

We describe an implementation of quantum error correction that operates continuously in time and requires no active interventions such as measurements or gates. The mechanism for carrying away the entropy introduced by errors is a cooling procedure. We evaluate the effectiveness of the scheme by simulation, and remark on its connections to some recently proposed error prevention procedures.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Published version. Minor change in conten

Polarized ensembles of random pure states

A new family of polarized ensembles of random pure states is presented. These ensembles are obtained by linear superposition of two random pure states with suitable distributions, and are quite manageable. We will use the obtained results for two purposes: on the one hand we will be able to derive an efficient strategy for sampling states from isopurity manifolds. On the other, we will characterize the deviation of a pure quantum state from separability under the influence of noise.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur

Zeno Dynamics in Quantum Statistical Mechanics

We study the quantum Zeno effect in quantum statistical mechanics within the operator algebraic framework. We formulate a condition for the appearance of the effect in W*-dynamical systems, in terms of the short-time behaviour of the dynamics. Examples of quantum spin systems show that this condition can be effectively applied to quantum statistical mechanical models. Further, we derive an explicit form of the Zeno generator, and use it to construct Gibbs equilibrium states for the Zeno dynamics. As a concrete example, we consider the X-Y model, for which we show that a frequent measurement at a microscopic level, e.g. a single lattice site, can produce a macroscopic effect in changing the global equilibrium.Comment: 15 pages, AMSLaTeX; typos corrected, references updated and added, acknowledgements added, style polished; revised version contains corrections from published corrigend

Local Hamiltonians for Maximally Multipartite Entangled States

We study the conditions for obtaining maximally multipartite entangled states (MMES) as non-degenerate eigenstates of Hamiltonians that involve only short-range interactions. We investigate small-size systems (with a number of qubits ranging from 3 to 5) and show some example Hamiltonians with MMES as eigenstates.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, published versio

Classical limit of the quantum Zeno effect

The evolution of a quantum system subjected to infinitely many measurements in a finite time interval is confined in a proper subspace of the Hilbert space. This phenomenon is called "quantum Zeno effect": a particle under intensive observation does not evolve. This effect is at variance with the classical evolution, which obviously is not affected by any observations. By a semiclassical analysis we will show that the quantum Zeno effect vanishes at all orders, when the Planck constant tends to zero, and thus it is a purely quantum phenomenon without classical analog, at the same level of tunneling.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Classical Statistical Mechanics Approach to Multipartite Entanglement

We characterize the multipartite entanglement of a system of n qubits in terms of the distribution function of the bipartite purity over balanced bipartitions. We search for maximally multipartite entangled states, whose average purity is minimal, and recast this optimization problem into a problem of statistical mechanics, by introducing a cost function, a fictitious temperature and a partition function. By investigating the high-temperature expansion, we obtain the first three moments of the distribution. We find that the problem exhibits frustration.Comment: 38 pages, 10 figures, published versio

Quantum Zeno tomography

We show that the resolution "per absorbed particle" of standard absorption tomography can be outperformed by a simple interferometric setup, provided that the different levels of "gray" in the sample are not uniformly distributed. The technique hinges upon the quantum Zeno effect and has been tested in numerical simulations. The scheme we propose could be implemented in experiments with UV-light, neutrons or X-rays.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Zeno dynamics and constraints

We investigate some examples of quantum Zeno dynamics, when a system undergoes very frequent (projective) measurements that ascertain whether it is within a given spatial region. In agreement with previously obtained results, the evolution is found to be unitary and the generator of the Zeno dynamics is the Hamiltonian with hard-wall (Dirichlet) boundary conditions. By using a new approach to this problem, this result is found to be valid in an arbitrary $N$-dimensional compact domain. We then propose some preliminary ideas concerning the algebra of observables in the projected region and finally look at the case of a projection onto a lower dimensional space: in such a situation the Zeno ansatz turns out to be a procedure to impose constraints.Comment: 21 page

On the local unitary equivalence of states of multi-partite systems

Two pure states of a multi-partite system are alway are related by a unitary transformation acting on the Hilbert space of the whole system. This transformation involves multi-partite transformations. On the other hand some quantum information protocols such as the quantum teleportation and quantum dense coding are based on equivalence of some classes of states of bi-partite systems under the action of local (one-particle) unitary operations. In this paper we address the question: ``Under what conditions are the two states states, $\varrho$ and $\sigma$, of a multi-partite system locally unitary equivalent?'' We present a set of conditions which have to be satisfied in order that the two states are locally unitary equivalent. In addition, we study whether it is possible to prepare a state of a multi-qudit system. which is divided into two parts A and B, by unitary operations acting only on the systems A and B, separately.Comment: 6 revtex pages, 1 figur

Multipartite entanglement characterization of a quantum phase transition

A probability density characterization of multipartite entanglement is tested on the one-dimensional quantum Ising model in a transverse field. The average and second moment of the probability distribution are numerically shown to be good indicators of the quantum phase transition. We comment on multipartite entanglement generation at a quantum phase transition.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, final versio