194 research outputs found
Quantum thermodynamics with missing reference frames: Decompositions of free energy into non-increasing components
If an absolute reference frame with respect to time, position, or orientation
is missing one can only implement quantum operations which are covariant with
respect to the corresponding unitary symmetry group G. Extending observations
of Vaccaro et al., I argue that the free energy of a quantum system with
G-invariant Hamiltonian then splits up into the Holevo information of the orbit
of the state under the action of G and the free energy of its orbit average.
These two kinds of free energy cannot be converted into each other. The first
component is subadditive and the second superadditive; in the limit of
infinitely many copies only the usual free energy matters.
Refined splittings of free energy into more than two independent
(non-increasing) terms can be defined by averaging over probability measures on
G that differ from the Haar measure.
Even in the presence of a reference frame, these results provide lower bounds
on the amount of free energy that is lost after applying a covariant channel.
If the channel properly decreases one of these quantities, it decreases the
free energy necessarily at least by the same amount, since it is unable to
convert the different forms of free energies into each other.Comment: 17 pages, latex, 1 figur
Performing joint measurements and transformations on several qubits by operating on a single control qubit
An n-qubit quantum register can in principle be completely controlled by
operating on a single qubit that interacts with the register via an appropriate
fixed interaction. We consider a hypothetical system consisting of n spin-1/2
nuclei that interact with an electron spin via a magnetic interaction. We
describe algorithms that measure non-trivial joint observables on the register
by acting on the control spin only. For large n this is not an efficient model
for universal quantum computation but it can be modified to an efficient one if
one allows n possible positions of the control particle.
This toy model of measurements illustrates in which way specific interactions
between the register and a probe particle support specific types of joint
measurements in the sense that some joint observables can be measured by simple
sequences of operations on the probe particle.Comment: 7 pages, revtex, 3 figure
A Complexity Measure for Continuous Time Quantum Algorithms
We consider unitary dynamical evolutions on n qubits caused by time dependent
pair-interaction Hamiltonians and show that the running time of a parallelized
two-qubit gate network simulating the evolution is given by the time integral
over the chromatic index of the interaction graph. This defines a complexity
measure of continuous and discrete quantum algorithms which are in exact
one-to-one correspondence. Furthermore we prove a lower bound on the growth of
large-scale entanglement depending on the chromatic index.Comment: 6 pages, Revte
Exploring the causal order of binary variables via exponential hierarchies of Markov kernels
We propose a new algorithm for estimating the causal structure that underlies the observed dependence among n (ngt;=4) binary variables X_1,...,X_n. Our inference principle states that the factorization of the joint probability into conditional probabilities for X_j given X_1,...,X_j-1 often leads to simpler terms if the order of variables is compatible with the directed acyclic graph representing the causal structure. We study joint measures of OR/AND gates and show that the complexity of the conditional probabilities (the so-called Markov kernels), defined by a hierarchy of exponential models, depends on the order of the variables. Some toy and real-data experiments support our inference rule
Spin-1/2 particles moving on a 2D lattice with nearest-neighbor interactions can realize an autonomous quantum computer
What is the simplest Hamiltonian which can implement quantum computation
without requiring any control operations during the computation process? In a
previous paper we have constructed a 10-local finite-range interaction among
qubits on a 2D lattice having this property. Here we show that
pair-interactions among qutrits on a 2D lattice are sufficient, too, and can
also implement an ergodic computer where the result can be read out from the
time average state after some post-selection with high success probability.
Two of the 3 qutrit states are given by the two levels of a spin-1/2 particle
located at a specific lattice site, the third state is its absence. Usual
hopping terms together with an attractive force among adjacent particles induce
a coupled quantum walk where the particle spins are subjected to spatially
inhomogeneous interactions implementing holonomic quantum computing. The
holonomic method ensures that the implemented circuit does not depend on the
time needed for the walk.
Even though the implementation of the required type of spin-spin interactions
is currently unclear, the model shows that quite simple Hamiltonians are
powerful enough to allow for universal quantum computing in a closed physical
system.Comment: More detailed explanations including description of a programmable
version. 44 pages, 12 figures, latex. To appear in PR
A Quantum Broadcasting Problem in Classical Low Power Signal Processing
We pose a problem called ``broadcasting Holevo-information'': given an
unknown state taken from an ensemble, the task is to generate a bipartite state
transfering as much Holevo-information to each copy as possible.
We argue that upper bounds on the average information over both copies imply
lower bounds on the quantum capacity required to send the ensemble without
information loss. This is because a channel with zero quantum capacity has a
unitary extension transfering at least as much information to its environment
as it transfers to the output.
For an ensemble being the time orbit of a pure state under a Hamiltonian
evolution, we derive such a bound on the required quantum capacity in terms of
properties of the input and output energy distribution. Moreover, we discuss
relations between the broadcasting problem and entropy power inequalities.
The broadcasting problem arises when a signal should be transmitted by a
time-invariant device such that the outgoing signal has the same timing
information as the incoming signal had. Based on previous results we argue that
this establishes a link between quantum information theory and the theory of
low power computing because the loss of timing information implies loss of free
energy.Comment: 28 pages, late
Inferring Causal Directions by Evaluating the Complexity of Conditional Distributions
We propose a new approach to infer the causal structure that has generated the observed statistical dependences among n random variables. The idea is that the factorization of the joint measure of cause and effect into P(cause)P(effect|cause) leads typically to simpler conditionals than non-causal factorizations. To evaluate the complexity of the conditionals we have tried two methods. First, we have compared them to those which maximize the conditional entropy subject to the observed first and second moments since we consider the latter as the simplest conditionals. Second, we have fitted the data with conditional probability measures being exponents of functions in an RKHS space and defined the complexity by a Hilbert-space semi-norm. Such a complexity measure has several properties that are useful for our purpose. We describe some encouraging results with both methods applied to real-world data. Moreover, we have combined constraint-based approaches to causal discovery (i.e., methods using only information on conditional statistical dependences) with our method in order to distinguish between causal hypotheses which are equivalent with respect to the imposed independences. Furthermore, we compare the performance to Bayesian approaches to causal inference
A Kernel-Based Causal Learning Algorithm
We describe a causal learning method, which employs measuring the strength of statistical dependences in terms of the Hilbert-Schmidt norm of kernel-based cross-covariance operators. Following the line of the common faithfulness assumption of constraint-based causal learning, our approach assumes that a variable Z is likely to be a common effect of X and Y, if conditioning on Z increases the dependence between X and Y. Based on this assumption, we collect "votes" for hypothetical causal directions and orient the edges by the majority principle. In most experiments with known causal structures, our method provided plausible results and outperformed the conventional constraint-based PC algorithm
Simulating Hamiltonians in Quantum Networks: Efficient Schemes and Complexity Bounds
We address the problem of simulating pair-interaction Hamiltonians in n node
quantum networks where the subsystems have arbitrary, possibly different,
dimensions. We show that any pair-interaction can be used to simulate any other
by applying sequences of appropriate local control sequences. Efficient schemes
for decoupling and time reversal can be constructed from orthogonal arrays.
Conditions on time optimal simulation are formulated in terms of spectral
majorization of matrices characterizing the coupling parameters. Moreover, we
consider a specific system of n harmonic oscillators with bilinear interaction.
In this case, decoupling can efficiently be achieved using the combinatorial
concept of difference schemes. For this type of interactions we present optimal
schemes for inversion.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX2
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