Self-testing of binary observables based on commutation

We consider the problem of certifying binary observables based on a Bell inequality violation alone, a task known as self-testing of measurements. We introduce a family of commutation-based measures, which encode all the distinct arrangements of two projective observables on a qubit. These quantities by construction take into account the usual limitations of self-testing and since they are "weighted" by the (reduced) state, they automatically deal with rank-deficient reduced density matrices. We show that these measures can be estimated from the observed Bell violation in several scenarios and the proofs rely only on standard linear algebra. The trade-offs turn out to be tight and, in particular, they give non-trivial statements for arbitrarily small violations. On the other extreme, observing the maximal violation allows us to deduce precisely the form of the observables, which immediately leads to a complete rigidity statement. In particular, we show that for all $n \geq 3$ the $n$-partite Mermin-Ardehali-Belinskii-Klyshko inequality self-tests the $n$-partite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state and maximally incompatible qubit measurements on every party. Our results imply that any pair of projective observables on a qubit can be certified in a truly robust manner. Finally, we show that commutation-based measures give a convenient way of expressing relations among more than two observables.Comment: 5 + 4 pages. v2: published version; v3: formatting errors fixe

Relativistic quantum cryptography

In this thesis we explore the benefits of relativistic constraints for cryptography. We first revisit non-communicating models and its applications in the context of interactive proofs and cryptography. We propose bit commitment protocols whose security hinges on communication constraints and investigate its limitations. We explain how some non-communicating models can be justified by special relativity and study the limitations of such models. In particular, we present a framework for analysing security of multiround relativistic protocols. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to analysing specific protocols. We start by considering a recently proposed two-round quantum bit commitment protocol. We propose a fault-tolerant variant of the protocol, present a complete security analysis and report on an experimental implementation performed in collaboration with an experimental group at the University of Geneva. We also propose a new, multiround classical bit commitment protocol and prove its security against classical adversaries. This demonstrates that in the classical world an arbitrarily long commitment can be achieved even if the agents are restricted to occupy a finite region of space. Moreover, the protocol is easy to implement and we report on an experiment performed in collaboration with the Geneva group.Comment: 123 pages, 9 figures, many protocols, a couple of theorems, certainly not enough commas. PhD thesis supervised by Stephanie Wehner at Centre for Quantum Technologies, Singapor

Entropic uncertainty from effective anti-commutators

We investigate entropic uncertainty relations for two or more binary measurements, for example spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ or polarisation measurements. We argue that the effective anti-commutators of these measurements, i.e. the anti-commutators evaluated on the state prior to measuring, are an expedient measure of measurement incompatibility. Based on the knowledge of pairwise effective anti-commutators we derive a class of entropic uncertainty relations in terms of conditional R\'{e}nyi entropies. Our uncertainty relations are formulated in terms of effective measures of incompatibility, which can be certified device-independently. Consequently, we discuss potential applications of our findings to device-independent quantum cryptography. Moreover, to investigate the tightness of our analysis we consider the simplest (and very well-studied) scenario of two measurements on a qubit. We find that our results outperform the celebrated bound due to Maassen and Uffink [Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, 1103 (1988)] and provide a new analytical expression for the minimum uncertainty which also outperforms some recent bounds based on majorisation.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures (excluding Supplemental Material), revte

Secure bit commitment from relativistic constraints

We investigate two-party cryptographic protocols that are secure under assumptions motivated by physics, namely relativistic assumptions (no-signalling) and quantum mechanics. In particular, we discuss the security of bit commitment in so-called split models, i.e. models in which at least some of the parties are not allowed to communicate during certain phases of the protocol. We find the minimal splits that are necessary to evade the Mayers-Lo-Chau no-go argument and present protocols that achieve security in these split models. Furthermore, we introduce the notion of local versus global command, a subtle issue that arises when the split committer is required to delegate non-communicating agents to open the commitment. We argue that classical protocols are insecure under global command in the split model we consider. On the other hand, we provide a rigorous security proof in the global command model for Kent's quantum protocol [Kent 2011, Unconditionally Secure Bit Commitment by Transmitting Measurement Outcomes]. The proof employs two fundamental principles of modern physics, the no-signalling property of relativity and the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics.Comment: published version, IEEE format, 18 pages, 8 figure

Quantum preparation uncertainty and lack of information

The quantum uncertainty principle famously predicts that there exist measurements that are inherently incompatible, in the sense that their outcomes cannot be predicted simultaneously. In contrast, no such uncertainty exists in the classical domain, where all uncertainty results from ignorance about the exact state of the physical system. Here, we critically examine the concept of preparation uncertainty and ask whether similarly in the quantum regime, some of the uncertainty that we observe can actually also be understood as a lack of information (LOI), albeit a lack of quantum information. We answer this question affirmatively by showing that for the well known measurements employed in BB84 quantum key distribution, the amount of uncertainty can indeed be related to the amount of available information about additional registers determining the choice of the measurement. We proceed to show that also for other measurements the amount of uncertainty is in part connected to a LOI. Finally, we discuss the conceptual implications of our observation to the security of cryptographic protocols that make use of BB84 states.Comment: 7+15 pages, 4 figures. v2: expanded "Discussion" section, "Methods" section moved before "Results" section, published versio

Mutually Unbiased Measurements, Hadamard Matrices, and Superdense Coding

Mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) are highly symmetric bases on complex Hilbert spaces, and the corresponding rank-1 projective measurements are ubiquitous in quantum information theory. In this work, we study a recently introduced generalization of MUBs called mutually unbiased measurements (MUMs). These measurements inherit the essential property of complementarity from MUBs, but the Hilbert space dimension is no longer required to match the number of outcomes. This operational complementarity property renders MUMs highly useful for device-independent quantum information processing. It has been shown that MUMs are strictly more general than MUBs. In this work we provide a complete proof of the characterization of MUMs that are direct sums of MUBs. We then proceed to construct new examples of MUMs that are not direct sums of MUBs. A crucial technical tool for these construction is a correspondence with quaternionic Hadamard matrices, which allows us to map known examples of such matrices to MUMs that are not direct sums of MUBs. Furthermore, we show that -- in stark contrast with MUBs -- the number of MUMs for a fixed outcome number is unbounded. Next, we focus on the use of MUMs in quantum communication. We demonstrate how any pair of MUMs with d outcomes defines a d-dimensional superdense coding protocol. Using MUMs that are not direct sums of MUBs, we disprove a recent conjecture due to Nayak and Yuen on the rigidity of superdense coding for infinitely many dimensions. The superdense coding protocols arising in the refutation reveal how shared entanglement may be used in a manner heretofore unknown.Comment: v2: Added some references and related discussion. v1: 20 pages. Comments welcome

Robust self-testing of two-qubit states

It is well-known that observing nonlocal correlations allows us to draw conclusions about the quantum systems under consideration. In some cases this yields a characterisation which is essentially complete, a phenomenon known as self-testing. Self-testing becomes particularly interesting if we can make the statement robust, so that it can be applied to a real experimental setup. For the simplest self-testing scenarios the most robust bounds come from the method based on operator inequalities. In this work we elaborate on this idea and apply it to the family of tilted CHSH inequalities. These inequalities are maximally violated by partially entangled two-qubit states and our goal is to estimate the quality of the state based only on the observed violation. For these inequalities we have reached a candidate bound and while we have not been able to prove it analytically, we have gathered convincing numerical evidence that it holds. Our final contribution is a proof that in the usual formulation, the CHSH inequality only becomes a self-test when the violation exceeds a certain threshold. This shows that self-testing scenarios fall into two distinct classes depending on whether they exhibit such a threshold or not.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, accepted manuscrip

Maximal nonlocality from maximal entanglement and mutually unbiased bases, and self-testing of two-qutrit quantum systems

Bell inequalities are an important tool in device-independent quantum information processing because their violation can serve as a certificate of relevant quantum properties. Probably the best known example of a Bell inequality is due to Clauser, Horne, Shimony and Holt (CHSH), which is defined in the simplest scenario involving two dichotomic measurements and whose all key properties are well understood. There have been many attempts to generalise the CHSH Bell inequality to higher-dimensional quantum systems, however, for most of them the maximal quantum violation---the key quantity for most device-independent applications---remains unknown. On the other hand, the constructions for which the maximal quantum violation can be computed, do not preserve the natural property of the CHSH inequality, namely, that the maximal quantum violation is achieved by the maximally entangled state and measurements corresponding to mutually unbiased bases. In this work we propose a novel family of Bell inequalities which exhibit precisely these properties, and whose maximal quantum violation can be computed analytically. In the simplest scenario it recovers the CHSH Bell inequality. These inequalities involve $d$ measurements settings, each having $d$ outcomes for an arbitrary prime number $d\geq 3$. We then show that in the three-outcome case our Bell inequality can be used to self-test the maximally entangled state of two-qutrits and three mutually unbiased bases at each site. Yet, we demonstrate that in the case of more outcomes, their maximal violation does not allow for self-testing in the standard sense, which motivates the definition of a new weak form of self-testing. The ability to certify high-dimensional MUBs makes these inequalities attractive from the device-independent cryptography point of view.Comment: 19 pages, no figures, accepted in Quantu