Generating topological order: no speedup by dissipation

We consider the problem of preparing topologically ordered states using unitary and non-unitary circuits, as well as local time-dependent Hamiltonian and Liouvillian evolutions. We prove that for any topological code in $D$ dimensions, the time required to encode logical information into the ground space is at least $\Omega(d^{1/(D-1)})$, where $d$ is the code distance. This result is tight for the toric code, giving a scaling with the linear system size. More generally, we show that the linear scaling is necessary even when dropping the requirement of encoding: preparing any state close to the ground space using dissipation takes an amount of time proportional to the diameter of the system in typical 2D topologically ordered systems, as well as for example the 3D and 4D toric codes.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Anyonic entanglement renormalization

We introduce a family of variational ansatz states for chains of anyons which optimally exploits the structure of the anyonic Hilbert space. This ansatz is the natural analog of the multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz for spin chains. In particular, it has the same interpretation as a coarse-graining procedure and is expected to accurately describe critical systems with algebraically decaying correlations. We numerically investigate the validity of this ansatz using the anyonic golden chain and its relatives as a testbed. This demonstrates the power of entanglement renormalization in a setting with non-abelian exchange statistics, extending previous work on qudits, bosons and fermions in two dimensions.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, v2: extended, updated to match published versio

Universal Uhrig dynamical decoupling for bosonic systems

We construct efficient deterministic dynamical decoupling schemes protecting continuous variable degrees of freedom. Our schemes target decoherence induced by quadratic system-bath interactions with analytic time-dependence. We show how to suppress such interactions to $N$-th order using only $N$ pulses. Furthermore, we show to homogenize a $2^m$-mode bosonic system using only $(N+1)^{2m+1}$ pulses, yielding - up to $N$-th order - an effective evolution described by non-interacting harmonic oscillators with identical frequencies. The decoupled and homogenized system provides natural decoherence-free subspaces for encoding quantum information. Our schemes only require pulses which are tensor products of single-mode passive Gaussian unitaries and SWAP gates between pairs of modes.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures

Sampling of min-entropy relative to quantum knowledge

Let X_1, ..., X_n be a sequence of n classical random variables and consider a sample of r positions selected at random. Then, except with (exponentially in r) small probability, the min-entropy of the sample is not smaller than, roughly, a fraction r/n of the total min-entropy of all positions X_1, ..., X_n, which is optimal. Here, we show that this statement, originally proven by Vadhan [LNCS, vol. 2729, Springer, 2003] for the purely classical case, is still true if the min-entropy is measured relative to a quantum system. Because min-entropy quantifies the amount of randomness that can be extracted from a given random variable, our result can be used to prove the soundness of locally computable extractors in a context where side information might be quantum-mechanical. In particular, it implies that key agreement in the bounded-storage model (using a standard sample-and-hash protocol) is fully secure against quantum adversaries, thus solving a long-standing open problem.Comment: 48 pages, late

The Bounded Storage Model in The Presence of a Quantum Adversary

An extractor is a function E that is used to extract randomness. Given an imperfect random source X and a uniform seed Y, the output E(X,Y) is close to uniform. We study properties of such functions in the presence of prior quantum information about X, with a particular focus on cryptographic applications. We prove that certain extractors are suitable for key expansion in the bounded storage model where the adversary has a limited amount of quantum memory. For extractors with one-bit output we show that the extracted bit is essentially equally secure as in the case where the adversary has classical resources. We prove the security of certain constructions that output multiple bits in the bounded storage model.Comment: 13 pages Latex, v3: discussion of independent randomizers adde

Matrix product approximations to multipoint functions in two-dimensional conformal field theory

Matrix product states (MPS) illustrate the suitability of tensor networks for the description of interacting many-body systems: ground states of gapped $1$-D systems are approximable by MPS as shown by Hastings [J. Stat. Mech. Theor. Exp., P08024 (2007)]. In contrast, whether MPS and more general tensor networks can accurately reproduce correlations in critical quantum systems, respectively quantum field theories, has not been established rigorously. Ample evidence exists: entropic considerations provide restrictions on the form of suitable Ansatz states, and numerical studies show that certain tensor networks can indeed approximate the associated correlation functions. Here we provide a complete positive answer to this question in the case of MPS and $2D$ conformal field theory: we give quantitative estimates for the approximation error when approximating correlation functions by MPS. Our work is constructive and yields an explicit MPS, thus providing both suitable initial values as well as a rigorous justification of variational methods.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. See long companion paper arXiv:1509.07414 for full technical detail