Quantum processes

A number of ideas and questions related to the construction of quantum processes are discussed. Quantum state extension, entanglement and asymptotic behaviour of the entropy are some of the issues explored. These topics are studied in more detail for a class of quantum processes known as finitely correlated states. Several examples of such processes are presented, specifically a Free Fermionic model.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the 46th Karpacz Winter School of Theoretical Physics "Quantum Dynamics and Information: Theory and Experiment

Matrices of fidelities for ensembles of quantum states and the Holevo quantity

The entropy of the Gram matrix of a joint purification of an ensemble of K mixed states yields an upper bound for the Holevo information Chi of the ensemble. In this work we combine geometrical and probabilistic aspects of the ensemble in order to obtain useful bounds for Chi. This is done by constructing various correlation matrices involving fidelities between every pair of states from the ensemble. For K=3 quantum states we design a matrix of root fidelities that is positive and the entropy of which is conjectured to upper bound Chi. Slightly weaker bounds are established for arbitrary ensembles. Finally, we investigate correlation matrices involving multi-state fidelities in relation to the Holevo quantity.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure

Classical capacity of a qubit depolarizing channel with memory

The classical product state capacity of a noisy quantum channel with memory is investigated. A forgetful noise-memory channel is constructed by Markov switching between two depolarizing channels which introduces non-Markovian noise correlations between successive channel uses. The computation of the capacity is reduced to an entropy computation for a function of a Markov process. A reformulation in terms of algebraic measures then enables its calculation. The effects of the hidden-Markovian memory on the capacity are explored. An increase in noise-correlations is found to increase the capacity

Quantum dynamical entropies for classical stochastic systems

We compare two proposals for the dynamical entropy of quantum deterministic systems (CNT and AFL) by studying their extensions to classical stochastic systems. We show that the natural measurement procedure leads to a simple explicit expression for the stochastic dynamical entropy with a clear information-theoretical interpretation. Finally, we compare our construction with other recent proposals.Comment: 15 page

Entropy of quantum channel in the theory of quantum information

Quantum channels, also called quantum operations, are linear, trace preserving and completely positive transformations in the space of quantum states. Such operations describe discrete time evolution of an open quantum system interacting with an environment. The thesis contains an analysis of properties of quantum channels and different entropies used to quantify the decoherence introduced into the system by a given operation. Part I of the thesis provides a general introduction to the subject. In Part II, the action of a quantum channel is treated as a process of preparation of a quantum ensemble. The Holevo information associated with this ensemble is shown to be bounded by the entropy exchanged during the preparation process between the initial state and the environment. A relation between the Holevo information and the entropy of an auxiliary matrix consisting of square root fidelities between the elements of the ensemble is proved in some special cases. Weaker bounds on the Holevo information are also established. The entropy of a channel, also called the map entropy, is defined as the entropy of the state corresponding to the channel by the Jamiolkowski isomorphism. In Part III of the thesis, the additivity of the entropy of a channel is proved. The minimal output entropy, which is difficult to compute, is estimated by an entropy of a channel which is much easier to obtain. A class of quantum channels is specified, for which additivity of channel capacity is conjectured. The last part of the thesis contains characterization of Davies channels, which correspond to an interaction of a state with a thermal reservoir in the week coupling limit, under the condition of quantum detailed balance and independence of rotational and dissipative evolutions. The Davies channels are characterized for one-qubit and one-qutrit systems