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arXiv:1010.3570 · Journal of Mathematical Physics

Generating random density matrices

Karol Życzkowski, K. A. Penson, Ion Nechita, Benoı̂t Collins

Published Jun 1, 2011• 191 citations
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Abstract

We study various methods to generate ensembles of random density matrices of a fixed size N, obtained by partial trace of pure states on composite systems. Structured ensembles of random pure states, invariant with respect to local unitary transformations are introduced. To analyze statistical properties of quantum entanglement in bi-partite systems we analyze the distribution of Schmidt coefficients of random pure states. Such a distribution is derived in the case of a superposition of k random maximally entangled states. For another ensemble, obtained by performing selective measurements in a maximally entangled basis on a multi-partite system, we show that this distribution is given by the Fuss-Catalan law and find the average entanglement entropy. A more general class of structured ensembles proposed, containing also the case of Bures, forms an extension of the standard ensemble of structureless random pure states, described asymptotically, as N → ∞, by the Marchenko-Pastur distribution.

DOI
10.1063/1.3595693

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We study various methods to generate ensembles of random density matrices of a fixed size N, obtained by partial trace of pure states on composite systems. Structured ensembles of random pure states, invariant with respect to local unitary transformations are introduced. To analyze statistical properties of quantum entanglement in bi-partite systems we analyze the distribution of Schmidt coefficients of random pure states. Such a distribution is derived in the case of a superposition of k random maximally entangled states. For another ensemble, obtained by performing selective measurements in a maximally entangled basis on a multi-partite system, we show that this distribution is given by the Fuss-Catalan law and find the average entanglement entropy. A more general class of structured ensembles proposed, containing also the case of Bures, forms an extension of the standard ensemble of structureless random pure states, described asymptotically, as N → ∞, by the Marchenko-Pastur distribution.
For any graph consisting of k vertices and m edges we construct an ensemble of random pure quantum states which describe a system composed of 2 m subsystems. Each edge of the graph represents a bipartite, maximally entangled state. Each vertex represents a random unitary matrix generated according to the Haar measure, which describes the coupling between subsystems. Dividing all subsystems into two parts, one may study entanglement with respect to this partition. A general technique to derive an expression for the average entanglement entropy of random pure states associated with a given graph is presented. Our technique relies on Weingarten calculus and flow problems. We analyze the statistical properties of spectra of such random density matrices and show for which cases they are described by the free Poissonian (Marchenko–Pastur) distribution. We derive a discrete family of generalized, Fuss–Catalan distributions and explicitly construct graphs which lead to ensembles of random states characterized by these novel distributions of eigenvalues.
We analyze the properties of entangled random pure states of a quantum system partitioned into two smaller subsystems of dimensions N and M. Framing the problem in terms of random matrices with a fixed-trace constraint, we establish, for arbitrary N≤M, a general relation between the n-point densities and the cross moments of the eigenvalues of the reduced density matrix, i.e., the so-called Schmidt eigenvalues, and the analogous functionals of the eigenvalues of the Wishart-Laguerre ensemble of the random matrix theory. This allows us to derive explicit expressions for two-level densities, and also an exact expression for the variance of von Neumann entropy at finite N,M. Then, we focus on the moments E{K^{a}} of the Schmidt number K, the reciprocal of the purity. This is a random variable supported on [1,N], which quantifies the number of degrees of freedom effectively contributing to the entanglement. We derive a wealth of analytical results for E{K^{a}} for N=2 and 3 and arbitrary M, and also for square N=M systems by spotting for the latter a connection with the probability P(x_{min}^{GUE}≥sqrt[2N]ξ) that the smallest eigenvalue x_{min}^{GUE} of an N×N matrix belonging to the Gaussian unitary ensemble is larger than sqrt[2N]ξ. As a by-product, we present an exact asymptotic expansion for P(x_{min}^{GUE}≥sqrt[2N]ξ) for finite N as ξ→∞. Our results are corroborated by numerical simulations whenever possible, with excellent agreement.
Mixed state ensembles such as the Bures-Hall and Hilbert-Schmidt measure are probability distributions that characterise the statistical properties of random density matrices and can be used to determine the typical features of mixed quantum states. Here we extend this framework by considering the properties of random states with fixed average energy, and the ensemble-averaged density matrix is derived under this additional physical constraint. This gives rise to a type of microcanonical ensemble for random mixed states and we connect its properties to a statistical mechanical entropy and temperature. Our results are illustrated using a variety of simple spin systems, and we find that they can exhibit exotic features such as phase transitions in the absence of energetic interactions and finite relative energy fluctuations in the thermodynamic limit.
Quantum entanglement plays a crucial role in quantum information, quantum teleportation and quantum computation. The information about the entanglement content between subsystems of the composite system is encoded in the Schmidt eigenvalues. We derive here closed expressions for the spectral density of Schmidt eigenvalues for all three invariant classes of random matrix ensembles. We also obtain exact results for average von Neumann entropy. We find that maximum average entanglement is achieved if the system belongs to the symplectic invariant class.
The density matrix formalism is a fundamental tool in studying various problems in quantum information processing. In the space of density matrices, the most well-known and physically relevant measures are the Hilbert-Schmidt ensemble and the Bures-Hall ensemble. In this work, we propose a generalized ensemble of density matrices, termed quantum interpolating ensemble, which is able to interpolate between these two seemingly unrelated ensembles. As a first step to understand the proposed ensemble, we derive the exact mean formulas of entanglement entropies over such an ensemble generalizing several recent results in the literature. We also derive some key properties of the corresponding orthogonal polynomials relevant to obtaining other statistical information of the entropies. Numerical results demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed ensemble in estimating the degree of entanglement of quantum states.