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arXiv:1204.1050 · Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience

A Study of Wigner Functions for Discrete-Time Quantum Walks

Margarida Hinarejos, Mari Carmen Bañuls, Armando Pérez

Published Jun 20, 2013• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We perform a systematic study of the discrete time Quantum Walk on one dimension using Wigner functions, which are generalized to include the chirality (or coin) degree of freedom. In particular, we analyze the evolution of the negative volume in phase space, as a function of time, for different initial states. This negativity can be used to quantify the degree of departure of the system from a classical state. We also relate this quantity to the entanglement between the coin and walker subspaces.

DOI
10.1166/jctn.2013.3101

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We perform a systematic study of the discrete time Quantum Walk on one dimension using Wigner functions, which are generalized to include the chirality (or coin) degree of freedom. In particular, we analyze the evolution of the negative volume in phase space, as a function of time, for different initial states. This negativity can be used to quantify the degree of departure of the system from a classical state. We also relate this quantity to the entanglement between the coin and walker subspaces.
We report a systematic study of asymptotic behavior of entanglement between the position and coin degrees of freedom for a one-dimensional discrete quantum walk. Effects of coin bias, initial coin asymmetry and phase difference and non-locality of initial position state on the fluctuations and asymptotic value of entanglement are investigated by using Fourier approach. Fluctuations in entropy are found to die out as power law in time as t-α with α = 1/2,3/2 and 5/2 depending on the initial state parameters of the system.
We analyze the quantum walk on a cycle using discrete Wigner functions as a way to represent the states and the evolution of the walker. The method provides some insight on the nature of the interference effects that make quantum and classical walks different. We also study the behavior of the system when the quantum coin carried by the walker interacts with an environment. We show that for this system quantum coherence is robust for initially delocalized states of the walker. The use of phase-space representation enables us to develop an intuitive description of the nature of the decoherence process in this system.
Abstract The one-dimensional discrete-time Hadamard quantum walk in the bit-phase noise channel is studied using the Wigner function. Decoherence is characterized using the l1-norm of coherence, Wigner function, and complex Wigner entropy. The l1-norm of coherence is used to quantify the persistence of coin coherence, and the non-classicality is verified through negativity of the Wigner function. Analysis of the complex Wigner entropy revealed a non-monotonic behavior in the non-classicality of the quantum walk, with an optimal noise level where the non-classicality is maximized. The Wigner function analysis is able to provide information related to non-classicality that is not possible using the standard Hilbert-space operator formalism.
We explore a discrete-time, coined quantum walk on a quantum network where the coherent superposition of walker moves originates from the unitary interaction of the walker coin with the qubit degrees of freedom in the quantum network. The walk dynamics leads to a growth of entanglement between the walker and the network on one hand and, on the other, between the network qubits among themselves. The initial entanglement among the network qubits plays a crucial role in determining the asymptotic values of these entanglement measures and the quantum walk statistics. Specifically, the entanglement entropy of the walker-network state and the negativity of the quantum network-qubit state saturate to values increasing with the initial network entanglement. The asymptotic time-averaged walker-position probability distribution shows increasing localization around the initial walker position with higher initial network entanglement. A potential application of these results as a characterization tool for quantum network properties is suggested.
We investigate the relation between transport properties and entanglement between the internal (spin) and external (position) degrees of freedom in one-dimensional discrete time quantum walks. We obtain closed-form expressions for the long-time position variance and asymptotic entanglement of quantum walks whose time evolution is given by any balanced quantum coin, starting from any initial qubit and position states following $\ensuremath{\delta}$-like (local) and Gaussian distributions. We find out that the knowledge of the limit velocity of the walker together with the polar angle of the initial qubit provide the asymptotic entanglement for local states, while this velocity with the quantum coin phases give it for highly delocalized states.
Quantum walk (QW) is the quantum analog of the random walk. QW is an integral part of the development of numerous quantum algorithms. Hence, an in-depth understanding of QW helps us to grasp the quantum algorithms. We revisit the one-dimensional discrete-time QW and discuss basic steps in detail by incorporating the most general coin operator, constant in both space and time, and a localized initial state using numerical modeling. We investigate the impact of each parameter of the general coin operator on the probability distribution of the quantum walker. We show that by tuning the parameters of the general coin, one can regulate the probability distribution of the walker. We provide an algorithm for the one-dimensional quantum walk driven by the general coin operator. The study on general coin operators also includes the popular coins – Hadamard, Grover, and Fourier.