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arXiv:1309.7309

Probing the geometry of quantum states with symmetric POVMs

José Ignacio Rosado

Published Sep 27, 2013• 1 citation
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Abstract

The geometry of the Quantum State Space, described by Bloch vectors, is a very intricate one. A deeper understanding of this geometry could lead to the solution of some difficult problems in Quantum Foundations and Quantum Information such as the existence of SIC-POVMs and the cardinality of the maximal set of MUBs. In this paper we show that the geometry of quantum states can be described by the probability distributions that quantum states induce over the outcomes of symmetric POVMs not necessarily of arbitrary rank or informationally complete. We also describe the properties of these symmetric POVMs.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1309.7309

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The geometry of the Quantum State Space, described by Bloch vectors, is a very intricate one. A deeper understanding of this geometry could lead to the solution of some difficult problems in Quantum Foundations and Quantum Information such as the existence of SIC-POVMs and the cardinality of the maximal set of MUBs. In this paper we show that the geometry of quantum states can be described by the probability distributions that quantum states induce over the outcomes of symmetric POVMs not necessarily of arbitrary rank or informationally complete. We also describe the properties of these symmetric POVMs.
We consider the existence in arbitrary finite dimensions d of a positive operator valued measure (POVM) comprised of d2 rank-one operators all of whose operator inner products are equal. Such a set is called a “symmetric, informationally complete” POVM (SIC–POVM) and is equivalent to a set of d2 equiangular lines in Cd. SIC–POVMs are relevant for quantum state tomography, quantum cryptography, and foundational issues in quantum mechanics. We construct SIC–POVMs in dimensions two, three, and four. We further conjecture that a particular kind of group-covariant SIC–POVM exists in arbitrary dimensions, providing numerical results up to dimension 45 to bolster this claim.
The generalized Bloch decomposition of a bipartite quantum state gives rise to a correlation matrix whose singular values provide rich information about non-local properties of the state, such as the dimensionality of entanglement. While some entanglement criteria based on the singular values exist, a complete understanding of the geometry of admissible correlation matrices is lacking. We provide a deeper insight into the geometry of the singular values of the correlation matrices of limited Schmidt number. First, we provide a link to the framework of randomized measurements and show how to obtain knowledge about the singular values in this framework by constructing observables that yield the same moments as one obtains from orthogonal averages over the Bloch sphere. We then focus on the case of separable states and characterize the boundary of the set of the first two non-vanishing moments by giving explicit constructions for some of the faces and extremal points. These constructions yield a connection between the geometry of the correlation matrices and the existence problems of maximal sets of mutually unbiased bases, as well as SIC-POVMs.
The paper concerns Weyl-Heisenberg covariant SIC-POVMs (symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures) and full sets of MUBs (mutually unbiased bases) in prime dimension. When represented as vectors in generalized Bloch space a SIC-POVM forms a d 2 − 1 dimensional regular simplex (d being the Hilbert space dimension). By contrast, the generalized Bloch vectors representing a full set of MUBs form d + 1 mutually orthogonal d − 1 dimensional regular simplices. In this paper we show that, in the Weyl-Heisenberg case, there are some simple geometrical relationships between the single SIC-POVM simplex and the d + 1 MUB simplices. We go on to give geometrical interpretations of the minimum uncertainty states introduced by Wootters and Sussman, and by Appleby, Dang and Fuchs, and of the fiduciality condition given by Appleby, Dang and Fuchs. 1
Generalized quantum measurements (also known as positive operator-valued measures or POVMs) are of great importance in quantum information and quantum foundations, but often difficult to perform. We present an experimental approach which can in principle be used to perform arbitrary POVMs in a linear-optical context. One of the most interesting POVMs, the symmetric, informationally complete-POVM (or SIC-POVM), is the most compact set of measurements that can be used to fully describe a quantum state. We use our technique to carry out the first experimental characterization of the state of a qutrit using SIC-POVMs. Because of the highly symmetric nature of this measurement, such a representation has the unique property that it permits all other measurement outcomes to be predicted by a simple extension of the classical Bayesian sum rule, making no use of complex amplitudes or Hilbert-space operators. We demonstrate this approach on several qutrit states encoded in single photons.
The paper concerns Weyl-Heisenberg covariant SIC-POVMs (symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures) and full sets of MUBs (mutually unbiased bases) in prime dimension. When represented as vectors in generalized Bloch space a SIC-POVM forms a d^2-1 dimensional regular simplex (d being the Hilbert space dimension). By contrast, the generalized Bloch vectors representing a full set of MUBs form d+1 mutually orthogonal d-1 dimensional regular simplices. In this paper we show that, in the Weyl-Heisenberg case, there are some simple geometrical relationships between the single SIC-POVM simplex and the d+1 MUB simplices. We go on to give geometrical interpretations of the minimum uncertainty states introduced by Wootters and Sussman, and by Appleby, Dang and Fuchs, and of the fiduciality condition given by Appleby, Dang and Fuchs.
The quantum state of a ddd-dimensional system can be represented by the d2d^2d2 probabilities corresponding to a SIC-POVM, and then this distribution of probability can be represented by a vector of Rd2−1\R^{d^2-1}Rd2−1 in a simplex, we will call this set of vectors Q\mathcal{Q}Q. Other way of represent a ddd-dimensional system is by the corresponding Bloch vector also in Rd2−1\R^{d^2-1}Rd2−1, we will call this set of vectors B\mathcal{B}B. In this paper it is proved that with the adequate scaling B=Q\mathcal{B}=\mathcal{Q}B=Q. Also we indicate some features of the shape of Q\mathcal{Q}Q.