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arXiv:1502.01870 · Journal of Mathematical Physics

Normal form decomposition for Gaussian-to-Gaussian superoperators

Giacomo De Palma, Andrea Mari, Vittorio Giovannetti, Alexander Semenovich Holevo

Published May 1, 2015• 28 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the set of linear maps sending the set of quantum Gaussian states into itself. These maps are in general not positive, a feature which can be exploited as a test to check whether a given quantum state belongs to the convex hull of Gaussian states (if one of the considered maps sends it into a non-positive operator, the above state is certified not to belong to the set). Generalizing a result known to be valid under the assumption of complete positivity, we provide a characterization of these Gaussian-to-Gaussian (not necessarily positive) superoperators in terms of their action on the characteristic function of the inputs. For the special case of one-mode mappings, we also show that any Gaussian-to-Gaussian superoperator can be expressed as a concatenation of a phase-space dilatation, followed by the action of a completely positive Gaussian channel, possibly composed with a transposition. While a similar decomposition is shown to fail in the multi-mode scenario, we prove that it still holds at least under the further hypothesis of homogeneous action on the covariance matrix.

DOI
10.1063/1.4921265

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In this paper, we explore the set of linear maps sending the set of quantum Gaussian states into itself. These maps are in general not positive, a feature which can be exploited as a test to check whether a given quantum state belongs to the convex hull of Gaussian states (if one of the considered maps sends it into a non-positive operator, the above state is certified not to belong to the set). Generalizing a result known to be valid under the assumption of complete positivity, we provide a characterization of these Gaussian-to-Gaussian (not necessarily positive) superoperators in terms of their action on the characteristic function of the inputs. For the special case of one-mode mappings, we also show that any Gaussian-to-Gaussian superoperator can be expressed as a concatenation of a phase-space dilatation, followed by the action of a completely positive Gaussian channel, possibly composed with a transposition. While a similar decomposition is shown to fail in the multi-mode scenario, we prove that it still holds at least under the further hypothesis of homogeneous action on the covariance matrix.
We study one-mode Gaussian quantum channels in continuous-variable systems by performing a black-box characterization using complete positivity and trace preserving conditions, and report the existence of two subsets that do not have a functional Gaussian form. Our study covers as particular limit the case of singular channels, thus connecting our results with their known classification scheme based on canonical forms. Our full characterization of Gaussian channels without Gaussian functional form is completed by showing how Gaussian states are transformed under these operations, and by deriving the conditions for the existence of master equations for the non-singular cases.
Let K be a convex subset of the state space of a finite-dimensional C*-algebra. We study the properties of channels on K, which are defined as affine maps from K into the state space of another algebra, extending to completely positive maps on the subspace generated by K. We show that each such map is the restriction of a completely positive map on the whole algebra, called a generalized channel. We characterize the set of generalized channels and also the equivalence classes of generalized channels having the same value on K. Moreover, if K contains the tracial state, the set of generalized channels forms again a convex subset of a multipartite state space, this leads to a definition of a generalized supermap, which is a generalized channel with respect to this subset. We prove a decomposition theorem for generalized supermaps and describe the equivalence classes. The set of generalized supermaps having the same value on equivalent generalized channels is also characterized. Special cases include quantum combs and process positive operator valued measures (POVMs).
We present a novel approach to the separability problem for Gaussian quantum states of bosonic continuous variable systems. We derive a simplified necessary and sufficient separability criterion for arbitrary Gaussian states of m versus n modes, which relies on convex optimisation over marginal covariance matrices on one subsystem only. We further revisit the currently known results stating the equivalence between separability and positive partial transposition (PPT) for specific classes of Gaussian states. Using techniques based on matrix analysis, such as Schur complements and matrix means, we then provide a unified treatment and compact proofs of all these results. In particular, we recover the PPT-separability equivalence for: (i) Gaussian states of 1 versus n modes; and (ii) isotropic Gaussian states. In passing, we also retrieve (iii) the recently established equivalence between separability of a Gaussian state and and its complete Gaussian extendability. Our techniques are then applied to progress beyond the state of the art. We prove that: (iv) Gaussian states that are invariant under partial transposition are necessarily separable; (v) the PPT criterion is necessary and sufficient for separability for Gaussian states of m versus n modes that are symmetric under the exchange of any two modes belonging to one of the parties; and (vi) Gaussian states which remain PPT under passive optical operations can not be entangled by them either. This is not a foregone conclusion per se (since Gaussian bound entangled states do exist) and settles a question that had been left unanswered in the existing literature on the subject. This paper, enjoyable by both the quantum optics and the matrix analysis communities, overall delivers technical and conceptual advances which are likely to be useful for further applications in continuous variable quantum information theory, beyond the separability problem.
Abstract We study one-mode Gaussian quantum channels in continuous-variable systems by performing a black-box characterization using complete positivity and trace preserving conditions, and report the existence of two subsets that do not have a functional Gaussian form. Our study covers as a particular limit the case of singular channels, thus connecting our results with their known classification scheme based on canonical forms. Our full characterization of Gaussian channels without Gaussian functional form is completed by showing how Gaussian states are transformed under these operations, and by deriving the conditions for the existence of master equations for the non-singular cases. We show that although every functional form can be found in the vicinity of the identity, one of them does not parametrize unitary channels.
We present a novel approach to the separability problem for Gaussian quantum states of bosonic continuous variable systems. We derive a simplified necessary and sufficient separability criterion for arbitrary Gaussian states of m versus n modes, which relies on convex optimisation over marginal covariance matrices on one subsystem only. We further revisit the currently known results stating the equivalence between separability and positive partial transposition (PPT) for specific classes of Gaussian states. Using techniques based on matrix analysis, such as Schur complements and matrix means, we then provide a unified treatment and compact proofs of all these results. In particular, we recover the PPT-separability equivalence for: (i) Gaussian states of 1 versus n modes; and (ii) isotropic Gaussian states. In passing, we also retrieve (iii) the recently established equivalence between separability of a Gaussian state and and its complete Gaussian extendability. Our techniques are then applied to progress beyond the state of the art. We prove that: (iv) Gaussian states that are invariant under partial transposition are necessarily separable; (v) the PPT criterion is necessary and sufficient for separability for Gaussian states of m versus n modes that are symmetric under the exchange of any two modes belonging to one of the parties; and (vi) Gaussian states which remain PPT under passive optical operations can not be entangled by them either. This is not a foregone conclusion per se (since Gaussian bound entangled states do exist) and settles a question that had been left unanswered in the existing literature on the subject. This paper, enjoyable by both the quantum optics and the matrix analysis communities, overall delivers technical and conceptual advances which are likely to be useful for further applications in continuous variable quantum information theory, beyond the separability problem.
We introduce the stellar decomposition , a novel method for characterizing non-Gaussian states produced by photon-counting measurements on Gaussian states. Given an ( m + n ) -mode Gaussian state G , we express it as an ( m + n ) -mode "Gaussian core state" G c o r e followed by an m -mode Gaussian transformation T that only acts on the first m modes. The defining property of the Gaussian core state G c o r e is that measuring the last n of its modes in the photon-number basis leaves the first m modes on a finite Fock support, i.e. a core state. Since T is measurement-independent and G c o r e has an exact and finite Fock representation, this decomposition exactly describes all non-Gaussian states obtainable by projecting n modes of G onto the Fock basis. For pure states we prove that a physical pair ( G c o r e , T ) always exists with G c o r e pure and T unitary. For mixed states, we establish necessary and sufficient conditions for ( G c o r e , T ) to be a Gaussian mixed state and a Gaussian channel. We also develop a semidefinite program to extract the "largest" possible Gaussian channel when these conditions fail. Finally, we present a formal stellar decomposition for generic operators, which is useful in simulations where the only requirement is that the two parts contract back to the original operator. The stellar decomposition leads to practical bounds on achievable state quality in photonic circuits and for GKP state generation in particular. Our results are based on a new characterization of Gaussian completely positive maps in the Bargmann picture, which may be of independent interest.