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arXiv:1502.04476 · New Journal of Physics

Reasonable fermionic quantum information theories require relativity

Nicolai Friis

Published Mar 8, 2016• 85 citations
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Abstract

We show that any quantum information theory based on anticommuting operators must be supplemented by a superselection rule deeply rooted in relativity to establish a reasonable notion of entanglement. While quantum information may be encoded in the fermionic Fock space, the unrestricted theory has a peculiar feature: the marginals of bipartite pure states need not have identical entropies, which leads to an ambiguous definition of entanglement. We solve this problem, by proving that it is removed by relativity, i.e., by the parity superselection rule that arises from Lorentz invariance via the spin-statistics connection. Our results hence unveil a fundamental conceptual inseparability of quantum information and the causal structure of relativistic field theory.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/18/3/033014

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We show that any quantum information theory based on anticommuting operators must be supplemented by a superselection rule deeply rooted in relativity to establish a reasonable notion of entanglement. While quantum information may be encoded in the fermionic Fock space, the unrestricted theory has a peculiar feature: the marginals of bipartite pure states need not have identical entropies, which leads to an ambiguous definition of entanglement. We solve this problem, by proving that it is removed by relativity, i.e., by the parity superselection rule that arises from Lorentz invariance via the spin-statistics connection. Our results hence unveil a fundamental conceptual inseparability of quantum information and the causal structure of relativistic field theory.
In [N. Friis, New J. Phys. 18, 033014 (2016)] the non-relativistic description of fermions is considered and in particular the role of the parity superselection rule in relation to the characterization of entanglement. An argument based on the spin-statistics connection is presented as a physical motivation for the parity superselection rule. Since the spin statistics connection was derived in the context of relativistic quantum mechanics it is argued that the inclusion of the parity superselection rule is motivated by Lorentz invariance. Based on this it is further argued that fermionic Quantum Information theory and the theory of special relativity are conceptually inseparable. In this comment a different, and well known, motivation for the parity superselection rule is given that does not rely on arguments from relativistic quantum mechanics, but instead uses the assumptions that the laws of physics are the same for different observers and the no-signalling principle.
The characterization of entanglement is a fundamental issue for Quantum Information Theory. But the definition of entanglement depends on the notion of locality, and thus on the tensor product structure of the state space of the composite system. This notion is affected by the presence of superselection rules that restrict the accessible Hilbert space to a direct sum of subspaces. Indistinguishability of particles imposes one such restriction, namely to totally symmetric or totally antisymmetric states. The entanglement can in this case be defined with respect to partitions of modes in the second quantization formalism. For fermionic systems the Fock space of m modes is isomorphic to the space of m qubits, but the action of creation and annihilation operators is not local, due to their anticommutation. Conservation of the parity of fermion number imposes another relevant superselection rule. It requires that local physical observables commute with the local parity operator. Taking into account the considerations above, it is possible to define the set of separable states or equivalently the concept of entanglement for fermionic systems in a number of ways. Here we analyze systematically these possibilities and the relation among the various sets of separable states. We also discuss the behavior of the different classes when taking several copies of the state, as well as the characterization of the sets in terms of the usual criteria regarding the tensor product.
Relativistic effects affect nearly all notions of quantum information theory. The vacuum behaves as a noisy channel, even if the detectors are perfect. The standard definition of a reduced density matrix fails for photon polarization because the transversality condition behaves like a superselection rule. We can however define an effective reduced density matrix which corresponds to a restricted class of positive operator-valued measures. There are no pure photon qubits, and no exactly orthogonal qubit states. Reduced density matrices for the spin of massive particles are well-defined, but are not covariant under Lorentz transformations. The spin entropy is not a relativistic scalar and has no invariant meaning. The distinguishability of quantum signals and their entanglement depends on the relative motion of observers.
A reasonable quantum information theory for fermions must respect the parity superselection rule to comply with the special theory of relativity and the no-signaling principle. This rule restricts the possibility of any quantum state to have a superposition between even- and odd-parity fermionic states. thereby characterizing the set of physically allowed fermionic quantum states. Here we introduce the physically allowed quantum operations, in congruence with the parity superselection rule, that map the set of allowed fermionic states onto itself. We first introduce unitary and projective measurement operations of the fermionic states. We further extend the formalism to general quantum operations in the forms of Stinespring dilation, operator-sum representation, and axiomatic completely positive and trace-preserving maps. We explicitly show the equivalence between these three representations of fermionic quantum operations. We discuss the possible implications of our results in characterization of correlations in fermionic systems.
We analyze fermionic modes as fundamental entities for quantum information processing. To this end we construct a density operator formalism on the underlying Fock space and demonstrate how it can be naturally and unambiguously equipped with a notion of subsystems in the absence of a global tensor product structure. We argue that any apparent similarities between fermionic modes and qubits are superficial and can only be applied in limited situations. In particular, we discuss the ambiguities that arise from different treatments of this subject. Our results are independent of the specific context of the fermionic fields as long as the canonical anticommutation relations are satisfied, e.g., in relativistic quantum fields or fermionic trapped ions.
We describe two problems current relativistic quantum information suffers from. The first point is an explanation of an alleged ambiguity of entropic quantities detected in a number of publications and incorrectly resolved in [M. Montero and E. Martin-Martinez, Physical Review A 83, 062323 (2011)]. We found that the problem arises due to wrong algebraic manipulations with fermions and ignoring the superselection rule for bosons and fermions. This leads to a misinterpretation of certain entropic quantities when applied to fermion fields. The second discussed point is to alert to a conceptual misunderstanding of the role of entanglement (and quantum correlations in general) in some of the studied relativistic scenarios. Instead, we argue in favor of investigating capacities of quantum channels induced by the relevant physical processes as dictated by quantum Shannon theory.