We address the question of finding the most unbalanced convex decompositions into boundary elements (so-called boundariness) for sets of quantum states, observables, and channels. We show that in general convex sets the boundariness essentially coincides with the question of the most distinguishable element, thus providing an operational meaning for this concept. Unexpectedly, we discovered that for any interior point of the set of channels the most unbalanced decomposition necessarily contains a unitary channel. In other words, for any given channel the most distinguishable one is some unitary channel. Further, we prove that boundariness is submultiplicative under the composition of systems and explicitly evaluate its maximal value that is attained only for the most mixed elements of the considered sets.
We address the question of finding the most unbalanced convex decompositions into boundary elements (so-called boundariness) for sets of quantum states, observables, and channels. We show that in general convex sets the boundariness essentially coincides with the question of the most distinguishable element, thus providing an operational meaning for this concept. Unexpectedly, we discovered that for any interior point of the set of channels the most unbalanced decomposition necessarily contains a unitary channel. In other words, for any given channel the most distinguishable one is some unitary channel. Further, we prove that boundariness is submultiplicative under the composition of systems and explicitly evaluate its maximal value that is attained only for the most mixed elements of the considered sets.
We introduce the concept of boundariness capturing the most efficient way of expressing a given element of a convex set as a probability mixture of its boundary elements. In other words, this number measures (without the need of any explicit topology) how far the given element is from the boundary. It is shown that one of the elements from the boundary can be always chosen to be an extremal element. We focus on evaluation of this quantity for quantum sets of states, channels, and observables. We show that boundariness is intimately related to (semi)norms that provide an operational interpretation of this quantity. In particular, the minimum error probability for discrimination of a pair of quantum devices is lower bounded by the boundariness of each of them. We proved that for states and observables this bound is saturated and conjectured this feature for channels. The boundariness is zero for infinite-dimensional quantum objects as in this case all the elements are boundary elements.
We give a general solution to the question of when the convex hulls of orbits of quantum states on a finite-dimensional Hilbert space under unitary actions of a compact group have a non-empty interior in the surrounding space of all density operators. The same approach can be applied to study convex combinations of quantum channels. The importance of both problems stems from the fact that, usually, only sets with non-vanishing volumes in the embedding spaces of all states or channels are of practical importance. For the group of local transformations on a bipartite system we characterize maximally entangled states by the properties of a convex hull of orbits through them. We also compare two partial characteristics of convex bodies in terms of the largest balls and maximum volume ellipsoids contained in them and show that, in general, they do not coincide. Separable states, mixed-unitary channels and k -entangled states are also considered as examples of our techniques.
Optimization of quantum measurement processes has a pivotal role in carrying out better, more accurate or less disrupting, measurements and experiments on a quantum system. Especially, convex optimization, i.e., identifying the extreme points of the convex sets and subsets of quantum measuring devices plays an important part in quantum optimization since the typical figures of merit for measuring processes are affine functionals. In this thesis, we discuss results determining the extreme quantum devices and their relevance, e.g., in quantum-compatibility-related questions. Especially, we see that a compatible device pair where one device is extreme can be joined into a single apparatus essentially in a unique way. Moreover, we show that the question whether a pair of quantum observables can be measured jointly can often be formulated in a weaker form when some of the observables involved are extreme. Another major line of research treated in this thesis deals with convex analysis of special restricted quantum device sets, covariance structures or, in particular, generalized imprimitivity systems. Some results on the structure ofcovariant observables and instruments are listed as well as results identifying the extreme points of covariance structures in quantum theory. As a special case study, not published anywhere before, we study the structure of Euclidean-covariant localization observables for spin-0-particles. We also discuss the general form of Weyl-covariant phase-space instruments. Finally, certain optimality measures originating from convex geometry are introduced for quantum devices, namely, boundariness measuring how ‘close’ to the algebraic boundary of the device set a quantum apparatus is and the robustness of incompatibility quantifying the level of incompatibility for a quantum device pair by measuring the highest amount of noise the pair tolerates without becoming compatible. Boundariness is further associated to minimum-error discrimination of quantum devices, and robustness of incompatibility is shown to behave monotonically under certain compatibility-non-decreasing operations. Moreover, the value of robustness of incompatibility is given for a few special device pairs.
Convex sets of quantum states and processes play a central role in quantum theory and quantum information. Many important examples of convex sets in quantum theory are spectrahedra, that is, sets of positive operators subject to affine constraints. These examples include sets of quantum states with given expectation values of some observables of interest, sets of multipartite quantum states with given marginals, sets of quantum measurements, channels, and multitime quantum processes, as well as sets of higher-order quantum maps and quantum causal structures. This contribution provides a characterisation of the extreme points of general spectrahedra, and bounds on the ranks of the corresponding operators. The general results are applied to several special cases, and are used to retrieve classic results such as Choi's characterisation of the extreme quantum channels, Parhasarathy's characterisation of the extreme quantum states with given marginals, and the quantum version of Birkhoff's theorem for qubit unital channels. Finally, we propose a notion of positive operator valued measures (POVMs) with general affine constraints for their normalisation, and we characterise the extremal POVMs.
Convex sets of quantum states and processes play a central role in quantum theory and quantum information. Many important examples of convex sets in quantum theory are spectrahedra, that is, sets of positive operators satisfying affine constraints. These examples include sets of quantum states with given expectation values of a set of observables, sets of multipartite quantum states with given marginals, sets of quantum measurements, channels and multitime quantum processes, as well as sets of higher-order quantum maps and quantum causal structures. This contribution provides a characterization of the extreme points of general spectrahedra, and bounds on the ranks of the corresponding operators. The general results are applied to several special cases, and then used to retrieve classic results such as Choi’s characterization of the extreme quantum channels, Parthasarathy’s characterization of the extreme quantum states with given marginals and the quantum version of Birkhoff’s theorem for qubit unital channels. Finally, we propose a notion of positive operator valued measures (POVMs) with general affine constraints for their normalization, and we characterize the extremal POVMs.
It is well - known that the set of states of a given quantum mechanical system is to be closed from the point of view of the operational approach if we want to make mixed states or convex combinations. That is, s1 and s2 are states, then the same is to be true for λs1+(1−λ)s2, where 0<λ<1. We can define a convex combination of elements in a linear space, but unfortunately, in the general case the linear space is artificial for the set of states and has no physical meaning, but the procedure of forming the mixtures of states has a natural meaning. This is why we provide an abstract definition of the mixtures, which is independent of the linearity notion. We call this space a convex structure. In the work we consider state spaces, generalized state spaces, in which we select pure states, define operations and effects associated with the operations. We also consider ultraproducts of the sequences of these structures, operations and effects.