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arXiv:1612.07023 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

Geometric description of modular and weak values in discrete quantum systems using the Majorana representation

Mirko Cormann, Yves Caudano

Published Jun 1, 2017• 19 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract We express modular and weak values of observables of three- and higher-level quantum systems in their polar form. The Majorana representation of N -level systems in terms of symmetric states of N − 1 qubits provides us with a description on the Bloch sphere. With this geometric approach, we find that modular and weak values of observables of N -level quantum systems can be factored in N − 1 contributions. Their modulus is determined by the product of N − 1 ratios involving projection probabilities between qubits, while their argument is deduced from a sum of N − 1 solid angles on the Bloch sphere. These theoretical results allow us to study the geometric origin of the quantum phase discontinuity around singularities of weak values in three-level systems. We also analyze the three-box paradox (Aharonov and Vaidman 1991 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen . 24 2315–28) from the point of view of a bipartite quantum system. In the Majorana representation of this paradox, an observer comes to opposite conclusions about the entanglement state of the particles that were successfully pre- and postselected.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8121/aa7639

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Abstract We express modular and weak values of observables of three- and higher-level quantum systems in their polar form. The Majorana representation of N -level systems in terms of symmetric states of N − 1 qubits provides us with a description on the Bloch sphere. With this geometric approach, we find that modular and weak values of observables of N -level quantum systems can be factored in N − 1 contributions. Their modulus is determined by the product of N − 1 ratios involving projection probabilities between qubits, while their argument is deduced from a sum of N − 1 solid angles on the Bloch sphere. These theoretical results allow us to study the geometric origin of the quantum phase discontinuity around singularities of weak values in three-level systems. We also analyze the three-box paradox (Aharonov and Vaidman 1991 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen . 24 2315–28) from the point of view of a bipartite quantum system. In the Majorana representation of this paradox, an observer comes to opposite conclusions about the entanglement state of the particles that were successfully pre- and postselected.
Abstract This work examines the argument of weak values for general observables and develops a geometric description on the Bloch sphere. We apply the Majorana symmetric representation to reach this goal. The weak value of a general observable is proportional to the weak value of an effective projector: it is constructed from the application of the observable over the initial state, after normalization by a constant of proportionality that is real. The argument of the weak value of a projector on a pure state of an N-level system corresponds to a symplectic area in the complex projective space ( CP N − 1 ) . This symplectic area cannot be visualized directly but it can be represented geometrically with a sum of N − 1 solid angles on the Bloch sphere using the Majorana stellar representation. By combining these two ideas, we show that the argument of the weak value of any observable (i.e. not just projectors) can be described with the Majorana representation, as the sum of N − 1 solid angles on the Bloch sphere. These two approaches provide two geometrical descriptions, a first one in the complex projective space CP N − 1 and a second one on the Bloch sphere, after mapping the problem from the original N-dimensional quantum state space ( CP N − 1 ) to a multi-qubit description in three-dimensional space by making use of the Majorana representation. These results can also be applied to the argument of the third-order Bargmann invariant, the most fundamental order as the argument of any higher order invariant can be expressed as a sum of the argument of third-order Bargmann invariants, as well as to the argument of the Kirkwood–Dirac quasi-probability distribution. Finally, we focus on the argument of the weak value of a general spin-1 operator when its modulus diverges towards infinity. This divergence amplifies signals with great usefulness in experiments and appears connected to the qubit entanglement in the Majorana representation.
Abstract Observations in quantum weak measurements are determined by complex numbers called weak values. We present a geometrical interpretation of the argument of weak values of general Hermitian observables in N-dimensional quantum systems in terms of geometric phases. We formulate an arbitrary weak value in terms of three real vectors on the unit sphere in N 2 − 1 dimensions, S N 2 − 2 . These vectors are linked to the initial and final states, and to the weakly measured observable, respectively. We express pure states in the complex projective space of N − 1 dimensions, C P N − 1 , which has a non-trivial representation as a 2N − 2 dimensional submanifold of S N 2 − 2 (a generalization of the Bloch sphere for qudits). The argument of the weak value of a projector on a pure state of an N-level quantum system describes a geometric phase associated to the symplectic area of the geodesic triangle spanned by the vectors representing the pre-selected state, the projector and the post-selected state in C P N − 1 . We then proceed to show that the argument of the weak value of a general observable is equivalent to the argument of an effective Bargmann invariant. Hence, we extend the geometrical interpretation of projector weak values to weak values of general observables. In particular, we consider the generators of SU(N) given by the generalized Gell–Mann matrices. Finally, we study in detail the case of the argument of weak values of general observables in two-level systems and we illustrate weak measurements in larger dimensional systems by considering projectors on degenerate subspaces, as well as Hermitian quantum gates. To conclude, we discuss the interpretation and usefulness of geometric phases in weak values in connection to weak measurements.
While the Bloch sphere provides a canonical geometric representation for qubits, its generalization to pure qudit states (d>2d>2d>2) is not unique. This representation can be extended following two different approaches: increasing the number of points, as in the Majorana representation, or using a single point but in a space of larger dimension, as in the generalized Bloch representation. In this work, we compare these representations of pure qudit states by finding explicit analytical relations between them. In particular, a general formula of the Bloch vector in terms of the Majorana points of a given state is provided. We also analyze some suitable extensions of these representations in the case of pure permutation-symmetric two- and three-qubit states, deriving the corresponding relation between them. These analytical results allow us to study, from a geometric point of view, quantum correlations of special classes of two-qubit states.
We present a procedure to completely determine the complex modular values of arbitrary observables of pre- and postselected ensembles, which works experimentally for all measurement strengths and all postselected states. This procedure allows us to discuss the physics of modular and weak values in interferometric experiments involving a qubit meter. We determine both the modulus and the argument of the modular value for any measurement strength in a single step, by simultaneously controlling the visibility and the phase in a quantum eraser interference experiment. Modular and weak values are closely related. Using entangled qubits for the probed and meter systems, we show that the phase of the modular and weak values has a topological origin. This phase is completely defined by the intrinsic physical properties of the probed system and its time evolution. The physical significance of this phase can thus be used to evaluate the quantumness of weak values.
The properties of the geometric phases between three quantum states are investigated in a high-dimensional Hilbert space using the Majorana representation of symmetric quantum states. We found that the geometric phases between the three quantum states in an NNN-state quantum system can be represented by $N\ensuremath{-}1$ spherical triangles on the Bloch sphere. The parameter dependence of the geometric phase was analyzed based on this picture. We found that the geometric phase exhibits rich nonlinear behavior in a high-dimensional Hilbert space.
Entanglement in indistinguishable particle systems can be characterized by the impossibility of unambiguously attributing a complete set of physical properties to the individual constituent particles. In this work, we introduce a geometric quantifier of the incompatibility of such simultaneous property attribution for pure states of NNN indistinguishable bosons. Using the Majorana stellar representation, any symmetric multi-qubit state can be expressed as the symmetrization of constituent single-particle states, allowing the associated single-particle properties to be directly linked with the corresponding Majorana stars. This establishes a direct connection between the geometry of the Majorana representation on the Bloch sphere and the entanglement criterion based on the attribution of single-particle properties in systems of identical two-level bosons. We then generalize this geometric approach to higher-dimensional bosons, extending the quantifier from qubits to qudits, while retaining a geometric interpretation of property-attribution incompatibility in terms of Fubini-Study angles.