Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1703.05981 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

Constructing exact symmetric informationally complete measurements from numerical solutions

Marcus Appleby, Tuan-Yow Chien, Steven T. Flammia, Shayne F. D. Waldron

Published Mar 7, 2018• 106 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract Recently, several intriguing conjectures have been proposed connecting symmetric informationally complete quantum measurements (SIC POVMs, or SICs) and algebraic number theory. These conjectures relate the SICs to their minimal defining algebraic number field. Testing or sharpening these conjectures requires that the SICs are expressed exactly, rather than as numerical approximations. While many exact solutions of SICs have been constructed previously using Gröbner bases, this method has probably been taken as far as is possible with current computer technology (except in special cases where there are additional symmetries). Here, we describe a method for converting high-precision numerical solutions into exact ones using an integer relation algorithm in conjunction with the Galois symmetries of an SIC. Using this method, we have calculated 69 new exact solutions, including nine new dimensions, where previously only numerical solutions were known—which more than triples the number of known exact solutions. In some cases, the solutions require number fields with degrees as high as 12 288. We use these solutions to confirm that they obey the number-theoretic conjectures, and address two questions suggested by the previous work.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8121/aab4cd

Related papers

Galois automorphisms of a symmetric measurement

Symmetric Informationally Complete Positive Operator Valued Measures (usually referred to as SIC-POVMs or simply as SICs) have been constructed in every dimension $\le 67$. However, a proof that they exist in every finite dimension has yet to be constructed. In this paper we examine the Galois group of SICs covariant with respect to the Weyl-Heisenberg group (or WH SICs as we refer to them). The great majority (though not all) of the known examples are of this type. Scott and Grassl have noted that every known exact WH SIC is expressible in radicals (except for dimension $3$ which is exceptional in this and several other respects), which means that the corresponding Galois group is solvable. They have also calculated the Galois group for most known exact examples. The purpose of this paper is to take the analysis of Scott and Grassl further. We first prove a number of theorems regarding the structure of the Galois group and the relation between it and the extended Clifford group. We then examine the Galois group for the known exact fiducials and on the basis of this we propose a list of nine conjectures concerning its structure. These conjectures represent a considerable strengthening of the theorems we have actually been able to prove. Finally we generalize the concept of an anti-unitary to the concept of a $g$-unitary, and show that every WH SIC fiducial is an eigenvector of a family of $g$-unitaries (apart from dimension 3).

Quantum Information and Computation•May 1, 2013•17 citations

Simplified exact SICS

Marcus Appleby, Ingemar Bengtsson

In the standard basis, exact expressions for the components of SIC vectors (belonging to a symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measure or POVM) are typically very complicated. We show that a simple transformation to a basis adapted to the symmetries of a fiducial SIC vector can result in a massive reduction in complexity. We rely on a conjectural number theoretic connection between SICs in dimension dj and SICs in dimension dj+1 = dj(dj − 2). We focus on the sequence 5, 15, 195, … We rewrite Zauner’s exact solution for the SIC in dimension 5 to make its simplicity manifest and use our adapted basis to convert numerical solutions in dimensions 15 and 195 to exact solutions. Comparing to the known exact solutions in dimension 15, we find that the simplification achieved is dramatic. The proof that the exact vectors are indeed SIC fiducial vectors, also in dimension 195, is guided by the standard ray class hypothesis about the algebraic number fields generated by the SICs. In the course of the calculation, we introduce SIC adapted generators for the ray class field. We conjecture that our result generalizes to every dimension in the particular sequence we consider.

arXiv:1811.00947•Journal of Mathematical Physics•Jun 1, 2019•14 citations

The SIC Question: History and State of Play

Christopher A. Fuchs, Michael Hoang, Blake C. Stacey

Recent years have seen significant advances in the study of symmetric informationally complete (SIC) quantum measurements, also known as maximal sets of complex equiangular lines. Previously, the published record contained solutions up to dimension 67, and was with high confidence complete up through dimension 50. Computer calculations have now furnished solutions in all dimensions up to 151, and in several cases beyond that, as large as dimension 844. These new solutions exhibit an additional type of symmetry beyond the basic definition of a SIC, and so verify a conjecture of Zauner in many new cases. The solutions in dimensions 68 through 121 were obtained by Andrew Scott, and his catalogue of distinct solutions is, with high confidence, complete up to dimension 90. Additional results in dimensions 122 through 151 were calculated by the authors using Scott’s code. We recap the history of the problem, outline how the numerical searches were done, and pose some conjectures on how the search technique could be improved. In order to facilitate communication across disciplinary boundaries, we also present a comprehensive bibliography of SIC research.

arXiv:1703.07901•Axioms•Jul 18, 2017•247 citations

The overlap phases of SIC-POVMs

Xin Lü

Abstract A symmetric informationally complete positive-operator-valued measure (SIC-POVM) is a special type of generalized quantum measurements that possesses a high degree of symmetry. It plays an important role in quantum tomography, quantum cryptography and foundations of quantum mechanics. The most important and difficult problem about SIC-POVM is to show its existence in every dimension n, which is suggested by many numerical evidences. In this paper, this existence problem of SIC-POVMs is investigated by considering their overlap phases. Specifically, the symmetric requirements of SIC-POVMs are encoded into the overlap phases between the fiducial project and the n 2 displacement operators. In this way, an equivalent condition of the existence of Weyl-Heisenberg group covariant SIC-POVMs is obtained in terms of these phases, so that a set of complex equations is established, which enables one to study the existence problem in a more explicit and direct fashion. In particular, we show that all the numbers appearing in the overlap phases have to be algebraic numbers. The significance of Zauner’s conjecture in our equivalent condition is also discussed, and therefore the SIC-POVMs in dimension four is constructed explicitly. Actually, our system of equations always admits a solution, the real difficulty lies in how to ensure these complex number solutions are of norm one, and therefore indeed phases. Our result shows that constructing SIC-POVMs from the overlap phases is possible, and symmetries can be applied directly to reduce the number of equations, so that it provide new insights into the difficult problem of SIC-POVMs, especially about the algebraic properties of these overlap phases.

Journal of Physics Conference Series•Nov 1, 2020•0 citations

Galois Automorphisms of a Symmetric Measurement

D. M. Appleby, Hulya Yadsan-Appleby, Gerhard Zauner

Symmetric Informationally Complete Positive Operator Valued Measures (usually referred to as SIC-POVMs or simply as SICS) have been constructed in every dimension up to 67. However, a proof that they exist in every finite dimension has yet to be constructed. In this paper we examine the Galois group of SICs covariant with respect to the Weyl-Heisenberg group (or WH SICs as we refer to them). The great majority (though not all) of the known examples are of this type. Scott and Grassl have noted that every known exact WH SIC is expressible in radicals (except for dimension 3 which is exceptional in this and several other respects), which means that the corresponding Galois group is solvable. They have also calculated the Galois group for most known exact examples. The purpose of this paper is to take the analysis of Scott and Grassl further. We first prove a number of theorems regarding the structure of the Galois group and the relation between it and the extended Clifford group. We then examine the Galois group for the known exact fiducials and on the basis of this we propose a list of nine conjectures concerning its structure. These conjectures represent a considerable strengthening of the theorems we have actually been able to prove. Finally we generalize the concept of an anti-unitary to the concept of a g-unitary, and show that every WH SIC fiducial is an eigenvector of a family of g-unitaries (apart from dimension 3).

arXiv:1209.1813•Sep 9, 2012•7 citations

New constructions of approximately symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures by character sums over Galois rings

Wang Gang, You Gao, Mingyue Xie +1 more

Abstract In quantum information theory, symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures (SIC-POVMs) are related to quantum state tomography, quantum cryptography and foundational studies. It is difficult to construct SIC-POVMs and remains unknown whether SIC-POVMs exist for infinitely dimension. Therefore, researchers have proposed the solution to construct approximately symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures (ASIC-POVMs). This paper proposes a construction of ASIC-POVMs using character sums over Galois rings. The dimension of this ASIC-POVMs is q-1, where q is a prime power. Also, our constructions include partial results about ASIC-POVMs constructed by X. Cao et al (X. Cao, J. Mi and S. Xu: Two constructions of approximately symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures. J. Math. Phys., 58(6), 062201 (2017)). Mathematics Subject Classification (2020) 81P15 · 81P45

Quantum Information Processing•Feb 14, 2025•0 citations
Abstract Recently, several intriguing conjectures have been proposed connecting symmetric informationally complete quantum measurements (SIC POVMs, or SICs) and algebraic number theory. These conjectures relate the SICs to their minimal defining algebraic number field. Testing or sharpening these conjectures requires that the SICs are expressed exactly, rather than as numerical approximations. While many exact solutions of SICs have been constructed previously using Gröbner bases, this method has probably been taken as far as is possible with current computer technology (except in special cases where there are additional symmetries). Here, we describe a method for converting high-precision numerical solutions into exact ones using an integer relation algorithm in conjunction with the Galois symmetries of an SIC. Using this method, we have calculated 69 new exact solutions, including nine new dimensions, where previously only numerical solutions were known—which more than triples the number of known exact solutions. In some cases, the solutions require number fields with degrees as high as 12 288. We use these solutions to confirm that they obey the number-theoretic conjectures, and address two questions suggested by the previous work.
Symmetric Informationally Complete Positive Operator Valued Measures (usually referred to as SIC-POVMs or simply as SICs) have been constructed in every dimension ≤67\le 67≤67. However, a proof that they exist in every finite dimension has yet to be constructed. In this paper we examine the Galois group of SICs covariant with respect to the Weyl-Heisenberg group (or WH SICs as we refer to them). The great majority (though not all) of the known examples are of this type. Scott and Grassl have noted that every known exact WH SIC is expressible in radicals (except for dimension 333 which is exceptional in this and several other respects), which means that the corresponding Galois group is solvable. They have also calculated the Galois group for most known exact examples. The purpose of this paper is to take the analysis of Scott and Grassl further. We first prove a number of theorems regarding the structure of the Galois group and the relation between it and the extended Clifford group. We then examine the Galois group for the known exact fiducials and on the basis of this we propose a list of nine conjectures concerning its structure. These conjectures represent a considerable strengthening of the theorems we have actually been able to prove. Finally we generalize the concept of an anti-unitary to the concept of a ggg-unitary, and show that every WH SIC fiducial is an eigenvector of a family of ggg-unitaries (apart from dimension 3).
In the standard basis, exact expressions for the components of SIC vectors (belonging to a symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measure or POVM) are typically very complicated. We show that a simple transformation to a basis adapted to the symmetries of a fiducial SIC vector can result in a massive reduction in complexity. We rely on a conjectural number theoretic connection between SICs in dimension dj and SICs in dimension dj+1 = dj(dj − 2). We focus on the sequence 5, 15, 195, … We rewrite Zauner’s exact solution for the SIC in dimension 5 to make its simplicity manifest and use our adapted basis to convert numerical solutions in dimensions 15 and 195 to exact solutions. Comparing to the known exact solutions in dimension 15, we find that the simplification achieved is dramatic. The proof that the exact vectors are indeed SIC fiducial vectors, also in dimension 195, is guided by the standard ray class hypothesis about the algebraic number fields generated by the SICs. In the course of the calculation, we introduce SIC adapted generators for the ray class field. We conjecture that our result generalizes to every dimension in the particular sequence we consider.
Recent years have seen significant advances in the study of symmetric informationally complete (SIC) quantum measurements, also known as maximal sets of complex equiangular lines. Previously, the published record contained solutions up to dimension 67, and was with high confidence complete up through dimension 50. Computer calculations have now furnished solutions in all dimensions up to 151, and in several cases beyond that, as large as dimension 844. These new solutions exhibit an additional type of symmetry beyond the basic definition of a SIC, and so verify a conjecture of Zauner in many new cases. The solutions in dimensions 68 through 121 were obtained by Andrew Scott, and his catalogue of distinct solutions is, with high confidence, complete up to dimension 90. Additional results in dimensions 122 through 151 were calculated by the authors using Scott’s code. We recap the history of the problem, outline how the numerical searches were done, and pose some conjectures on how the search technique could be improved. In order to facilitate communication across disciplinary boundaries, we also present a comprehensive bibliography of SIC research.
Abstract A symmetric informationally complete positive-operator-valued measure (SIC-POVM) is a special type of generalized quantum measurements that possesses a high degree of symmetry. It plays an important role in quantum tomography, quantum cryptography and foundations of quantum mechanics. The most important and difficult problem about SIC-POVM is to show its existence in every dimension n, which is suggested by many numerical evidences. In this paper, this existence problem of SIC-POVMs is investigated by considering their overlap phases. Specifically, the symmetric requirements of SIC-POVMs are encoded into the overlap phases between the fiducial project and the n 2 displacement operators. In this way, an equivalent condition of the existence of Weyl-Heisenberg group covariant SIC-POVMs is obtained in terms of these phases, so that a set of complex equations is established, which enables one to study the existence problem in a more explicit and direct fashion. In particular, we show that all the numbers appearing in the overlap phases have to be algebraic numbers. The significance of Zauner’s conjecture in our equivalent condition is also discussed, and therefore the SIC-POVMs in dimension four is constructed explicitly. Actually, our system of equations always admits a solution, the real difficulty lies in how to ensure these complex number solutions are of norm one, and therefore indeed phases. Our result shows that constructing SIC-POVMs from the overlap phases is possible, and symmetries can be applied directly to reduce the number of equations, so that it provide new insights into the difficult problem of SIC-POVMs, especially about the algebraic properties of these overlap phases.
Symmetric Informationally Complete Positive Operator Valued Measures (usually referred to as SIC-POVMs or simply as SICS) have been constructed in every dimension up to 67. However, a proof that they exist in every finite dimension has yet to be constructed. In this paper we examine the Galois group of SICs covariant with respect to the Weyl-Heisenberg group (or WH SICs as we refer to them). The great majority (though not all) of the known examples are of this type. Scott and Grassl have noted that every known exact WH SIC is expressible in radicals (except for dimension 3 which is exceptional in this and several other respects), which means that the corresponding Galois group is solvable. They have also calculated the Galois group for most known exact examples. The purpose of this paper is to take the analysis of Scott and Grassl further. We first prove a number of theorems regarding the structure of the Galois group and the relation between it and the extended Clifford group. We then examine the Galois group for the known exact fiducials and on the basis of this we propose a list of nine conjectures concerning its structure. These conjectures represent a considerable strengthening of the theorems we have actually been able to prove. Finally we generalize the concept of an anti-unitary to the concept of a g-unitary, and show that every WH SIC fiducial is an eigenvector of a family of g-unitaries (apart from dimension 3).
Abstract In quantum information theory, symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures (SIC-POVMs) are related to quantum state tomography, quantum cryptography and foundational studies. It is difficult to construct SIC-POVMs and remains unknown whether SIC-POVMs exist for infinitely dimension. Therefore, researchers have proposed the solution to construct approximately symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures (ASIC-POVMs). This paper proposes a construction of ASIC-POVMs using character sums over Galois rings. The dimension of this ASIC-POVMs is q-1, where q is a prime power. Also, our constructions include partial results about ASIC-POVMs constructed by X. Cao et al (X. Cao, J. Mi and S. Xu: Two constructions of approximately symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures. J. Math. Phys., 58(6), 062201 (2017)). Mathematics Subject Classification (2020) 81P15 · 81P45