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arXiv:1912.07332 · Journal of Mathematical Physics

Quantum magic squares: Dilations and their limitations

Gemma De las Cuevas, Tom Drescher, Tim Netzer

Published Nov 1, 2020• 20 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum permutation matrices and quantum magic squares are generalizations of permutation matrices and magic squares, where the entries are no longer numbers but elements from arbitrary (non-commutative) algebras. The famous Birkhoff–von Neumann theorem characterizes magic squares as convex combinations of permutation matrices. In the non-commutative case, the corresponding question is as follows: Does every quantum magic square belong to the matrix convex hull of quantum permutation matrices? That is, does every quantum magic square dilate to a quantum permutation matrix? Here, we show that this is false even in the simplest non-commutative case. We also classify the quantum magic squares that dilate to a quantum permutation matrix with commuting entries and prove a quantitative lower bound on the diameter of this set. Finally, we conclude that not all Arveson extreme points of the free spectrahedron of quantum magic squares are quantum permutation matrices.

DOI
10.1063/5.0022344

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Quantum permutation matrices and quantum magic squares are generalizations of permutation matrices and magic squares, where the entries are no longer numbers but elements from arbitrary (non-commutative) algebras. The famous Birkhoff–von Neumann theorem characterizes magic squares as convex combinations of permutation matrices. In the non-commutative case, the corresponding question is as follows: Does every quantum magic square belong to the matrix convex hull of quantum permutation matrices? That is, does every quantum magic square dilate to a quantum permutation matrix? Here, we show that this is false even in the simplest non-commutative case. We also classify the quantum magic squares that dilate to a quantum permutation matrix with commuting entries and prove a quantitative lower bound on the diameter of this set. Finally, we conclude that not all Arveson extreme points of the free spectrahedron of quantum magic squares are quantum permutation matrices.
Quantum magic squares are generalizations of doubly stochastic matrices to arbitrary, possibly non-commutative algebras, more specifically C∗-algebras. Birkhoff-von Neumann Theorem states that every doubly stochastic matrix is a convex combination of permutation matrices. One inevitable question is whether a quantum magic square is a convex combinations of quantum permutation matrices. It has been proven by Cuevas, Drescher, and Netzer that the generalization of the Birkhoff-von Neumann Theorem in the quantum setting is not true in general. A quantum magic square is a convex combination of Arveson extreme points but not necessarily a convex combination of quantum permutation matrices. Additionally, the relationships between different subsets of quantum magic squares, including their inclusion properties, have been studied in this context.
Quantum magic squares have recently been introduced as a “magical” combination of quantum measurements. In contrast to quantum measurements, they cannot be purified (i.e., dilated to a quantum permutation matrix)—only the so-called semiclassical ones can. Purifying establishes a relation to an ideal world of fundamental theoretical and practical importance; the opposite of purifying is described by the matrix convex hull. In this paper, we prove that semiclassical magic squares can be purified to quantum Latin squares, which are “magical” combinations of orthonormal bases. Conversely, we prove that the matrix convex hull of quantum Latin squares is larger compared to the semiclassical ones. This tension is resolved by our third result: we prove that the quantum Latin squares that are semiclassical are precisely those constructed from a classical Latin square. Our work sheds light on the internal structure of quantum magic squares, on how this is affected by the matrix convex hull, and, more generally, on the nature of the “magical” composition rule, both at the semiclassical and at the quantum level.
Recently De les Coves, Drescher and Netzer showed that an analogue of the Birkhoff--von Neumann theorem fails in the quantum setting. Motivated by this and questions arising in the study of quantum automorphisms of graphs, we introduce a graph-based variant of quantum magic squares and show that the analogue already fails for the cycle C4C_4C4​, via an explicit counterexample. We also show that they admit monic linear matrix inequality descriptions, hence form compact free spectrahedra.
Several central problems in quantum information theory (such as measurement compatibility and quantum steering) can be rephrased as membership in the minimal matrix convex set corresponding to special polytopes (such as the hypercube or its dual). In this article, we generalize this idea and introduce the notion of polytope compatibility, by considering arbitrary polytopes. We find that semiclassical magic squares correspond to Birkhoff polytope compatibility. In general, we prove that polytope compatibility is in one-to-one correspondence with measurement compatibility, when the measurements have some elements in common and the post-processing of the joint measurement is restricted. Finally, we consider how much tuples of operators with appropriate joint numerical range have to be scaled in the worst case in order to become polytope compatible and give both analytical sufficient conditions and numerical ones based on linear programming.
Quantum permutations, or magic unitaries, have in recent years been explored in the context of identifying `genuinely quantum' isometries of graphs. Here, we import this tool in physics, showing that quantum permutations yield a generalisation of quantum reference frames in a discrete setting that is reminiscent of the passage from special to general relativity. We show that the typical quantum reference frames framework corresponds to quantum permutations classified as `classical' in the mathematical literature, and which we demonstrate are quantum controlled transformations (superpositions of classical coordinate maps). Genuinely quantum permutations (i) allow to construct \emph{non--commuting} quantum reference frames (ii) correspond to \emph{local}, as opposed to global, superpositions of transformations. Strikingly, we find that the non-commutativity of quantum fields, when used as reference systems, is exactly what implies that the change of frame is achieved through a genuine quantum permutation. We illustrate the above with several examples in both first and second quantization formalism, which demonstrate (a) simultaneous control on non--commuting variables, (b) the existence of bipartite states that can be localized with a genuine quantum permutation and cannot be localized with the usual quantum reference frame transformations (without introducing additional degrees of freedom), (c) extension of the Ising model symmetries to genuinely quantum permutations, and (d) extension of the symmetries of a scalar field action on curved spacetime to genuinely quantum permutations. While we have in mind applications in quantum gravity, we expect our formalism to be of interest in a wide range of topics in quantum information.
Quantum measurements can be interpreted as a generalization of probability vectors, in which non-negative real numbers are replaced by positive semi-definite operators. We extrapolate this analogy to define a generalization of doubly stochastic matrices that we call doubly normalized tensors (DNTs), and investigate a corresponding version of Birkhoff–von Neumann's theorem, which states that permutations are the extremal points of the set of doubly stochastic matrices. We prove that joint measurability appears naturally as a mathematical feature of DNTs in this context and that this feature is necessary and sufficient for a characterization similar to Birkhoff–von Neumann's. Conversely, we also show that DNTs arise from a particular instance of a joint measurability problem, remarking the relevance of this quantum-theoretical property in general operator theory.