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arXiv:2210.15820 · New Journal of Physics

Real quantum operations and state transformations

Tulja Varun Kondra, Chandan Datta, Alexander Streltsov

Published Sep 1, 2023• 39 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract Resource theory of imaginarity provides a useful framework to understand the role of complex numbers, which are essential in the formulation of quantum mechanics, in a mathematically rigorous way. In the first part of this article, we study the properties of ‘real’ (quantum) operations both in single-party and bipartite settings. As a consequence, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for state transformations under real operations and show the existence of ‘real entanglement’ monotones. In the second part of this article, we focus on the problem of single copy state transformation via real quantum operations. When starting from pure initial states, we completely solve this problem by finding an analytical expression for the optimal fidelity of transformation, for a given probability of transformation and vice versa. Moreover, for state transformations involving arbitrary initial states and pure final states, we provide a semidefinite program to compute the optimal achievable fidelity, for a given probability of transformation.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/acf9c4

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Abstract Resource theory of imaginarity provides a useful framework to understand the role of complex numbers, which are essential in the formulation of quantum mechanics, in a mathematically rigorous way. In the first part of this article, we study the properties of ‘real’ (quantum) operations both in single-party and bipartite settings. As a consequence, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for state transformations under real operations and show the existence of ‘real entanglement’ monotones. In the second part of this article, we focus on the problem of single copy state transformation via real quantum operations. When starting from pure initial states, we completely solve this problem by finding an analytical expression for the optimal fidelity of transformation, for a given probability of transformation and vice versa. Moreover, for state transformations involving arbitrary initial states and pure final states, we provide a semidefinite program to compute the optimal achievable fidelity, for a given probability of transformation.
Wave-particle duality is one of the basic features of quantum mechanics, giving rise to the use of complex numbers in describing states of quantum systems and their dynamics and interaction. Since the inception of quantum theory, it has been debated whether complex numbers are essential or whether an alternative consistent formulation is possible using real numbers only. Here, we attack this long-standing problem theoretically and experimentally, using the powerful tools of quantum resource theories. We show that, under reasonable assumptions, quantum states are easier to create and manipulate if they only have real elements. This gives an operational meaning to the resource theory of imaginarity. We identify and answer several important questions, which include the state-conversion problem for all qubit states and all pure states of any dimension and the approximate imaginarity distillation for all quantum states. As an application, we show that imaginarity plays a crucial role in state discrimination, that is, there exist real quantum states that can be perfectly distinguished via local operations and classical communication but that cannot be distinguished with any nonzero probability if one of the parties has no access to imaginarity. We confirm this phenomenon experimentally with linear optics, discriminating different two-photon quantum states by local projective measurements. Our results prove that complex numbers are an indispensable part of quantum mechanics.
Quantum resource theories provide a mathematically rigorous way of understanding the nature of various quantum resources. An important problem in any quantum resource theory is to determine how quantum states can be converted into each other within the physical constraints of the theory. The standard approach to this problem is to study approximate or probabilistic transformations. Here, we investigate the intermediate regime, providing limits on both, the fidelity and the probability of state transformations. We derive limitations on the transformations, which are valid in all quantum resource theories, by providing bounds on the maximal transformation fidelity for a given transformation probability. As an application, we show that these bounds imply an upper bound on the asymptotic rates for various classes of states under probabilistic transformations. We also show that the deterministic version of the single copy bounds can be applied for drawing limitations on the manipulation of quantum channels, which goes beyond the previously known bounds of channel manipulations. Furthermore, we completely solve the question of stochastic-approximate state conversion via local operations and classical communication in the following two cases: (i) Both initial and target states are pure bipartite entangled states of arbitrary dimensions. (ii) The target state is a two-qubit entangled state and the initial state is a pure bipartite state.
Complex numbers are widely used in both classical and quantum physics and are indispensable components for describing quantum systems and their dynamical behavior. Recently, the resource theory of imaginarity has been introduced, allowing for a systematic study of complex numbers in quantum mechanics and quantum information theory. In this work we develop theoretical methods for the resource theory of imaginarity, motivated by recent progress within theories of entanglement and coherence. We investigate imaginarity quantification, focusing on the geometric imaginarity and the robustness of imaginarity, and apply these tools to the state conversion problem in imaginarity theory. Moreover, we analyze the complexity of real and general operations in optical experiments, focusing on the number of unfixed wave plates for their implementation. We also discuss the role of imaginarity for local state discrimination, proving that any pair of real orthogonal pure states can be discriminated via local real operations and classical communication. Our study reveals the significance of complex numbers in quantum physics and proves that imaginarity is a resource in optical experiments.
Imaginarity, stemming from the complex structure of quantum mechanics, has recently emerged as a fundamental resource, yet its dynamical generation remains largely unexplored. In this work, we introduce the notion of imaginarity-generating power (IGP) of unitary dynamics, which quantifies the ability of unitary operations to produce imaginarity from initially real quantum states. To quantify imaginarity, we employ a measure based on the Hilbert--Schmidt norm, which we show to be monotone under real unital operations. Within the framework of dynamical resource theories, we derive an exact expression for the purity-constrained IGP in arbitrary dimensions and show that, for pure real input states, it depends solely on intrinsic and experimentally accessible properties of the unitary. We further analyze its average behavior over ensembles of states with varying purity under both uniform and Hilbert--Schmidt distributions. We prove that it satisfies the essential properties of a valid resource monotone within the dynamical resource theory of imaginarity. We also characterize the unitaries that maximize the IGP and determine the corresponding bounds. Moreover, for Haar-random unitaries, we show that the IGP concentrates near its maximal value in high dimensions with small fluctuations, indicating that typical high-dimensional quantum dynamics are highly effective at generating imaginarity.
Abstract The resource theory of imaginarity studies the operational value of imaginary parts in quantum states, operations, and measurements. Here we introduce and study the distillation and conversion of imaginarity in distributed scenario. This arises naturally in bipartite systems where both parties work together to generate the maximum possible imaginarity on one of the subsystems. We give exact solutions to this problem for general qubit states and pure states of arbitrary dimension. We present a scenario that demonstrates the operational advantage of imaginarity: the discrimination of quantum channels without the aid of an ancillary system. We then link this scenario to local operations and classical communications(LOCC) discrimination of bipartite states. We experimentally demonstrate the relevant assisted distillation protocol, and show the usefulness of imaginarity in the aforementioned two tasks.
We develop two general approaches to characterising the manipulation of quantum states by means of probabilistic protocols constrained by the limitations of some quantum resource theory. First, we give a general necessary condition for the existence of a physical transformation between quantum states, obtained using a recently introduced resource monotone based on the Hilbert projective metric. In all affine quantum resource theories (e.g. coherence, asymmetry, imaginarity) as well as in entanglement distillation, we show that the monotone provides a necessary and sufficient condition for one-shot resource convertibility under resource-non-generating operations, and hence no better restrictions on all probabilistic protocols are possible. We use the monotone to establish improved bounds on the performance of both one-shot and many-copy probabilistic resource distillation protocols. Complementing this approach, we introduce a general method for bounding achievable probabilities in resource transformations under resource-non-generating maps through a family of convex optimisation problems. We show it to tightly characterise single-shot probabilistic distillation in broad types of resource theories, allowing an exact analysis of the trade-offs between the probabilities and errors in distilling maximally resourceful states. We demonstrate the usefulness of both of our approaches in the study of quantum entanglement distillation.