From the perspective of quantum information theory, the effect of Unruh radiation on a two-level accelerated detector can be modeled as a quantum channel. In this work we employ the tools of channel-position finding to locate Unruh channels. The signal-idler and idler-free protocols are explored to determine the position of the target Unruh channel within a sequence of background channels. We derive the fidelity-based bounds for the ultimate error probability of each strategy and obtain the conditions where the signal-idler protocol is superior to the protocol involving idler-free states. It is found that the lower bound of the error probability for the signal-idler scheme exhibits clear advantages in all cases, while the idler-free scheme can only be implemented when the temperatures of the two channels are very close and the number of initial states is insufficient. Interestingly, it is shown that the optimal detection protocol relies on the residual correlations shared between the emitted probe state and the retained idler modes.
From the perspective of quantum information theory, the effect of Unruh radiation on a two-level accelerated detector can be modeled as a quantum channel. In this work we employ the tools of channel-position finding to locate Unruh channels. The signal-idler and idler-free protocols are explored to determine the position of the target Unruh channel within a sequence of background channels. We derive the fidelity-based bounds for the ultimate error probability of each strategy and obtain the conditions where the signal-idler protocol is superior to the protocol involving idler-free states. It is found that the lower bound of the error probability for the signal-idler scheme exhibits clear advantages in all cases, while the idler-free scheme can only be implemented when the temperatures of the two channels are very close and the number of initial states is insufficient. Interestingly, it is shown that the optimal detection protocol relies on the residual correlations shared between the emitted probe state and the retained idler modes.
Quantum channels model many physical processes. For this reason, hypothesis testing between quantum channels is a fundamental task in quantum information theory. Here we consider the paradigmatic case of channel position finding, where the aim is to determine the position of a target quantum channel within a sequence of background channels. We explore this model in the setting of bosonic systems, considering Gaussian channels with the same transmissivity (or gain) but different levels of environmental noise. Thus the goal of the problem becomes detecting the position of a target environment among a number of identical background environments, all acting on an input multi-mode system. We derive bounds for the ultimate error probability affecting this multi-ary discrimination problem and find an analytic condition for quantum advantage over protocols involving classical input states. We also design an explicit protocol that gives numerical bounds on the ultimate error probability and often achieves quantum advantage. Finally, we consider direct applications of the model for tasks of thermal imaging (finding a warmer pixel in a colder background) and quantum communication (for localizing a different level of noise in a sequence of lines or a frequency spectrum).
The ability to precisely discriminate multiple quantum channels is fundamental to achieving quantum enhancements in data-readout, target detection, pattern recognition, and more. Optimal discrimination protocols often rely on entanglement shared between an incident probe and a protected idler-mode. While these protocols can be highly advantageous over classical ones, the storage of idler-modes is extremely challenging in practice. In this work, we investigate idler-free block protocols based on the use of multipartite entangled probe states. In particular, we focus on a class of idler-free protocol which uses nondisjoint distributions of multipartite probe states irradiated over multichannels, known as dynamic discrimination protocols. We derive analytical bounds for the average error probability of such protocols in a bosonic Gaussian channel setting, revealing idler-free strategies that display performance close to idler-assistance for powerful, near-term quantum sensing applications.
Entanglement is a powerful tool for quantum sensing, and entangled states can greatly boost the discriminative power of protocols for quantum illumination, quantum metrology, or quantum reading. However, entangled state protocols generally require the retention of an idler state, to which the probes are entangled. Storing a quantum state is difficult and so technological limitations can make protocols requiring quantum memories impracticable. One alternative is idler-free protocols that utilize nonclassical sources but do not require any idler states to be stored. Here we apply such a protocol to the task of channel position finding. This involves finding a target channel in a sequence of background channels, and has many applications, including quantum sensing, quantum spectroscopy, and quantum reading.
Quantum hypothesis testing is a central task in the entire field of quantum information theory. Understanding its ultimate limits will give insight into a wide range of quantum protocols and applications, from sensing to communication. Although the limits of hypothesis testing between quantum states have been completely clarified by the pioneering works of Helstrom in the 1970s, the more difficult problem of hypothesis testing with quantum channels, i.e., channel discrimination, is less understood. This is mainly due to the complications coming from the use of input entanglement and the possibility of employing adaptive strategies. In this Letter, we establish a lower limit for the ultimate error probability affecting the discrimination of an arbitrary number of quantum channels. We also show that this lower bound is achievable when the channels have certain symmetries. As an example, we apply our results to the problem of channel position finding, where the goal is to identify the location of a target channel among multiple background channels. In this general setting, we find that the use of entanglement offers a great advantage over strategies without entanglement, with nontrivial implications for data readout, target detection, and quantum spectroscopy.
We develop a quantum metrological framework for optimizing the probing of the Unruh effect using uniformly accelerated two-level atomic probes. The acceleration-dependent factor generated during the atom--field interaction is encoded in the atomic state and can be estimated through repeated quantum measurements. For a fixed total probe time, which characterizes the available measurement resource, we optimize the interrogation time of individual probes, the initial atomic state, and the corresponding measurement basis to minimize the estimation uncertainty. We show that the achievable precision is governed by the Fisher information accumulated per unit probe time. Under a fixed total probe time, shorter evolution times of individual probes allow for more sequential measurements, leading to a significant improvement in the estimation precision. The optimal initial state and measurement basis depend on both the acceleration factor and the probe evolution time. In particular, the excited state provides superior sensitivity in the weak-acceleration regime, whereas the ground state becomes advantageous for sufficiently large acceleration and long interaction times. Furthermore, we determine the minimum total probe time required to resolve the acceleration-dependent signal associated with the Unruh effect and demonstrate that this requirement can be substantially reduced by employing atomic systems with larger transition dipole moments. Our results establish an optimized quantum metrological strategy for probing acceleration-induced quantum effects and provide a systematic approach toward the experimental investigation of the Unruh effect.
Channel-position finding is the task of determining the location of a single target channel among an ensemble of background channels. It has many potential applications, including quantum sensing, quantum reading, and quantum spectroscopy. In particular, it could allow for simple detection protocols to be extended to ones of measurement, for example, target ranging with quantum illumination. The use of quantum states and entanglement in such protocols has shown to yield quantum advantages over their optimal classical counterparts. Here we consider quantum channel-position finding using sources specified by at most one single photon on average per mode, using the discrete-variable formalism. By considering various quantum sources, it is shown through the derivation of performance bounds that a quantum enhancement may be realized.