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arXiv:2409.12223 · Quantum

Lie algebraic invariants in quantum linear optics

Pablo V. Parellada, Vicent Gimeno i Garcia, Julio José Moyano‐Fernández, Juan Carlos García-Escartín

Published Jun 12, 2026• 2 citations
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Abstract

Quantum linear optics without post-selection is not powerful enough to produce any quantum state from a given input state. This limits its utility since some applications require entangled resources that are difficult to prepare. Thus, a deeper understanding of linear optical state preparation is needed. In this work, we give a recipe to derive conserved quantities in the evolution of arbitrary states along any possible passive linear interferometer. One example of such an invariant is the spectrum of a density matrix mapped onto the Lie algebra of passive linear optical Hamiltonians. These invariants give necessary conditions for exact state preparation: if the input and output states have different invariants, it is impossible to design a passive linear interferometer that evolves one into the other. Moreover, we provide a lower bound to the distance between an output and target state based on the distance between their invariants. This gives a necessary condition for approximate or heralded state preparations. Therefore, the invariants allow us to narrow the search when trying to prepare useful entangled states, like NOON states, from easy-to-prepare states, like Fock states. We conclude that future exact and approximate state preparation methods will need to consider the necessary conditions given by our invariants to weed out impossible linear optical evolutions.

DOI
10.22331/q-2026-06-12-2132

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Quantum linear optics without post-selection is not powerful enough to produce any quantum state from a given input state. This limits its utility since some applications require entangled resources that are difficult to prepare. Thus, a deeper understanding of linear optical state preparation is needed. In this work, we give a recipe to derive conserved quantities in the evolution of arbitrary states along any possible passive linear interferometer. One example of such an invariant is the spectrum of a density matrix mapped onto the Lie algebra of passive linear optical Hamiltonians. These invariants give necessary conditions for exact state preparation: if the input and output states have different invariants, it is impossible to design a passive linear interferometer that evolves one into the other. Moreover, we provide a lower bound to the distance between an output and target state based on the distance between their invariants. This gives a necessary condition for approximate or heralded state preparations. Therefore, the invariants allow us to narrow the search when trying to prepare useful entangled states, like NOON states, from easy-to-prepare states, like Fock states. We conclude that future exact and approximate state preparation methods will need to consider the necessary conditions given by our invariants to weed out impossible linear optical evolutions.
We give a necessary condition for photon state transformations in linear optical setups preserving the total number of photons. From an analysis of the algebra describing the quantum evolution, we find a conserved quantity that appears in all allowed optical transformations. We comment some examples and numerical applications, with example code, and give three general no-go results. These include (i) the impossibility of deterministic transformations which redistribute the photons from one to two different modes, (ii) a proof that it is impossible to generate a perfect Bell state in heralded schemes with a separable input for any number of ancillary photons and modes and a fixed herald and (iii) a restriction for the conversion between different types of entanglement (converting GHZ to W states). These tools and results can help in the design of experiments for optical quantum state generation.
The evolution of quantum light through linear optical devices can be described by the scattering matrix SSS of the system. For linear optical systems with mmm possible modes, the evolution of nnn input photons is given by a unitary matrix $U={\ensuremath{\varphi}}_{m,M}(S)$, derived from a known homomorphism, ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}_{m,M}$, which depends on the size of the resulting Hilbert space of the possible photon states, MMM. We present a method to decide whether a given unitary evolution UUU for nnn photons in mmm modes can be achieved with linear optics or not and the inverse transformation ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}_{m,M}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ when the transformation can be implemented. Together with previous results, the method can be used to find a simple optical system which implements any quantum operation within the reach of linear optics. The results come from studying the adjoint map between the Lie algebras corresponding to the Lie groups of the relevant unitary matrices.
We introduce schemes for linear-optical quantum state generation. A quantum state generator is a device that prepares a desired quantum state using product inputs from photon sources, linear-optical networks, and postselection using photon counters. We show that this device can be concisely described in terms of polynomial equations and unitary constraints. We illustrate the power of this language by applying the Gr\"obner-basis technique along with the notion of vacuum extensions to solve the problem of how to construct a quantum state generator analytically for any desired state, and use methods of convex optimization to identify bounds to success probabilities. In particular, we disprove a conjecture concerning the preparation of the maximally path-entangled $\ensuremath{\mid}n,0⟩+\ensuremath{\mid}0,n⟩$ (NOON) state by providing a counterexample using these methods, and we derive a new upper bound on the resources required for NOON-state generation.
A major challenge in photonic quantum technologies is developing strategies to prepare suitable discrete-variable quantum states using simple input states, linear optics, and auxiliary photon measurements to identify successful outcomes. Fundamentally, this challenge arises from the lack of strong non-linearities on the single-photon level, meaning that photonic state preparation based on linear optics cannot benefit from the deterministic gate-based approach available to other physical platforms. Instead, the preparation of quantum states can be probabilistically implemented using single photons, linear-optical networks, and photon detection. However, determining whether an input state can be transformed into a target state using a specific measurement pattern - a problem that can be mapped to deciding the feasibility of a system of polynomial equations - is a complex problem in general. To solve it, we apply the Nullstellensatz Linear Algebra algorithm from algebraic geometry to quantum state generation; this can provide definitive no-go results by proving infeasibility when the state preparation task in question has no solution. We demonstrate this capability to validate and establish lower bounds on the physical resource requirements for the realization of several ubiquitous optical states and gates.
We establish a previously unexplored conservation law for the Quantum Fisher Information Matrix (QFIM) expressed as follows; when the QFIM is constructed from a set of observables closed under commutation, i.e., a Lie algebra, the spectrum of the QFIM is invariant under unitary dynamics generated by these same operators. Each Lie algebra therefore endows any quantum state with a fixed "budget" of metrological sensitivity -- an intrinsic resource that we show, like optical squeezing in interferometry, cannot be amplified by symmetry-preserving operations. The Uhlmann curvature tensor (UCT) naturally inherits the same symmetry group, and so quantum incompatibility is similarly fixed. As a result, a metrological analog to Liouville's theorem appears; statistical distances, volumes, and curvatures are invariant under the evolution generated by the Lie algebra. We discuss this as it relates to the quantum analogs of classical optimality criteria. This enables one to efficiently classify useful classes of quantum states at the level of Lie algebras through geometric invariants.
Over the past few years, various methods have been developed to engineer and to exploit the dynamics of photonic quantum states as they evolve through linear optical networks. Recent theoretical works have shown that the underlying Lie algebraic structure plays a crucial role in the description of linear optical Hamiltonians, as such formalism identifies intrinsic symmetries within photonic systems subject to linear optical dynamics. Here, we experimentally investigate the role of Lie algebras applied to the context of Boson sampling, a pivotal model to the current understanding of computational complexity regimes in photonic quantum information. Performing experiments of increasing complexity, realized within a fully reconfigurable photonic circuit, we show that sampling experiments do indeed fulfill the constraints implied by a Lie algebraic structure. In addition, we provide a comprehensive picture about how the concept of Lie algebraic invariant can be interpreted from the point of view of n th -order correlation functions in quantum optics. Our work shows how Lie algebraic invariants can be used as a benchmark tool for the correctness of an underlying linear optical dynamics within typical interferometric architectures for photonic quantum information. This opens avenues for the use of algebraic-inspired methods as analysis tools for photon-based quantum computing protocols.