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arXiv:2505.19581 · New Journal of Physics

Self-testing in a constrained prepare-measure scenario sans assuming quantum dimension

Ritesh K. Singh, Souradeep Sasmal, S Nautiyal, A. K. Pan

Published Nov 1, 2025• 2 citations
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Abstract

Abstract We present a self-testing protocol in a constrained prepare-measure scenario, based on a communication game known as parity-oblivious multiplexing (POM) task. In this scenario, a parity-oblivious constraint is imposed on the preparations, allowing us to define a classical bound derived from a preparation noncontextual ontological model. We demonstrate that the optimal quantum value exceeds preparation noncontextual bound and therefore enables self-testing of the preparations and the measurement devices. Contrasting the prevailing consensus that the self-testing in prepare-measure scenario inevitably requires an upper bound on the dimension of the quantum system, we derive the optimal quantum success probability of the POM task devoid of assuming the dimension of the quantum system. Furthermore, by proving the existence of a unitary, we show that the optimal preparations and measurements in an unknown but finite dimensional Hilbert space, responsible for the observed input–output correlations, can be mapped, via a unitary, onto a known finite-dimensional quantum system. Our results thus pave the way for scalable, single system based certification protocols in the prepare-measure scenario.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/ae1f35

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Abstract We present a self-testing protocol in a constrained prepare-measure scenario, based on a communication game known as parity-oblivious multiplexing (POM) task. In this scenario, a parity-oblivious constraint is imposed on the preparations, allowing us to define a classical bound derived from a preparation noncontextual ontological model. We demonstrate that the optimal quantum value exceeds preparation noncontextual bound and therefore enables self-testing of the preparations and the measurement devices. Contrasting the prevailing consensus that the self-testing in prepare-measure scenario inevitably requires an upper bound on the dimension of the quantum system, we derive the optimal quantum success probability of the POM task devoid of assuming the dimension of the quantum system. Furthermore, by proving the existence of a unitary, we show that the optimal preparations and measurements in an unknown but finite dimensional Hilbert space, responsible for the observed input–output correlations, can be mapped, via a unitary, onto a known finite-dimensional quantum system. Our results thus pave the way for scalable, single system based certification protocols in the prepare-measure scenario.
In [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 010401 (2009)], Spekkens et al. have shown that quantum preparation contextuality can power the parity-oblivious multiplexing (POM) task. The bound on the optimal success probability of an nnn-bit POM task performed with the classical resources was shown to be the same as in a preparation noncontextual theory. This noncontextual bound is violated if the task is performed with quantum resources. While in the 2-bit POM task the optimal quantum success probability is achieved, in the 3-bit case optimality was left as an open question. In this paper, we show that the quantum success probability of an nnn-bit POM task is solely dependent on a suitable Bell expression and the optimal value of it optimizes the success probability of the said POM task. Further, we discuss how the degree of quantum preparation contextuality restricts the amount of quantum violations of Bell's inequalities, and consequently, the success probability of a POM task.
We provide an interesting two-party parity-oblivious communication game whose success probability is solely determined by the Bell expression. The parity-oblivious condition in an operational quantum theory implies the preparation noncontextuality in an ontological model of it. We find that the aforementioned Bell expression has two upper bounds in an ontological model: the usual local bound and a nontrivial preparation noncontextual bound arising from the nontrivial parity-oblivious condition, which is smaller that the local bound. We first demonstrate the communication game when both Alice and Bob perform three measurements of dichotomic observables in their respective sites. The optimal quantum value of the Bell expression in this scenario enables us to device-independently self-test the maximally entangled state and trine set of observables, three-outcome qubit positive-operator-valued measures and 1.58 bits of local randomness. Further, we generalize the above communication game in that both Alice and Bob perform the same but arbitrary (odd) number (n>3n>3n>3) of measurements. Based on the optimal quantum value of the relevant Bell expression for any arbitrary nnn, we also demonstrate device-independent self-testing of the state and measurements.
We consider the problem of certification of arbitrary ensembles of pure states and projective measurements solely from the experimental statistics in the prepare-and-measure scenario assuming the upper bound on the dimension of the Hilbert space. To this aim, we propose a universal and intuitive scheme based on establishing perfect correlations between target states and suitably-chosen projective measurements. The method works in all finite dimensions and allows for robust certification of the overlaps between arbitrary preparation states and between the corresponding measurement operators. Finally, we prove that for qubits, our technique can be used to robustly self-test arbitrary configurations of pure quantum states and projective measurements. These results pave the way towards the practical application of the prepare-and-measure paradigm to certification of quantum devices.
Understanding the connections between different quantum information protocols has been proven fruitful for both theoretical insights and experimental applications. In this work, we investigate a specific link between nonlocal and prepare-and-measure scenarios, proposing a systematic way to translate bipartite Bell inequalities into dimensionally bounded prepare-and-measure tasks. We identify sufficient conditions under which the translation preserves the quantum bound and self-testing properties, enabling a wide range of certification protocols originally developed for the nonlocal setting to be adapted to the sequential framework of prepare-and-measure with a dimensional bound. While the dimensionality bound is not device independent, it still is a practical and experimentally reasonable assumption in many cases of interest. In some instances, we find new experimentally friendly certification protocols. In others, we demonstrate equivalences with already known prepare-and-measure protocols, where self-testing results were previously established using alternative mathematical methods. Our results unify different quantum correlation frameworks in specific scenarios and contribute to the ongoing research effort of studying the interplay between parallel and sequential protocols.
We present a hitherto unexplored semi-device-independent (SDI) self-testing protocol designed to certify unitary operations within a variant of prepare-measure framework. We consider a communication game which we refer to as a variant of 333-bit prepare-measure random access code (PMRAC) involving two parties, Alice and Bob, who share a prior two-qubit quantum state. Alice encodes her message by applying unitary operations on her subsystem and sends it to Bob. To decode the message, Bob performs a measurement on the whole system. We demonstrate that the optimal quantum advantage of the variant of 333-bit PMRAC over the classical bound enables the self-testing of Alice's unitary operations and Bob's measurements. The derivation of the optimal quantum success probability is fully analytical. The approach is so elegant that it can be generalized for any arbitrary nnn-bit PMRAC and may also be extended to other prepare-measure communication games.
The goal of self-testing is to characterize an a priori unknown quantum system based solely on measurement statistics, i.e., using an uncharacterized measurement device. Here we develop self-testing methods for quantum prepare-and-measure experiments, thus not necessarily relying on entanglement and/or violation of a Bell inequality. We present noise-robust techniques for self-testing sets of quantum states and measurements, assuming an upper bound on the Hilbert space dimension. We discuss in detail the case of a $2\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1$ random access code with qubits, for which we provide analytically optimal self-tests. The simplicity and noise robustness of our methods should make them directly applicable to experiments.