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arXiv:2507.12071

A thermofield-double model of Uhlmann anholonomy

Péter Lévay, Csaba Velich

Published Jul 16, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

A simple parametrized family of quantum systems consisting of two entangled subsystems, dubbed left and right ones, both of them featuring N qubits is considered in the thermofield double formalism. We assume that the system evolves in a purely geometric manner based on the parallel transport condition due to Uhlmann. We explore the different interpretations of this evolution relative to observers either coupled to the left or to the right subsystems. The Uhlmann condition breaks the symmetry between left and right by regarding one of the two possible sets of local unitary operations as gauge degrees of freedom. Then gauging the right side we show that the geometric evolution on the left manifests itself via certain local operations reminiscent of non-unitary filtering measurements. On the other hand on the right the basic evolutionary steps are organized into a sequence of unitary operations of a holonomic quantum computation. We calculate the Uhlmann connection governing the transport for our model which turns out to be related to higher dimensional instantons. Then we evaluate the anholonomy of the connection for geodesic triangles with geodesic segments defined with respect to the Bures metric. By analysing the explicit form of the local filtering measurements showing up on the left side we realize that they are also optimal measurements for distinguishing two given mixed states in the statistical sense. We also point out that by conducting an interference experiment on the right side one can observe the physical effects of the anholonomic quantum computation. We demonstrate this by calculating explicit examples for phase shifts and visibility patterns arising in such interference experiments. Finally a sequence of geodesic triangles producing the iSWAP gate via anholonomy needed for computational universality is presented.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2507.12071

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A simple parametrized family of quantum systems consisting of two entangled subsystems, dubbed left and right ones, both of them featuring N qubits is considered in the thermofield double formalism. We assume that the system evolves in a purely geometric manner based on the parallel transport condition due to Uhlmann. We explore the different interpretations of this evolution relative to observers either coupled to the left or to the right subsystems. The Uhlmann condition breaks the symmetry between left and right by regarding one of the two possible sets of local unitary operations as gauge degrees of freedom. Then gauging the right side we show that the geometric evolution on the left manifests itself via certain local operations reminiscent of non-unitary filtering measurements. On the other hand on the right the basic evolutionary steps are organized into a sequence of unitary operations of a holonomic quantum computation. We calculate the Uhlmann connection governing the transport for our model which turns out to be related to higher dimensional instantons. Then we evaluate the anholonomy of the connection for geodesic triangles with geodesic segments defined with respect to the Bures metric. By analysing the explicit form of the local filtering measurements showing up on the left side we realize that they are also optimal measurements for distinguishing two given mixed states in the statistical sense. We also point out that by conducting an interference experiment on the right side one can observe the physical effects of the anholonomic quantum computation. We demonstrate this by calculating explicit examples for phase shifts and visibility patterns arising in such interference experiments. Finally a sequence of geodesic triangles producing the iSWAP gate via anholonomy needed for computational universality is presented.
A bstract Recently it has been shown that certain aspects of changing states in holography can be studied by considering the Berry Phase properties of simple entangled qubit systems. In this context the term wormhole quantum mechanics has been coined. In particular an interesting interplay between entanglement and Berry Phase was found. Here we present a mixed state generalization of this connection illustrated for a simple parametrized family of entangled quantum systems in the thermofield double state. Our state is purifying two subsystems dubbed the left and the right ones and evolves in a purely geometric manner based on a parallel transport condition due to Uhlmann. We show that different interpretations of this evolution relative to observers either coupled to the left or to the right exist. When the evolution on say the left manifests itself via local operations of non-unitary optimal measurements then on the right the evolutionary steps are organized into a sequence of unitary operations of a holonomic quantum computation. For closed curves featuring geodesic segments with respect to the Bures metric we calculate the anholonomy of Uhlmann’s connection which turns out to be related to the one of higher dimensional instantons. The initial and final states are having the same entanglement but different Uhlman’s Phase. We show that by conducting an interference experiment one can observe the physical effects of the resulting anholonomic quantum computation. The consequences of our findings in the holographic context are discussed.
It is shown that Uhlmann's parallel transport of purifications along a path of mixed states represented by 2 × 2 density matrices is just the path-ordered product of Thomas rotations. These rotations are invariant under hyperbolic translations inside the Bloch sphere that can be regarded as the Poincaré ball model of hyperbolic geometry. A general expression for the mixed state geometric phase for an arbitrary geodesic triangle in terms of the Bures fidelities is derived. The formula gives back the solid angle result well known from studies of the pure state geometric phase. It is also shown that this mixed state anholonomy can be reinterpreted as the pure state non-Abelian anholonomy of entangled states living in a suitable restriction of the quaternionic Hopf bundle. In this picture Uhlmann's parallel transport is just the Pancharatnam transport of quaternionic spinors.
Quantum holonomies are investigated in different contexts. A geometric phase is proposed for decomposition dependent evolution, where each component of a given decomposition of a mixed state evolves independently. It is shown that this geometric phase only depends on the path traversed in the space of decompositions. A holonomy is associated to general paths of subspaces of a Hilbert space, both discrete and continuous. This opens up the possibility of constructing quantum holonomic gates in the open path setting. In the discrete case it is shown that it is possible to associate two distinct holonomies to a given path. Interferometric setups for measuring both holonomies are provided. It is further shown that there are cases when the holonomy is only partially defined. This has no counterpart in the Abelian setting. An operational interpretation of amplitudes of density operators is provided. This allows for a direct interferometric realization of Uhlmann's parallelity condition, and the possibility of measuring the Uhlmann holonomy for sequences of density operators. Off-diagonal geometric phases are generalized to the non-Abelian case. These off-diagonal holonomies are undefined for cyclic evolution, but must contain members of non-zero rank if all standard holonomies are undefined. Experimental setups for measuring the off-diagonal holonomies are proposed. The concept of nodal free geometric phases is introduced. These are constructed from gauge invariant quantities, but do not share the nodal point structure of geometric phases and off-diagonal geometric phases. An interferometric setup for measuring nodal free geometric phases is provided, and it is shown that these phases could be useful in geometric quantum computation. A holonomy associated to a sequence of quantum maps is introduced. It is shown that this holonomy is related to the Uhlmann holonomy. Explicit examples are provided to illustrate the general idea.
Geometric phases play a fundamental role in understanding the geometric structure of quantum states, yet extending the Uhlmann phase to non-Hermitian systems poses significant challenges due to parameter-dependent inner product structures. In this work, we develop a comprehensive theory of the Uhlmann phase for quasi-Hermitian systems, where the physical Hilbert space metric varies with external parameters. By constructing a generalized purification that respects the quasi-Hermitian inner product, we derive the corresponding parallel transport condition and Uhlmann connection. Our analysis reveals that the parameter-dependent metric modifies the Uhlmann connection and leads to a finite-temperature distribution of Uhlmann-phase regions that differs from the standard Hermitian case. Applying this formalism to solvable two-level models, we uncover tunable finite-temperature Uhlmann-phase diagrams, where the parameter-dependent metric shifts and deforms the zeros of the Uhlmann amplitude, thereby reshaping the temperature intervals in which nontrivial Uhlmann phases occur. Furthermore, by extending established interferometric protocols originally developed for Hermitian systems, the geometric amplitude can be recast as a measurable Loschmidt amplitude between purified states, providing a practical and experimentally accessible pathway to investigate quasi-Hermitian mixed-state geometric phases and their finite-temperature transitions. This work establishes a unified framework for understanding mixed-state geometric phases in quasi-Hermitian quantum systems and, through its natural relation to the mixed-state quantum geometric tensor, opens new avenues for exploring local geometry in quasi-Hermitian thermal states.
The Uhlmann phase extends geometric phases to mixed quantum states via a parallel-transport condition on purification amplitudes, yet its direct implementation under standard Hamiltonian dynamics is obstructed by the non-Hermitian nature of the purification. We establish that for any smooth one-dimensional closed loop of full-rank qubit density matrices, there exists a four-level Hermitian parent Hamiltonian whose doubly degenerate ground-state subspace carries a Wilczek--Zee connection exactly equal to the Uhlmann connection. Consequently, the Uhlmann holonomy is faithfully reproduced by adiabatic evolution in the enlarged system. We further prove that this auxiliary-field construction is obstructed in generic two-dimensional parameter spaces by a Frobenius integrability condition, which we derive explicitly. The one-dimensional Uhlmann phase is thus placed on the same footing as the non-Abelian Berry phase, offering a purely Hermitian, Hamiltonian-based route to simulating mixed-state geometric phases. Numerical integration of the adiabatic dynamics confirms the exact correspondence and validates the convergence to the Uhlmann holonomy in the large-gap limit.
Using the natural connection equivalent to the SU(2) Yang-Mills instanton on the quaternionic Hopf fibration of S7S^7S7 over the quaternionic projective space HP1≃S4{\bf HP}^1\simeq S^4HP1≃S4 with an SU(2)≃S3SU(2)\simeq S^3SU(2)≃S3 fiber the geometry of entanglement for two qubits is investigated. The relationship between base and fiber i.e. the twisting of the bundle corresponds to the entanglement of the qubits. The measure of entanglement can be related to the length of the shortest geodesic with respect to the Mannoury-Fubini-Study metric on HP1{\bf HP}^1HP1 between an arbitrary entangled state, and the separable state nearest to it. Using this result an interpretation of the standard Schmidt decomposition in geometric terms is given. Schmidt states are the nearest and furthest separable ones lying on, or the ones obtained by parallel transport along the geodesic passing through the entangled state. Some examples showing the correspondence between the anolonomy of the connection and entanglement via the geometric phase is shown. Connections with important notions like the Bures-metric, Uhlmann's connection, the hyperbolic structure for density matrices and anholonomic quantum computation are also pointed out.