Birkhoff's Theorem states that doubly stochastic matrices are convex combinations of permutation matrices. Quantum mechanically these matrices are doubly stochastic channels, i.e. they are completely positive maps preserving both the trace and the identity. We expect these channels to be convex combinations of unitary channels and yet it is known that some channels cannot be written that way. Recent work has suggested that
n copies of a single channel might approximate a mixture (convex combination) of unitaries. In this paper we show that
n(n+1)/2 copies of a symmetric unital quantum channel may be arbitrarily-well approximated by a mixture (convex combination) of unitarily implemented channels. In addition, we prove that any extremal properties of a channel are preserved over
n (and thus
n(n+1)/2) copies. The result has the potential to be completely generalized to include non-symmetric channels.
Quantum magic squares are generalizations of doubly stochastic matrices to arbitrary, possibly non-commutative algebras, more specifically C∗-algebras. Birkhoff-von Neumann Theorem states that every doubly stochastic matrix is a convex combination of permutation matrices. One inevitable question is whether a quantum magic square is a convex combinations of quantum permutation matrices. It has been proven by Cuevas, Drescher, and Netzer that the generalization of the Birkhoff-von Neumann Theorem in the quantum setting is not true in general. A quantum magic square is a convex combination of Arveson extreme points but not necessarily a convex combination of quantum permutation matrices. Additionally, the relationships between different subsets of quantum magic squares, including their inclusion properties, have been studied in this context.