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Communications in Theoretical Physics

Linearly-Independent Quantum States Can Be Cloned by a Unitary-Reduct ion Operation

Duan Lu-ming, Guo Guang-Can

Published Mar 15, 1999• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The famous quantum no-cloning theorem [Nature 299(1952)802] forbids replication of an arbitrary unknown quantum state. But it leaves open the following question: If the state is not completely arbitrary, but secretly chosen from a certain set , whether is the cloning possible? It is proved that the states from the set can be faithfully cloned by a general unitary-reduction operation in a probabilistic fashion if and only if and are linearly-independent.

DOI
10.1088/0253-6102/31/2/223

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Linearly-independent quantum states can be cloned

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Is It Possible To Clone Using An Arbitrary Blank State?

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We show that using a fixed cloning machine, whether deterministic inexact or probabilistic exact, one can take an arbitrary blank state. Quantum information cannot be cloned. There cannot exist a machine which can produce two (or more) exact copies of an arbitrary state in a deterministic manner [1]. Replication is not allowed even when the input state is taken at random from a given set of two non-orthogonal states [2]. It has been further shown that probabilistic cloning is not possible if the input state is from a given linearly dependent set [3]. Henceforth we deal explicitly with qubits although all the results can be extended to higher dimensions. Although exact cloning is not possible, one can approximately clone an arbitrary input state [4, 5, 6]. In this scheme a fixed state is taken as the blank state, depending on which and the initial machine state, the cloning operation is constructed. We extend this operation such that any arbitrary (pure or mixed) state taken as the blank copy can do the job. The optimal universal 1 → 2 inexact qubit cloner of Brußet al.[5] takes an arbitrary qubit |ψ 〉 〈ψ | = 1 2 (I + − → s. − → σ) along with a fixed blank qubit |b 〉 and a machine state |M 〉 as input. An entangled state of the three qubits is produced as the output such that the reduced density matrices of the first two qubits are two similar approximate copies ρ = 1 2 (I + η− → s. − → σ) of |ψ 〉 〈ψ | with η = 2 3. The unitary operator realizing this process is defined on the combined Hilbert space of the input qubit, the blank qubit and machine by U ′ √ √

•Jan 1, 2001•1 citation
The famous quantum no-cloning theorem [Nature 299(1952)802] forbids replication of an arbitrary unknown quantum state. But it leaves open the following question: If the state is not completely arbitrary, but secretly chosen from a certain set , whether is the cloning possible? It is proved that the states from the set can be faithfully cloned by a general unitary-reduction operation in a probabilistic fashion if and only if and are linearly-independent.
A fundamental question in quantum mechanics is, whether it is possible to replicate an arbitrary unknown quantum state. Then famous quantum no-cloning theorem [Nature 299, 802 (1982)] says no to the question. But it leaves open the following question: If the state is not arbitrary, but secretly chosen from a certain set $$={ | Ψ_1> ,| Ψ_2> ,... ,| Ψ_n> } $, whether is the cloning possible? This question is of great practical significance because of its applications in quantum information theory. If the states ∣Ψ1>,∣Ψ2>,...| Ψ_1>, | Ψ_2>,...∣Ψ1​>,∣Ψ2​>,... and $| Ψ_n> $ are linearly-dependent, similar to the proof of the no-cloning theorem, the linearity of quantum mechanics forbids such replication. In this paper, we show that, if the states ∣Ψ1>,∣Ψ2>,...| Ψ_1>, | Ψ_2>, ...∣Ψ1​>,∣Ψ2​>,... and $| Ψ_n> $ are linearly-independent, they do can be cloned by a unitary-reduction process.
We construct a probabilistic quantum cloning machine by a general unitary-reduction operation. With a postselection of the measurement results, the machine yields faithful copies of the input states. It is shown that the states secretly chosen from a certain set $S\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}{|{\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{1}〉,|{\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{2}〉,\dots{},|{\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{n}〉}$ can be probabilistically cloned if and only if $|{\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{1}〉,|{\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{2}〉,\dots{},\mathrm{and}|{\ensuremath{\Psi}}_{n}〉$ are linearly independent. We derive the best possible cloning efficiencies. Probabilistic cloning has a close connection with the problem of identification of a set of states, which is a type of n+1n+1n+1 outcome measurement on nnn linearly independent states. The optimal efficiencies for this type of measurement are obtained.
From Ref. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80(1998)4999] one knows that the quantum states secretly chosen from a certain set can be probabilistically cloned with positive cloning efficiencies if and only if all the states in the set are linearly independent. In this paper, we focus on the probabilistic quantum cloning (PQC) of linearly dependent states with nonnegative cloning efficiencies. We show that a linearly independent subset of the linearly dependent quantum states can be probabilistically cloned if and only if any one state in the subset can not be expressed as the linear superposition of the other states in the set. The optimal possible cloning efficiencies are also investigated.
We show that, there are physical means for cloning two non-orthogonal pure states which are secretly chosen from a certain set % \$={ | Ψ_0 > , | Ψ_1 > }. The states are cloned through a unitary evolution together with a measurement. The cloning efficiency can not attain 100%. With some negative measurement results, the cloning fails.
We show that using a fixed cloning machine, whether deterministic inexact or probabilistic exact, one can take an arbitrary blank state. Quantum information cannot be cloned. There cannot exist a machine which can produce two (or more) exact copies of an arbitrary state in a deterministic manner [1]. Replication is not allowed even when the input state is taken at random from a given set of two non-orthogonal states [2]. It has been further shown that probabilistic cloning is not possible if the input state is from a given linearly dependent set [3]. Henceforth we deal explicitly with qubits although all the results can be extended to higher dimensions. Although exact cloning is not possible, one can approximately clone an arbitrary input state [4, 5, 6]. In this scheme a fixed state is taken as the blank state, depending on which and the initial machine state, the cloning operation is constructed. We extend this operation such that any arbitrary (pure or mixed) state taken as the blank copy can do the job. The optimal universal 1 → 2 inexact qubit cloner of Brußet al.[5] takes an arbitrary qubit |ψ 〉 〈ψ | = 1 2 (I + − → s. − → σ) along with a fixed blank qubit |b 〉 and a machine state |M 〉 as input. An entangled state of the three qubits is produced as the output such that the reduced density matrices of the first two qubits are two similar approximate copies ρ = 1 2 (I + η− → s. − → σ) of |ψ 〉 〈ψ | with η = 2 3. The unitary operator realizing this process is defined on the combined Hilbert space of the input qubit, the blank qubit and machine by U ′ √ √