Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical
Geometrical analysis of probabilistic quantum cloning and identification of N states
Haixin Liu, Heng Fan
Abstract
Abstract Creating n perfect clones from m copies of one of N prior known quantum states with minimum failure probability is a long-standing problem. We present a general geometrical form of the sufficient and necessary condition of probabilistic cloning of N known quantum states. With only one equality, we delineate in a parameter space the feasible set for probabilistic cloning of N known quantum states with prior probabilities and the surface for the optimal probabilistic cloning. The results are also applicable to the identification of those N quantum states. We provide a complete process of optimal identification of N given states and illustrate it with examples of three states. We further discover the relationship between probabilistic identification and the convexity of the feasible set. In addition, we discuss the differences in parameter selection when N = 2 and N ⩾ 3, plus provide a rigorous proof of some specific conclusions of this probabilistic quantum cloning problem when N = 2.