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Mathematics

The Pauli Problem for Gaussian Quantum States: Geometric Interpretation

Maurice A. de Gosson

Published Oct 14, 2021• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We solve the Pauli tomography problem for Gaussian signals using the notion of Schur complement. We relate our results and method to a notion from convex geometry, polar duality. In our context polar duality can be seen as a sort of geometric Fourier transform and allows a geometric interpretation of the uncertainty principle and allows to apprehend the Pauli problem in a rather simple way.

DOI
10.3390/math9202578

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We solve the Pauli tomography problem for Gaussian signals using the notion of Schur complement. We relate our results and method to a notion from convex geometry, polar duality. In our context polar duality can be seen as a sort of geometric Fourier transform and allows a geometric interpretation of the uncertainty principle and allows to apprehend the Pauli problem in a rather simple way.
We define and study the notion of quantum polarity, which is a kind of geometric Fourier transform between sets of positions and sets of momenta. Extending previous work of ours, we show that the orthogonal projections of the covariance ellipsoid of a quantum state on the configuration and momentum spaces form what we call a dual quantum pair. We thereafter show that quantum polarity allows solving the Pauli reconstruction problem for Gaussian wavefunctions. The notion of quantum polarity exhibits a strong interplay between the uncertainty principle and symplectic and convex geometry and our approach could therefore pave the way for a geometric and topological version of quantum indeterminacy. We relate our results to the Blaschke-Santaló inequality and to the Mahler conjecture. We also discuss the Hardy uncertainty principle and the less-known Donoho--Stark principle from the point of view of quantum polarity.
We define and study the notion of quantum polarity, which is a kind of geometric Fourier transform between sets of positions and sets of momenta. Extending previous work of ours, we show that the orthogonal projections of the covariance ellipsoid of a quantum state on the configuration and momentum spaces form what we call a dual quantum pair. We thereafter show that quantum polarity allows solving the Pauli reconstruction problem for Gaussian wavefunctions. The notion of quantum polarity exhibits a strong interplay between the uncertainty principle and symplectic and convex geometry and our approach could therefore pave the way for a geometric and topological version of quantum indeterminacy. We relate our results to the Blaschke-Santaló inequality and to the Mahler conjecture. We also discuss the Hardy uncertainty principle and the less-known Donoho-Stark principle from the point of view of quantum polarity.
We show that the covariance matrix of a quantum state can be reconstructed from position measurements using the simple notion of polar duality, familiar from convex geometry. In particular, all multidimensional Gaussian states (pure or mixed) can in principle be reconstructed if the quantum system is well localized in configuration space. The main observation which makes this possible is that the John ellipsoid of the Cartesian product of the position localization by its polar dual contains a quantum blob, and can therefore be identified with the covariance ellipsoid of a quantum state.
We apply the notion of polar duality from convex geometry to the study of quantum covariance ellipsoids in symplectic phase space. We consider in particular the case of “quantum blobs” introduced in previous work; quantum blobs are the smallest symplectic invariant regions of the phase space compatible with the uncertainty principle in its strong Robertson–Schrödinger form. We show that these phase space units can be characterized by a simple condition of reflexivity using polar duality, thus improving previous results. We apply these geometric constructions to the characterization of pure Gaussian states in terms of partial information on the covariance ellipsoid, which allows us to formulate statements related to symplectic tomography.
We propose a geometric formulation of quantum indeterminacy based on polar duality between convex bodies representing position and momentum data. A pair (X,P) of centrally symmetric convex bodies is said to satisfy the indeterminacy condition when the h-polar of X is included in P. We show that this condition naturally arises from the geometry of quantum blobs and is closely related to Hardy's uncertainty principle and the Donoho--Stark inequalities. Using symplectic capacities and John ellipsoids, we associate a canonical covariance ellipsoid with every quantum polar pair and prove that it satisfies the quantum condition. The Robertson--Schrödinger inequalities follow as a consequence. This provides a non-statistical formulation of quantum indeterminacy from which the usual uncertainty relations emerge. which the usual uncertainty relations emerge.