The work develops an approach to researching the dynamics of qubits that makes it possible to monitor the behavior of the system in the process of quantum computing using computer simulation. The study deals with individual and interacting qubits based on spin ½ in a magnetic field. The goal of the work is to obtain evolutionary equations (equations of motion) for observables that adequately describe the state of the system and provide opportunities for computer modeling of processes. The dynamics of qubits are described using the formalism of the density matrix of pure states. The paper shows derivation of the equations of motion for observables being the average values of operators of physical quantities that describe the state of the system. For spin ½ in magnetic fields, the derivation of the dynamic equation for the spin polarization vector, which is a unit vector in real three-dimensional space, is shown. The shape and parameters of radiofrequency pulses that implement single-qubit operations are presented. In the case of two interacting spins ½, an expression is given for the density matrix and the Hamiltonian of the system for scalar indirect interaction of the magnetic moments of nuclei through the electron shells of atoms in the molecule. Evolution equations are derived for the average dipole moments and quadrupole moment of the system. It is shown that in the case of weak interaction the dynamics of the system can be described using a closed system of equations for the average dipole moments, which in this case coincide with the spin polarization vectors of individual spins. The presentation is accompanied by examples of numerical solutions of the resulting equations describing one-qubit and two-qubit operations. A conclusion is made about the adequacy of the created mathematical model and the possibility of its use for computer modeling of quantum computing processes, the influence of the environment on them and the stabilization of states to prevent or reduce errors in quantum computing.
The work develops an approach to researching the dynamics of qubits that makes it possible to monitor the behavior of the system in the process of quantum computing using computer simulation. The study deals with individual and interacting qubits based on spin ½ in a magnetic field. The goal of the work is to obtain evolutionary equations (equations of motion) for observables that adequately describe the state of the system and provide opportunities for computer modeling of processes. The dynamics of qubits are described using the formalism of the density matrix of pure states. The paper shows derivation of the equations of motion for observables being the average values of operators of physical quantities that describe the state of the system. For spin ½ in magnetic fields, the derivation of the dynamic equation for the spin polarization vector, which is a unit vector in real three-dimensional space, is shown. The shape and parameters of radiofrequency pulses that implement single-qubit operations are presented. In the case of two interacting spins ½, an expression is given for the density matrix and the Hamiltonian of the system for scalar indirect interaction of the magnetic moments of nuclei through the electron shells of atoms in the molecule. Evolution equations are derived for the average dipole moments and quadrupole moment of the system. It is shown that in the case of weak interaction the dynamics of the system can be described using a closed system of equations for the average dipole moments, which in this case coincide with the spin polarization vectors of individual spins. The presentation is accompanied by examples of numerical solutions of the resulting equations describing one-qubit and two-qubit operations. A conclusion is made about the adequacy of the created mathematical model and the possibility of its use for computer modeling of quantum computing processes, the influence of the environment on them and the stabilization of states to prevent or reduce errors in quantum computing.
This paper systematically reviews the theoretical progression from blackbody radiation to the foundations of quantum computing. Beginning with Planck’s energy quantization and the representation of electromagnetic wave electric field components, the wave-particle duality of photons is analogized to introduce the de Broglie relation between momentum and wave vector for matter waves, leading to the establishment of the matter wave function and the Schrödinger equation as its governing partial differential equation. The consistency between the rigorous solution for a one-dimensional infinitely deep rectangular potential well and the conclusions for a one-dimensional hydrogen atom is demonstrated. Subsequently, within the Dirac notation formalism, the wave function is expressed, and the correspondence between spatial differentiation and momentum is derived, formalizing the momentum operator (often referred to as first quantization). To lay the physical groundwork for manipulating two-qubit states in quantum computing, the potential energy function of an electron’s orbital magnetic moment in an external magnetic field is introduced, starting from the torque and work on a current-carrying rectangular coil. This is extended to the magnetic moment and potential energy of a spinning electron, where the orientation of the magnetic field determines the form of the potential and accordingly selects the three components of the Pauli operators. The properties of quantum gates corresponding to the Pauli operators are then examined for single-qubit states. A two-qubit state, constructed via the coupling of two arbitrary single-qubit states represented in a two-level system or electron spin, is shown to be uniquely expressible as a superposition of four eigen two-qubit states. The paper further investigates joint manipulations of two-qubit states, including evolution under X and Z gates conditioned on high- and low-level states, the representation of control-flow circuits (with the low-level as control), and the formulation of measurement and CNOT gates. Throughout this work, essential mathematical tools—including integration, matrix operations, complex Euler’s formula, and solutions to simple second-order ordinary differential equations—are incorporated to provide a coherent theoretical framework for state representation and gate operations in quantum computing.
Abstract The problem of speeding up quantum computations through controlling the states of qubits by short large-amplitude unipolar pulses is discussed. A new method is proposed to describe the dynamics of qubits that is based on the Magnus representation for the evolution operator (propagator) of qubits, which allows one to find a solution to the quantum control problem outside the framework of perturbation theory. The evolution of the states of a multiqubit system is represented as a motion on a special unitary group SU(N), similar to the rotation of the Bloch vector on the group SU(2) in the case of a single qubit. As an example, unitary transformations of single-qubit states under different excitation modes are considered. A general formula is found that establishes a relation between the shape of a pulse and the result of its action, similar to the well-known “area theorem” for Rabi pulses. The effect of unipolar pulses on a two-qubit system is analyzed in detail. Two situations are considered: first, a symmetric configuration, when the parameters of qubits do not differ and are acted upon by the same magnetic field from a fluxon, and second, when the configuration of levels arises in which, for one of the qubits, a transition to the nearest level becomes possible under perturbation. The general case of two interacting qubits—a four-level system—is considered analytically. A direct numerical simulation of the dynamics of a multiqubit system is performed to estimate the accuracy of approximation, and fidelity is used as a criterion of accuracy of operations. It is shown that the expressions obtained for the propagator allow one to formulate conditions for the pulse parameters that are necessary to perform logical operations.
This thesis is concerned with the design of numerical methods for quantum simulation and the development of improved models for quantum relaxation. Analysis is presented for the treatment of quantum systems using the density matrix formalism. This approach has been developed from the early days of quantum mechanics as a tool to describe from a statistical point of view a large number of identical quantum ensembles. Traditional methods are well established and reliable, but they perform poorly for practical simulation as the system size is scaled up. Ad hoc schemes for nuclear spin dynamics appearing in the literature can be shown to fail in certain situations. The challenge is therefore to identify efficient reduction methods for the quantum system which are also based on a rigorous foundation. The method presented in the thesis, for the time–independent Hamiltonian case, combines a quantum density matrix formalism with a procedure based on Chebyshev polynomials; application of the method to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is considered, and it is shown that the new technique outperforms existing alternatives in term of computational costs. The case of a time–dependent Hamiltonian in NMR simulation is studied as well and some splitting methods are presented. To the author’s knowledge this is the first time such methods have been applied within the NMR framework, and the numerical results show a better error–to–cost rate than traditional methods. In a separate strand of research, formulations for open quantum systems are studied and new dynamical systems approaches are considered for this problem. Motivations This thesis work is mainly focused on nuclear spin dynamics. Nuclear spin dynamics constitutes the basis for NMR, which is a very powerful spectroscopy technique that exploits the interaction between nuclear spins and magnetic fields. The same technique is used to reveal the presence of hydrogen atoms in the blood for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Within this framework the role of simulations is extremely important, as it provides a benchmark for studies of new materials, and the development of new magnetic fields. The main computational issue is that with current software for NMR simulation it is extremely expensive to deal with systems made of more than few (7–10) spins. There is therefore a strong need to develop new algorithms capable of simulating larger systems. In recent years NMR simulations have been found to be one of the most favorable candidates for quantum computing. There are two reasons for this: nuclear quantum states maintain extremely long coherences, and it is possible to attain a very strong control on the quantum state via the application of sequences of pulses. In order to develop a proper quantum computer it is fundamental to understand how the entangled states lose coherence and relax back to equilibrium by means of external interactions. This process is described as relaxation in an open quantum system. The theory for such systems has been available for 50 years but there are still substantial limitations in the two main approaches. There are also relatively few numerical approaches for the simulation of such systems, for this reason it is important to develop numerical alternatives for the description of open quantum systems. Thesis Outline The thesis is organized as follow: the first two chapters provide background material to familiarize the reader with fundamental concepts of both quantum mechanics and nuclear spin dynamics; in this part of the thesis no new results are presented. The first chapter introduces the concept of quantum systems and the mathematical environment with which we describe those systems. We also present the main equations we need to solve to determine the dynamics of a quantum system in a statistical framework. In the second chapter we introduce the nuclear spin system, that is the physical system that has been the main reference frame in this work, for both tests and practical applications of the new algorithms. We describe how nuclear spin systems are at the basis of very important applications like NMR spectroscopy and MRI. We present in some detail the physical features of the NMR technique and the equations we need to solve to describe the dynamics of a spin system; we also focus on the relevance of numerical simulations for these systems, and consequently which must be the interest in developing new algorithms, and the major obstacles which must be overcome. In the third chapter we investigate the numerical challenges that arise in simulation of quantum systems, we describe some of the methods that have been developed in the literature, focusing on the performances and the computational costs of them, setting the new developments of this thesis in the proper research frame. We discuss one of the major issues: the evaluation of the matrix exponential. We also present the analysis we have done of a recent method called Zero Track Elimination (ZTE) that has been developed specifically for NMR simulations. This analysis shows the limitations of this method but also gives a mathematical explanation of why–and in which cases–it works. In the fourth chapter we present the main result of the thesis, the development of a new method that directly evaluates the expectation values for a quantum simulation via a different application of the well known Chebyshev expansion. We have proved that this new method can provide an excellent boost in terms of performance, with computational costs that can be reduced by a factor ten in common cases. (The results of this chapter and the new method have been presented in international conferences and recently they have been submitted for publication). We also present some attempts we have made in the application of splitting methods for the evolution of the system in a time dependent environment. To our knowledge this is the first time splitting methods have been used for NMR simulations. The results of this approach are as follows: for a particular splitting technique combined with a Lanczos iteration method it is possible to speed up the calculation by a third if compared with a Lanczos type method whilst keeping the error below a critical threshold. This last approach is still a work in progress especially in terms of developing clever ways to split the Hamiltonian. The last chapter of this thesis deals with simulation of quantum systems interacting with an external environment. After presenting the main theoretical approaches for the description of such systems we then survey several the techniques that are currently used for the numerical implementation of such theories. As a work in progress we present a considerably different new approach we have been developing aiming to overcome some of the issues that arise when treating this kind of system within usual frameworks. This is somewhat speculative work that gives rise to some new directions in the development of a numerical description for open quantum systems. We also present some numerical results. (The main core of this chapter has been presented in international conferences).
We investigate the difference between classical and quantum dynamics of coupled magnetic dipoles. We prove that in general the dynamics of the classical interaction Hamiltonian differs from the corresponding quantum model, regardless of the initial state. The difference appears as nonpositive-definite diffusion terms in the quantum evolution equation of an appropriate positive phase-space probability density. Thus, it is not possible to express the dynamics in terms of a convolution of a positive transition probability function and the initial condition as can be done in the classical case. It is this feature that enables the quantum system to evolve to an entangled state. We conclude that the dynamics are a quantum element of nuclear magnetic resonance quantum-information processing. There are two limits where our quantum evolution coincides with the classical one: the short-time limit before spin-spin interaction sets in and the long-time limit when phase diffusion is incorporated.
Background. To operate a quantum computer, a set of universal gates must be implemented, such as a two-cubit gate of the controlled negation type plus one-cubit spins. As a universal alternative, three-cubic-bit gates may be used. In this regard, it seems very relevant to investigate the dynamics of three-qubit systems in microwave resonators, in particular to study the most efficient schemes for generating, controlling, and monitoring entangled qubit states. Aim. To investigate the features of the dynamics of entangled pairs of qubits for a system in which two qubits are locked in a single-mode resonator and interact with the thermal field mode, and the third qubit is in a free state. Methods. To analyze the dynamics of the considered system, the solution of the quantum Liouville equation for the full density matrix is investigated. The exact solution of the above equation in the case of initial biseparable states of the qubits is found. The exact solution of the evolution equation is used to calculate the criterion of entanglement of qubit pairs – negativity. Numerical simulations of negativity for biseparable qubit states as well as different values of the thermal field intensity of the resonator have been carried out. Results. It is shown that for intense thermal fields of the resonator the effect of instantaneous death of entanglement is observed, while the time intervals between death and revival of entanglement of qubits depend essentially on the choice of their initial biseparable state. It is found that for one of the biseparable states, entanglement of qubits trapped in the resonator does not occur at any field intensities of the resonator. Conclusion. It is found that the peculiarities of the dynamics of entanglement of qubits, in particular the time intervals between the death and birth of entangled qubits, are determined by the choice of the initial biseparable state of qubits, as well as by the values of the field intensity of the resonator. The results obtained can be used to effectively control and manage the degree of qubit entanglement in three-qubit systems in microwave resonators.
Two-level quantum systems are building blocks of quantum technologies, where the qubit is the basic unit of quantum information. The ability to design driving fields that produce prespecified evolutions of relevant physical observables is crucial to the development of such technologies. Using vector algebra and recently developed strategies for generating solvable two-level Hamiltonians, we construct the general solution to the inverse problem for a spin in a time-dependent magnetic field and its extension to any two-level system associated with fictitious spin and field. We provide a general expression for the field that drives the dynamics of the system so as to realize prescribed time evolutions of the expectation values of the Pauli operators and the autocorrelation of the Pauli vector. The analysis is applied to two-state charge transfer systems, showing that the charge transfer process can be seen as a motion of the state of the associated fictitious qubit on the Bloch sphere, and that the expectation values of the related Pauli operators describe the interference between the two differently localized electronic states and their population difference. Our formulation is proposed as a basic step towards potential uses of charge transfer in quantum computing and quantum information transfer.