Abstract Optimization on matrix manifolds, particularly on complex Stiefel manifolds, plays an important role in various tasks of modern quantum theory. The dynamics of open quantum systems are described by quantum channels, also known as Kraus maps. Properties of the geometric structure of the set of quantum channels are essential for various tasks in diverse areas of quantum theory ranging from quantum information theory to quantum computing and quantum control. This review summarizes the results on representing quantum channels as orbits of a unitary group acting on the complex Stiefel manifold and examines the corresponding quotient space geometry. The implication of this framework for Riemannian optimization is demonstrated with a particular emphasis on the absence of suboptimal extrema for broad classes of quantum control objective functionals.
Abstract Optimization on matrix manifolds, particularly on complex Stiefel manifolds, plays an important role in various tasks of modern quantum theory. The dynamics of open quantum systems are described by quantum channels, also known as Kraus maps. Properties of the geometric structure of the set of quantum channels are essential for various tasks in diverse areas of quantum theory ranging from quantum information theory to quantum computing and quantum control. This review summarizes the results on representing quantum channels as orbits of a unitary group acting on the complex Stiefel manifold and examines the corresponding quotient space geometry. The implication of this framework for Riemannian optimization is demonstrated with a particular emphasis on the absence of suboptimal extrema for broad classes of quantum control objective functionals.
A quantum control landscape is defined as the physical objective as a function of the control variables. In this paper the control landscapes for two-level open quantum systems, whose evolution is described by general completely positive trace preserving maps (i.e., Kraus maps), are investigated in details. The objective function, which is the expectation value of a target system operator, is defined on the Stiefel manifold representing the space of Kraus maps. Three practically important properties of the objective function are found: (a) the absence of local maxima or minima (i.e., false traps); (b) the existence of multi-dimensional sub-manifolds of optimal solutions corresponding to the global maximum and minimum; and (c) the connectivity of each level set. All of the critical values and their associated critical sub-manifolds are explicitly found for any initial system state. Away from the absolute extrema there are no local maxima or minima, and only saddles may exist, whose number and the explicit structure of the corresponding critical sub-manifolds are determined by the initial system state. There are no saddles for pure initial states, one saddle for a completely mixed initial state, and two saddles for other initial states. In general, the landscape analysis of critical points and optimal manifolds is relevant to the problem of explaining the relative ease of obtaining good optimal control outcomes in the laboratory, even in the presence of the environment.
Abstract The ability to control quantum systems is necessary for many applications of quantum technologies ranging from gate generation in quantum computation to NMR and laser control of chemical reactions. In many practical situations, the controlled quantum systems are open, i.e., interacting with the environment. While often influence of the environment is considered as an obstacle for controlling the systems, in some cases it can be exploited as a useful resource. In this note, we briefly review some results on control of open quantum systems using environment as a resource, including Turing uncomputability of discrete quantum control, parametrization of Kraus maps by points of the Stiefel manifolds and corresponding Riemanninan optimization, control by dissipation and time-dependent decoherence rates, reachable sets, and incoherent GRAPE (Gradient Ascent Pulse Engineering) for gradient-based optimization.
Methods of optimization and control of quantum systems are widely used for various applications in quantum technologies including laser control of chemical reactions, nuclear magnetic resonance, gate generation for quantum computing, describing quantum transport in photosynthesis, etc. Among many topics in quantum control, we briefly outline Riemannian optimization and gradient projection method (GPM) on complex Stiefel manifolds and their relation to quantum control, as well as various related optimization tools such as incoherent GRAPE (InGRAPE) modification of the gradient ascent pulse engineering (GRAPE) algorithm, GPM in the dynamic picture for constrained optimization, and demonstrate operation of GRAPE and GPM for an investigation of the optimization efficiency over unconstrained and constrained quantum control landscapes for an example of a three-level Ξ -system having a seventh-order trap.1
Many challenges in quantum information and quantum control root in constrained optimization problems on finite-dimensional quantum systems. The constraints often arise from two facts: (i) quantum dynamic state spaces are naturally smooth manifolds (orbits of the respective initial states) rather than being Hilbert spaces; (ii) the dynamics of the respective quantum system may be restricted to a proper subset of the entire state space. Mathematically, either case can be treated by constrained optimization over the reachable set of an underlying control system. Thus, whenever the reachable set takes the form a smooth manifold, Riemannian optimization methods apply. Here, we give a comprehensive account on the foundations of gradient flows on Riemannian manifolds including new applications in quantum information and quantum dynamics. Yet, we do not pursue the problem of designing explicit controls for the underlying control systems. The framework is sufficiently general for setting up gradient flows on (sub)manifolds, Lie (sub)groups, and (reductive) homogeneous spaces. Relevant convergence conditions are discussed, in particular for gradient flows on compact and analytic manifolds. This is meant to serve as foundation for new achievements and further research. Illustrative examples and new applications are given: we extend former results on unitary groups to closed subgroups with tensor-product structure, where the finest product partitioning relates to SUloc(2n) := SU(2) ⊗ ⋯ ⊗ SU(2) — known as (qubit-wise) local unitary operations. Such applications include, e.g., optimizing figures of merit on SUloc(2n) relating to distance measures of pure-state entanglement as well as to best rank-1 approximations of higher-order tensors. In quantum information, our gradient flows provide a numerically favorable alternative to standard tensor-SVD techniques.
A quantum channel from a system A of dimension dA to a system B of dimension dB is a completely positive trace-preserving map from complex dA × dA to dB × dB matrices, and the set of all such maps with Kraus rank r has the structure of a smooth manifold. We describe this set in two ways. First, as a quotient space of (a subset of) the rdB × dA dimensional Stiefel manifold. Second, as the set of all Choi-states of a fixed rank r. These two descriptions are topologically equivalent. This allows us to show that the set of all Choi-states corresponding to extreme channels from system A to system B of a fixed Kraus rank r is a smooth submanifold of dimension 2rdAdB−dA2−r2 of the set of all Choi-states of rank r. As an application, we derive a lower bound on the number of parameters required for a quantum circuit topology to be able to approximate all extreme channels from A to B arbitrarily well.
A quantum channel from a system A of dimension dA to a system B of dimension dB is a completely positive trace-preserving map from complex dA×dA to dB×dB matrices, and the set of all such maps with Kraus rank r has the structure of a smooth manifold. We describe this set in two ways. First, as a quotient space of (a subset of) the rdB×dA dimensional Stiefel manifold. Secondly, as the set of all Choi-states of a fixed rank r. These two descriptions are topologically equivalent. This allows us to show that the set of all Choi-states corresponding to extreme channels from system A to system B of a fixed Kraus rank r is a smooth submanifold of dimension 2rdAdB−dA2−r2 of the set of all Choi-states of rank r. As an application, we derive a lower bound on the number of parameters required for a quantum circuit topology to be able to approximate all extreme channels from A to B arbitrarily well.