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arXiv:quant-ph/0308004 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and General

Orbits of quantum states and geometry of Bloch vectors forN-level systems

S. G. Schirmer, T Zhang, J V Leahy

Published Jan 9, 2004• 66 citations
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Abstract

Physical constraints such as positivity endow the set of quantum states with a rich geometry if the system dimension is greater than 2. To shed some light on the complicated structure of the set of quantum states, we consider a stratification with strata given by unitary orbit manifolds, which can be identified with flag manifolds. The results are applied to study the geometry of the coherence vector for n -level quantum systems. It is shown that the unitary orbits can be naturally identified with spheres in only for n = 2. In higher dimensions the coherence vector only defines a non-surjective embedding into a closed ball. A detailed analysis of the three-level case is presented. Finally, a refined stratification in terms of symplectic orbits is considered.

DOI
10.1088/0305-4470/37/4/022

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Physical constraints such as positivity endow the set of quantum states with a rich geometry if the system dimension is greater than 2. To shed some light on the complicated structure of the set of quantum states, we consider a stratification with strata given by unitary orbit manifolds, which can be identified with flag manifolds. The results are applied to study the geometry of the coherence vector for n -level quantum systems. It is shown that the unitary orbits can be naturally identified with spheres in only for n = 2. In higher dimensions the coherence vector only defines a non-surjective embedding into a closed ball. A detailed analysis of the three-level case is presented. Finally, a refined stratification in terms of symplectic orbits is considered.
Various problems concerning the geometry of the space of Hermitian operators on a Hilbert space are addressed. In particular, we study the canonical Poisson and Riemann–Jordan tensors and the corresponding foliations into Kähler submanifolds. It is also shown that the space of density states on an n -dimensional Hilbert space is naturally a manifold stratified space with the stratification induced by the the rank of the state. Thus the space of rank- k states, k = 1, ..., n , is a smooth manifold of (real) dimension 2 nk − k 2 − 1 and this stratification is maximal in the sense that every smooth curve in , viewed as a subset of the dual to the Lie algebra of the unitary group , at every point must be tangent to the strata it crosses. For a quantum composite system, i.e. for a Hilbert space decomposition , an abstract criterion of entanglement is proved.
Various problems concerning the geometry of the space u ∗ (H) of Hermitian operators on a Hilbert space H are addressed. In particular, we study the canonical Poisson and Riemann-Jordan tensors and the corresponding foliations into Kähler submanifolds. It is also shown that the space D(H) of density states on an n-dimensional Hilbert space H is naturally a manifold stratified space with the stratification induced by the the rank of the state. Thus the space D k (H) of rank-k states, k = 1,...,n, is a smooth manifold of (real) dimension 2nk −k 2 −1 and this stratification is maximal in the sense that every smooth curve in D(H), viewed as a subset of the dual u ∗ (H) to the Lie algebra of the unitary group U(H), at every point must be tangent to the strata D k (H) it crosses. For a quantum composite system, i.e. for a Hilbert space decomposition H = H 1 ⊗ H 2, an abstract criterion of entanglement is proved.
Understanding the geometry of state space is of fundamental interest in the field of quantum information, in particular to study entanglement. The states of a d dimensional system form a convex set in the d2−1 dimensional Euclidean space Rd2−1. For a two dimensional system this convex set is nothing but a solid unit sphere (Bloch sphere) with centre at the origin. The surface S of this unit sphere consists of all the pure states of the system. Every unitary transformation U ∈ SU(2) of the Hilbert space corresponds to an associated SO(3) rotation of this space. This kind of correspondence becomes much richer when we go to higher dimension. For example, in the d = 3 case the corresponding unitary group is the eight parameter group SU(3) whereas the rotation group in R is the 28 parameter group SO(8). Therefore, not every point on or inside the sphere S in R will correspond to a state of the system. So, not every rotation in R will correspond to a valid unitary transformation of the 3 dimensional Hilbert space. This gives us a fairly complex convex object as the set of all states. In order to gain insight into the structure of this state space, we study its two dimensional and three dimensional cross-sections. In particular, we describe in detail the discrete symmetries of a non-trivial 3-section of the convex set of states (density matrices) for three dimensional systems. This group turns out to be the same as that of a tetrahedron.
The geometric interpretation of (pseudo)spin-1/21/21/2 systems on the Bloch sphere has been appreciated across different areas ranging from condensed matter to quantum information and high-energy physics. Although similar notions for larger Hilbert spaces are established in mathematics, they have been so far less explored beyond the two-level case for practical usage in condensed matter settings, or have involved restrictions to sub manifolds within the full Hilbert space. We here employ a coherence vector description to theoretically characterize a general NNN-level system on the higher dimensional generalized Bloch (hyper)sphere by respecting the structure of the underlying SU(N)\mathrm{SU}(N)SU(N) algebra and construct physically intuitive geometric pictures for topological concepts. Focusing on two spatial dimensions, we reveal a geometric interpretation for the Chern number in larger Hilbert spaces in terms of a nested structure comprising $N\ensuremath{-}1$ two-spheres. We demonstrate that for the NNN-level case, there is an exterior two-sphere that provides a useful characterization of the system, notably by playing a primary role in determining the Chern number. The external sphere can be directly measured in ultracold atoms via well-established band mapping techniques, thereby imparting knowledge of the topological nature of state. We also investigate how the time evolution of the coherence vector defined on the generalized Bloch hypersphere can be utilized to extract the full state vector in experiments, allowing us to develop a tomography scheme involving quenches for three-level systems. Our geometric description opens up another avenue for the interpretation of the topological classification and the dynamical illustration of multilevel systems, which in turn is anticipated to help in the design of new experimental probes.
Abstract We study an analogous Bloch sphere representation of higher-level quantum systems using the Heisenberg-Weyl operator basis. We introduce a parametrization method that will allow us to identify a real-valued Bloch vector for an arbitrary density operator. Before going into arbitrary d-level (d ≥ 3) quantum systems (qudits), we start our analysis with three-level ones (qutrits). It is well known that we need at least eight real parameters in the Bloch vector to describe arbitrary three-level quantum systems (qutrits). However, using our method we can divide these parameters into four weight, and four angular parameters, and find that the weight parameters are inducing a unit sphere in four-dimension. And, the four angular parameters determine whether a Bloch vector is physical. Therefore, unlike its qubit counterpart, the qutrit Bloch sphere does not exhibit a solid structure. Importantly, this construction allows us to define different properties of qutrits in terms of Bloch vector components. We also examine the two and three-dimensional sections of the sphere, which reveal a non-convex yet closed structure for physical qutrit states. Further, we apply our representation to derive mutually unbiased bases (MUBs), characterize unital maps for qutrits, and assess ensembles using the Hilbert-Schmidt and Bures metrics. Moreover, we extend this construction to qudits, showcasing its potential applicability beyond the qutrit scenario.