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arXiv:quant-ph/0504044 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

Quantum symmetries and Cartan decompositions in arbitrary dimensions

Domenico D’Alessandro, Francesca Albertini

Published Feb 21, 2007• 35 citations
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Abstract

We investigate the relation between Cartan decompositions of the unitary group and discrete quantum symmetries. To every Cartan decomposition there corresponds a quantum symmetry which is the identity when applied twice. As an application, we describe a new and general method to obtain Cartan decompositions of the unitary group of evolutions of multipartite systems from Cartan decompositions on the single subsystems. The resulting decomposition, which we call of the odd-even type, contains, as a special case, the concurrence canonical decomposition (CCD) presented in the context of entanglement theory. The CCD is therefore extended from the case of a multipartite system of n qubits to the case where the component subsystems have arbitrary dimension.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8113/40/10/013

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We investigate the relation between Cartan decompositions of the unitary group and discrete quantum symmetries. To every Cartan decomposition there corresponds a quantum symmetry which is the identity when applied twice. As an application, we describe a new and general method to obtain Cartan decompositions of the unitary group of evolutions of multipartite systems from Cartan decompositions on the single subsystems. The resulting decomposition, which we call of the odd-even type, contains, as a special case, the concurrence canonical decomposition (CCD) presented in the context of entanglement theory. The CCD is therefore extended from the case of a multipartite system of n qubits to the case where the component subsystems have arbitrary dimension.
Decompositions of the Lie group of unitary matrices are very useful tools in the control and analysis of quantum dynamics. In this paper, we survey recent results on decompositions, concerning their significance in terms of symmetries, entanglement, and their applications to control and dynamics. Several decompositions can be obtained by recursively applying the Cartan classification of the symmetric spaces of the classical Lie groups. The emphasis is on a novel recursive procedure to decompose the unitary evolution of bipartite quantum systems of arbitrary dimensions, in simpler factors. This procedure makes transparent the contributions of the entangling and non entangling transformations
The two-qubit canonical decomposition SU(4)=[SU(2)⊗SU(2)]Δ[SU(2)⊗SU(2)] writes any two-qubit unitary operator as a composition of a local unitary, a relative phasing of Bell states, and a second local unitary. Using Lie theory, we generalize this to an n-qubit decomposition, the concurrence canonical decomposition (CCD) SU(2n)=KAK. The group K fixes a bilinear form related to the concurrence, and in particular any unitary in K preserves the tangle |〈φ|¯(−iσ1y)⋯(−iσny)|φ〉|2 for n even. Thus, the CCD shows that any n-qubit unitary is a composition of a unitary operator preserving this n-tangle, a unitary operator in A which applies relative phases to a set of GHZ states, and a second unitary operator which preserves the tangle. As an application, we study the extent to which a large, random unitary may change concurrence. The result states that for a randomly chosen a∈A⊂SU(22p), the probability that a carries a state of tangle 0 to a state of maximum tangle approaches 1 as the even number of qubits approaches infinity. Any v=k1ak2 for such an a∈A has the same property. Finally, although |〈φ|¯(−iσ1y)⋯(−iσny)|φ〉|2 vanishes identically when the number of qubits is odd, we show that a more complicated CCD still exists in which K is a symplectic group.
Abstract A natural symmetry group of a multicomponent quantum system is a special combination of a symmetry group acting within a single component (“local group”) and a group that permutes the components (“spatial symmetry group”). This combination is called the wreath product. Unitary representations of wreath products describe quantum evolutions of multipartite systems. It is known that any unitary representation of a finite group is contained in some permutation representation. We describe an algorithm for decomposing permutation representations of wreath products into irreducible components. This decomposition makes it possible to study the quantum behavior (entanglement, non-local correlations, etc.) of multipartite systems in invariant subspaces of the permutation Hilbert space.
On pure states of n quantum bits, the concurrence entanglement monotone returns the norm of the inner product of a pure state with its spin-flip. The monotone vanishes for n odd, but for n even there is an explicit formula for its value on mixed states, i.e., a closed-form expression computes the minimum over all ensemble decompositions of a given density. For n even a matrix decomposition ν=k1ak2 of the unitary group is explicitly computable and allows for study of the monotone’s dynamics. The side factors k1 and k2 of this concurrence canonical decomposition (CCD) are concurrence symmetries, so the dynamics reduce to consideration of the a factor. This unitary a phases a basis of entangled states, and the concurrence dynamics of u are determined by these relative phases. In this work, we provide an explicit numerical algorithm computing ν=k1ak2 for n odd. Further, in the odd case we lift the monotone to a two-argument function. The concurrence capacity of ν according to the double argument lift may be nontrivial for n odd and reduces to the usual concurrence capacity in the literature for n even. The generalization may also be studied using the CCD, leading again to maximal capacity for most unitaries. The capacity of ν⊗I2 is at least that of ν, so odd-qubit capacities have implications for even-qubit entanglement. The generalizations require considering the spin-flip as a time reversal symmetry operator in Wigner’s axiomatization, and the original Lie algebra homomorphism defining the CCD may be restated entirely in terms of this time reversal. The polar decomposition related to the CCD then writes any unitary evolution as the product of a time-symmetric and time-antisymmetric evolution with respect to the spin-flip. En route we observe a Kramers’ nondegeneracy: the existence of a nondegenerate eigenstate of any time reversal symmetric n-qubit Hamiltonian demands (i) n even and (ii) maximal concurrence of said eigenstate. We provide examples of how to apply this work to study the kinematics and dynamics of entanglement in spin chain Hamiltonians.
A scheme to perform the Cartan decomposition for the Lie algebra su(N) of arbitrary finite dimensions is introduced. The schme is based on two algebraic structures, the conjugate partition and the quotient algebra, that are easily generated by a Cartan subalgebra and generally exist in su(N). In particular, the Lie algebras su(2^p) and every su(2^{p-1} < N < 2^p) share the isomorphic structure of the quotient algebra. This structure enables an efficient algorithm for the recursive and exhaustive construction of Cartan decompositions. Further with the scheme, a unitary transformation in SU(N) can be recursively decomposed into a product of certain designated operators, e.g., local and nonlocal gates. Such a recursive decomposition of a transformation implies an evolution path on the manifold of the group.