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arXiv:quant-ph/0611214 · Physical Review A

Local unitary versus local Clifford equivalence of stabilizer and graph states

Bei Zeng, Hyeyoun Chung, Andrew W. Cross, Isaac L. Chuang

Published Mar 19, 2007• 39 citations
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Abstract

The equivalence of stabilizer states under local transformations is of fundamental interest in understanding properties and uses of entanglement. Two stabilizer states are equivalent under the usual stochastic local operations and classical communication criterion if and only if they are equivalent under local unitary (LU) operations. More surprisingly, under certain conditions, two LU-equivalent stabilizer states are also equivalent under local Clifford (LC) operations, as was shown by Van den Nest et al. [Phys. Rev. A 71, 062323 (2005)]. Here, we broaden the class of stabilizer states for which LU equivalence implies LC equivalence $(\mathrm{LU}\ensuremath{\Leftrightarrow}\mathrm{LC})$ to include all stabilizer states represented by graphs with cycles of length neither 3 nor 4. To compare our result with Van den Nest et al.'s, we show that any stabilizer state of distance $\ensuremath{\delta}=2$ is beyond their criterion. We then further prove that $\mathrm{LU}\ensuremath{\Leftrightarrow}\mathrm{LC}$ holds for a more general class of stabilizer states of $\ensuremath{\delta}=2$. We also explicitly construct graphs representing $\ensuremath{\delta}>2$ stabilizer states which are beyond their criterion: we identify all 58 graphs with up to 11 vertices and construct graphs with ${2}^{m}\ensuremath{-}1$ $(m\ensuremath{\geqslant}4)$ vertices using quantum error-correcting codes which have non-Clifford transversal gates.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.75.032325

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The equivalence of stabilizer states under local transformations is of fundamental interest in understanding properties and uses of entanglement. Two stabilizer states are equivalent under the usual stochastic local operations and classical communication criterion if and only if they are equivalent under local unitary (LU) operations. More surprisingly, under certain conditions, two LU-equivalent stabilizer states are also equivalent under local Clifford (LC) operations, as was shown by Van den Nest et al. [Phys. Rev. A 71, 062323 (2005)]. Here, we broaden the class of stabilizer states for which LU equivalence implies LC equivalence (LU\ensuremath⇔LC)(\mathrm{LU}\ensuremath{\Leftrightarrow}\mathrm{LC})(LU\ensuremath⇔LC) to include all stabilizer states represented by graphs with cycles of length neither 3 nor 4. To compare our result with Van den Nest et al.'s, we show that any stabilizer state of distance \ensuremathδ=2\ensuremath{\delta}=2\ensuremathδ=2 is beyond their criterion. We then further prove that LU\ensuremath⇔LC\mathrm{LU}\ensuremath{\Leftrightarrow}\mathrm{LC}LU\ensuremath⇔LC holds for a more general class of stabilizer states of \ensuremathδ=2\ensuremath{\delta}=2\ensuremathδ=2. We also explicitly construct graphs representing \ensuremathδ>2\ensuremath{\delta}>2\ensuremathδ>2 stabilizer states which are beyond their criterion: we identify all 58 graphs with up to 11 vertices and construct graphs with 2m\ensuremath−1{2}^{m}\ensuremath{-}12m\ensuremath−1 (m\ensuremath⩾4)(m\ensuremath{\geqslant}4)(m\ensuremath⩾4) vertices using quantum error-correcting codes which have non-Clifford transversal gates.
We study the relation between local unitary (LU) equivalence and local Clifford (LC) equivalence of stabilizer states. We introduce a large subclass of stabilizer states, such that every two LU equivalent states in this class are necessarily LC equivalent. Together with earlier results, this shows that LC, LU, and stochastic local operation with classical communication equivalence are the same notions for this class of stabilizer states. Moreover, recognizing whether two given stabilizer states in the present subclass are locally equivalent only requires a polynomial number of operations in the number of qubits.
Graph states form a large family of quantum states that are in one-to-one correspondence with mathematical graphs. Graph states are used in many applications, such as measurement-based quantum computation, as multipartite entangled resources. It is thus crucial to understand when two such states have the same entanglement, i.e. when they can be transformed into each other using only local operations. In this case, we say that the graph states are LU-equivalent (local unitary). If the local operations are restricted to the so-called Clifford group, we say that the graph states are LC-equivalent (local Clifford). Interestingly, a simple graph rule called local complementation fully captures LC-equivalence, in the sense that two graph states are LC-equivalent if and only if the underlying graphs are related by a sequence of local complementations. While it was once conjectured that two LU-equivalent graph states are always LC-equivalent, counterexamples do exist and local complementation fails to fully capture the entanglement of graph states. We introduce in this thesis a generalization of local complementation that does fully capture LU-equivalence. Using this characterization, we prove the existence of an infinite strict hierarchy of local equivalences between LC- and LU-equivalence. This also leads to the design of a quasi-polynomial algorithm for deciding whether two graph states are LU-equivalent, and to a proof that two LU-equivalent graph states are LC-equivalent if they are defined on at most 19 qubits. Furthermore, we study graph states that are universal in the sense that any smaller graph state, defined on any small enough set of qubits, can be induced using only local operations. We provide bounds and an optimal, probabilistic construction.
Graph states form a large family of quantum states that are in one-to-one correspondence with mathematical graphs. Graph states are used in many applications, such as measurement-based quantum computation, as multipartite entangled resources. It is thus crucial to understand when two such states have the same entanglement, i.e. when they can be transformed into each other using only local operations. In this case, we say that the graph states are LU-equivalent (local unitary). If the local operations are restricted to the so-called Clifford group, we say that the graph states are LC-equivalent (local Clifford). Interestingly, a simple graph rule called local complementation fully captures LC-equivalence, in the sense that two graph states are LC-equivalent if and only if the underlying graphs are related by a sequence of local complementations. While it was once conjectured that two LU-equivalent graph states are always LC-equivalent, counterexamples do exist and local complementation fails to fully capture the entanglement of graph states. We introduce in this manuscript a generalization of local complementation that does fully capture LU-equivalence. Using this characterization, we prove the existence of an infinite strict hierarchy of local equivalences between LC- and LU-equivalence. This also leads to the design of a quasi-polynomial algorithm for deciding whether two graph states are LU-equivalent, and to a proof that two LU-equivalent graph states are LC-equivalent if they are defined on at most 19 qubits. Furthermore, we study graph states that are universal in the sense that any smaller graph state, defined on any small enough set of qubits, can be induced using only local operations. We provide bounds and an optimal, probabilistic construction.
Local-unitary (LU) equivalence asks whether two quantum states differ only by independent changes of basis on their qubits. For graph states, whether this relation can be decided in polynomial time has remained open for over a decade. We give a deterministic algorithm that decides LU equivalence for graphs on nnn labelled vertices in O~(n6.38)\widetilde O(n^{6.38})O(n6.38) bit operations and constructs exact single-qubit unitaries whenever the states are equivalent. Building on Claudet and Perdrix's quasipolynomial algorithm, we replace the enumeration of vertex subsets by a compact system of constraints generated from pairs and triples. The remaining graph transformation is found by solving linear equations over the binary field. These new steps cost O~(n5)\widetilde O(n^5)O(n5) bit operations; the inherited graph preprocessing sets the overall bound. We also count the local-Clifford (LC) classes of graph states within any LU class: their number is a power of two, computable within the same bound. For any given graph state, this decides whether single-qubit Clifford gates reach every graph state in its LU class, and supplies a counterexample when they do not. The method also decides LU equivalence of stabilizer codes encoding one logical qubit.
It was once conjectured that two graph states are local unitary (LU) equivalent if and only if they are local Clifford (LC) equivalent. This so-called LU-LC conjecture was disproved in 2007, as a pair of 27-qubit graph states that are LU-equivalent, but not LC-equivalent, was discovered. We prove that this counterexample to the LU-LC conjecture is minimal. In other words, for graph states on up to 26 qubits, the notions of LU-equivalence and LC-equivalence coincide. This result is obtained by studying the structure of 2-local complementation, a special case of the recently introduced r-local complementation, and a generalization of the well-known local complementation. We make use of a connection with triorthogonal codes and Reed-Muller codes.
We present an algorithm for verifying the local unitary (LU) equivalence of graph and stabilizer states. Our approach reduces the problem to solving a system of linear equations in modular arithmetic. Furthermore, we demonstrate that any LU transformation between two graph states takes a specific form, naturally generalizing the class of local Clifford (LC) transformations. Lastly, using existing libraries, we verify that for up to n=11n=11n=11, the number of LU and LC orbits of stabilizer states is identical.