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arXiv:quant-ph/9712040 · Physical Review A

Computing local invariants of quantum-bit systems

Markus Grassl, Martin Rötteler, Thomas Beth

Published Sep 1, 1998• 176 citations
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Abstract

We investigate means to describe the nonlocal properties of quantum systems and to test if two quantum systems are locally equivalent. For this we consider quantum systems that consist of several subsystems, especially multiple quantum bits, i.e., systems consisting of subsystems of dimension 2. We compute invariant polynomials, i.e., polynomial functions of the entries of the density operator that are invariant under local unitary operations. As an example, we consider a system of two quantum bits. We compute the Molien series for the corresponding representation, which gives information about the number of linearly independent invariants. Furthermore, we present a set of polynomials that generate all invariants (at least) up to degree 23. Finally, the use of invariants to check whether two density operators are locally equivalent is demonstrated.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.58.1833

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We investigate means to describe the nonlocal properties of quantum systems and to test if two quantum systems are locally equivalent. For this we consider quantum systems that consist of several subsystems, especially multiple quantum bits, i.e., systems consisting of subsystems of dimension 2. We compute invariant polynomials, i.e., polynomial functions of the entries of the density operator that are invariant under local unitary operations. As an example, we consider a system of two quantum bits. We compute the Molien series for the corresponding representation, which gives information about the number of linearly independent invariants. Furthermore, we present a set of polynomials that generate all invariants (at least) up to degree 23. Finally, the use of invariants to check whether two density operators are locally equivalent is demonstrated.
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In the present paper few steps are undertaken towards the description of the qubit-qutrit pair - quantum bipartite system composed of two and three level subsystems. The computational difficulties with the construction of the local unitary polynomial invariants are discussed. Calculations of the Molien functions and Poincare series for the qubit-qubit and qubit-qutrit local unitary invariants are outlined and compared with the known results. The requirement of positive semi-definiteness of the density operator is formulated explicitly as a set of inequalities in five Casimir invariants of the algebra su(6).
We present a complete set of local unitary invariants for generic multiqubit systems which gives necessary and sufficient conditions for two states being local unitary equivalent. These invariants are canonical polynomial functions in terms of the generalized Bloch representation of the quantum states. In particular, we prove that there are at most 12 polynomial local unitary invariants for two-qubit states and at most 90 polynomials for three-qubit states. Comparison with Makhlin's 18 local unitary invariants is given for two-qubit systems.
Given L-qubit states with the fixed spectra of reduced one-qubit density matrices, we find a formula for the minimal number of invariant polynomials needed for solving local unitary (LU) equivalence problem, that is, problem of deciding if two states can be connected by local unitary operations. Interestingly, this number is not the same for every collection of the spectra. Some spectra require less polynomials to solve LU equivalence problem than others. The result is obtained using geometric methods, i.e., by calculating the dimensions of reduced spaces, stemming from the symplectic reduction procedure.
Local unitary equivalence serves as the cornerstone for classifying entanglement in bipartite quantum systems. Mathematically, it reduces to the study of polynomial invariants of the density matrix under the action of local unitary groups. The collection of all such polynomial invariants forms a ring, known as the invariant ring. However, identifying the complete generators of the invariant ring is the central issue. In 2007, for the two-qubit system, King et al fully characterized the structure of the invariant ring and determined its Cohen--Macaulay decomposition. In this paper, we revisit their work, with a focus on the computation of the Molien series and the construction of invariants. On one hand, we rigorously derive the Molien series via explicit contour integration over the maximal torus, filling in all previously omitted computational steps. On the other hand, we systematically construct all invariants using a graphical method, and then reduce the candidate set by applying various identities and algebraic relations, obtaining a generating set consisting of 21 invariants. This paper aims to make this important result more widely accessible to researchers in quantum information and invariant theory through the above discussions.