Experimental evidence for bounds on quantum correlations

We implemented the experiment proposed by Cabello in the preceding Letter to test the bounds of quantum correlation. As expected from the theory we found that, for certain choices of local observables, Tsirelson's bound of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality (2 x square root of 2) is not reached by any quantum states.     

Proposed experiment to test the bounds of quantum correlations

The combination of quantum correlations appearing in the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality can give values between the classical bound, 2, and Tsirelson's bound, 2 x square root of 2. However, for a given set of local observables, there are values in this range which no quantum state can attain. We provide the analytical expression for the corresponding bound for a parametrization of the local observables introduced by Filipp and Svozil, and describe how to experimentally trace it using a source of singlet states. Such an experiment will be useful to identify the origin of the experimental errors in Bell's inequality-type experiments and could be modified to detect hypothetical correlations beyond those predicted by quantum mechanics.     

A symmetry principle for topological quantum order

We present a unifying framework to study physical systems which exhibit topological quantum order (TQO). The major guiding principle behind our approach is that of symmetries and entanglement. These symmetries may be actual symmetries of the Hamiltonian characterizing the system, or emergent symmetries. To this end, we introduce the concept of low-dimensional Gauge-like symmetries (GLSs), and the physical conservation laws (including topological terms, fractionalization, and the absence of quasi-particle excitations) which emerge from them. We prove then sufficient conditions for TQO at both zero and finite temperatures. The physical engine for TQO are topological defects associated with the restoration of GLSs. These defects propagate freely through the system and enforce TQO. Our results are strongest for gapped systems with continuous GLSs. At zero temperature, selection rules associated with the GLSs enable us to systematically construct general states with TQO; these selection rules do not rely on the existence of a finite gap between the ground states to all other excited states. Indices associated with these symmetries correspond to different topological sectors. All currently known examples of TQO display GLSs. Other systems exhibiting such symmetries include Hamiltonians depicting orbital-dependent spin-exchange and Jahn-Teller effects in transition metal orbital compounds, short-range frustrated Klein spin models, and p+ip superconducting arrays. The symmetry based framework discussed herein allows us to go beyond standard topological field theories and systematically engineer new physical models with finite temperature TQO (both Abelian and non-Abelian). Furthermore, we analyze the insufficiency of entanglement entropy (we introduce SU(N) Klein models on small world networks to make the argument even sharper), spectral structures, maximal string correlators, and fractionalization in establishing TQO. We show that Kitaev’s Toric code model and Wen’s plaquette model are equivalent and reduce, by a duality mapping, to an Ising chain, demonstrating that despite the spectral gap in these systems the toric operator expectation values may vanish once thermal fluctuations are present. This illustrates the fact that the quantum states themselves in a particular (operator language) representation encode TQO and that the duality mappings, being non-local in the original representation, disentangle the order. We present a general algorithm for the construction of long-range string and brane orders in general systems with entangled ground states; this algorithm relies on general ground states selection rules and becomes of the broadest applicability in gapped systems in arbitrary dimensions. We exactly recast some known non-local string correlators in terms of local correlation functions. We discuss relations to problems in graph theory.     

Z2 topological order and the quantum spin Hall effect

The quantum spin Hall (QSH) phase is a time reversal invariant electronic state with a bulk electronic band gap that supports the transport of charge and spin in gapless edge states. We show that this phase is associated with a novel Z2 topological invariant, which distinguishes it from an ordinary insulator. The Z2 classification, which is defined for time reversal invariant Hamiltonians, is analogous to the Chern number classification of the quantum Hall effect. We establish the Z2 order of the QSH phase in the two band model of graphene and propose a generalization of the formalism applicable to multiband and interacting systems.     

Detecting topological order through a continuous quantum phase transition

We study a continuous quantum phase transition that breaks a Z2 symmetry. We show that the transition is described by a new critical point which does not belong to the Ising universality class, despite the presence of well-defined symmetry-breaking order parameter. The new critical point arises since the transition not only breaks the Z2 symmetry, it also changes the topological or quantum order in the two phases across the transition. We show that the new critical point can be identified in experiments by measuring critical exponents. So measuring critical exponents and identifying new critical points is a way to detect new topological phases and a way to measure topological or quantum orders in those phases.     

A proposal for detecting second order topological quantum phase

Gaussian linking of a semiclassical path of a charged particle with a magnetic flux tube is responsible for the Aharonov-Bohm effect, where one observes interference proportional to the magnitude of the enclosed flux. We construct quantum mechanical wave functions where semiclassical paths can have second order linking to two magnetic flux tubes, and show there is interference proportional to the product of the two fluxes.     

Feasibility of self-correcting quantum memory and thermal stability of topological order

Recently, it has become apparent that the thermal stability of topologically ordered systems at finite temperature, as discussed in condensed matter physics, can be studied by addressing the feasibility of self-correcting quantum memory, as discussed in quantum information science. Here, with this correspondence in mind, we propose a model of quantum codes that may cover a large class of physically realizable quantum memory. The model is supported by a certain class of gapped spin Hamiltonians, called stabilizer Hamiltonians, with translation symmetries and a small number of ground states that does not grow with the system size. We show that the model does not work as self-correcting quantum memory due to a certain topological constraint on geometric shapes of its logical operators. This quantum coding theoretical result implies that systems covered or approximated by the model cannot have thermally stable topological order, meaning that systems cannot be stable against both thermal fluctuations and local perturbations simultaneously in two and three spatial dimensions.     

Bringing order through disorder: localization of errors in topological quantum memories

Anderson localization emerges in quantum systems when randomized parameters cause the exponential suppression of motion. Here we consider this phenomenon in topological models and establish its usefulness for protecting topologically encoded quantum information. For concreteness we employ the toric code. It is known that in the absence of a magnetic field this can tolerate a finite initial density of anyonic errors, but in the presence of a field anyonic quantum walks are induced and the tolerable density becomes zero. However, if the disorder inherent in the code is taken into account, we demonstrate that the induced localization allows the topological quantum memory to regain a finite critical anyon density and the memory to remain stable for arbitrarily long times. We anticipate that disorder inherent in any physical realization of topological systems will help to strengthen the fault tolerance of quantum memories.     

Scalable quantum information processing and the optical topological quantum computer

Optical quantum computation has represented one of the most successful testbed systems for quantum information processing. Along with ion-traps and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), experimentalists have demonstrated control of qubits, multi-gubit gates and small quantum algorithms. However, photonic based qubits suffer from a problematic lack of a large scale architecture for fault-tolerant computation which could conceivably be built in the near future. While optical systems are, in some regards, ideal for quantum computing due to their high mobility and low susceptibility to environmental decoherence, these same properties make the construction of compact, chip based architectures difficult. Here we discuss many of the important issues related to scalable fault-tolerant quantum computation and introduce a feasible architecture design for an optics based computer. We combine the recent development of topological cluster state computation with the photonic module, simple chip based devices which can be utilized to deterministically entangle photons. The integration of this operational unit with one of the most exciting computational models solves many of the existing problems with other optics based architectures and leads to a feasible large scale design which can continuously generate a 3D cluster state with a photonic module resource cost linear in the cross sectional size of the cluster.     

Lieb-Robinson Bounds and the Exponential Clustering Theorem

We give a Lieb-Robinson bound for the group velocity of a large class of discrete quantum systems which can be used to prove that a non-vanishing spectral gap implies exponential clustering in the ground state of such systems.     

Invariants of topological quantum mechanics

We investigate a new topological invariant of the punctured plane using a Hamiltonian approach. The Hamiltonian is built out of topological invariants available on the punctured plane. On the other hand it is shown that the model is a generalized version, using the appropriate language of homotopy, of the superconformal quantum mechanics (gauge approach) recently proposed by L. Baulieuet al. This relationship allows a better understanding of the structure and results of the gauge approach and makes possible a proper identification of the topological invariants which emerge from it.     

Dynamics of quantum correlations

The density matrix describing the state of a sybsystem of a physical system whose time dependence is assumed to follow a Schrödinger equation does not itself obey a von Neumann equation. The behavior of the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of this density matrix is studied. An expression for the rate at which initially separating systems are de-separated is derived in perturbation theory. Indications are given that coherent photon states are more stable in the presence of charged particles than photon number eigenstates. The possible dynamical origin of super selection rules is discussed. A simple model is solved analytically.     

Bounding the set of quantum correlations

We introduce a hierarchy of conditions necessarily satisfied by any distribution P_{alphabeta} representing the probabilities for two separate observers to obtain outcomes alpha and beta when making local measurements on a shared quantum state. Each condition in this hierarchy is formulated as a semidefinite program. Among other applications, our approach can be used to obtain upper bounds on the quantum violation of an arbitrary Bell inequality. It yields, for instance, tight bounds for the violations of the Collins et al. inequalities.     

Spin squeezing and quantum correlations

We discuss the notion of spin squeezing considering two mutually exclusive classes of spin-s states, namely, oriented and non-oriented states. Our analysis shows that the oriented states are not squeezed while non-oriented states exhibit squeezing. We also present a new scheme for construction of spin-s states using 2s spinors oriented along different axes. Taking the case of s=1, we show that the ‘non-oriented’ nature and hence squeezing arise from the intrinsic quantum correlations that exist among the spinors in the coupled state.     

从分数量子霍尔效应到拓扑量子计算

分数量子霍尔效应系统是奇异的量子液体,其中的准粒子激发可以带分数电荷,甚至具有非阿贝尔的统计性质。理论研究表明,这些准粒子可以用来实现在硬件上可容错的量子计算,即拓扑量子计算。文章在介绍分数量子霍尔效应及其在拓扑量子计算中的潜在应用基础上,重点回顾了近五年来对填充因子为5/2的分数量子霍尔态中非阿贝尔准粒子的实验探测和部分相关理论诠释。     

从分数量子霍尔效应到拓扑量子计算*

分数量子霍尔效应系统是奇异的量子液体,其中的准粒子激发可以带分数电荷,甚至具有非阿贝尔的统计性质。理论研究表明,这些准粒子可以用来实现在硬件上可容错的量子计算,即拓扑量子计算。文章在介绍分数量子霍尔效应及其在拓扑量子计算中的潜在应用基础上,重点回顾了近五年来对填充因子为5/2的分数量子霍尔态中非阿贝尔准粒子的实验探测和部分相关理论诠释。     

Skein theory and topological quantum registers: Braiding matrices and topological entanglement entropy of non-Abelian quantum Hall states

We study topological properties of quasi-particle states in the non-Abelian quantum Hall states. We apply a skein-theoretic method to the Read-Rezayi state whose effective theory is the SU(2)_K Chern-Simons theory. As a generalization of the Pfaffian (K = 2) and the Fibonacci (K = 3) anyon states, we compute the braiding matrices of quasi-particle states with arbitrary spins. Furthermore we propose a method to compute the entanglement entropy skein-theoretically. We find that the entanglement entropy has a nontrivial contribution called the topological entanglement entropy which depends on the quantum dimension of non-Abelian quasi-particle intertwining two subsystems.