Asymptotic Error Rates in Quantum Hypothesis Testing

We consider the problem of discriminating between two different states of a finite quantum system in the setting of large numbers of copies, and find a closed form expression for the asymptotic exponential rate at which the error probability tends to zero. This leads to the identification of the quantum generalisation of the classical Chernoff distance, which is the corresponding quantity in classical symmetric hypothesis testing. The proof relies on two new techniques introduced by the authors, which are also well suited to tackle the corresponding problem in asymmetric hypothesis testing, yielding the quantum generalisation of the classical Hoeffding bound. This has been done by Hayashi and Nagaoka for the special case where the states have full support. The goal of this paper is to present the proofs of these results in a unified way and in full generality, allowing hypothesis states with different supports. From the quantum Hoeffding bound, we then easily derive quantum Stein’s Lemma and quantum Sanov’s theorem. We give an in-depth treatment of the properties of the quantum Chernoff distance, and argue that it is a natural distance measure on the set of density operators, with a clear operational meaning.     

Derivation of quantum Chernoff metric with perturbation expansion method

We investigate a measure of distinguishability defined by the quantum Chernoff bound, which naturally induces the quantum Chernoff metric over a manifold of quantum states. Based on a quantum statistical model, we alternatively derive this metric by means of perturbation expansion. Moreover, we show that the quantum Chernoff metric coincides with the infinitesimal form of the quantum Hellinger distance, and reduces to the variant version of the quantum Fisher information for the single-parameter case. We also give the exact form of the quantum Chernoff metric for a qubit system containing a single parameter.     

Finite-Key Analysis for a Practical High-Dimensional Quantum Key Distribution System Based on Time-Phase States

High-dimensional quantum states key distribution(HD-QKD) can enable more than one bit per photon and tolerate more noise. Recently, a practical HD-QKD system based on time-phase states has provided a secret key at Mbps over metropolitan distances. For the purposes of further improving the secret key rate of a practical HD-QKD system, we make two main contributions in this work. Firstly, we present an improved parameter estimation for this system in the finite-key scenario based on the Chernoff bound and the improved Chernoff bound. Secondly, we analyze how the dimension d affects the performance of the practical HD-QKD system.We present numerical simulations about the secret key rate of the practical HD-QKD system based on different parameter estimation methods. It is found that using the improved Chernoff bound can improve the secret key rate and maximum channel loss of the practical HD-QKD system. In addition, a mixture of the 4-level and 8-level practical HD-QKD system can provide better performance in terms of the key generation rate over metropolitan distances.     

On the quantum dynamics of a point particle in conical space

A quantum neutral particle, constrained to move on a conical surface, is used as a toy model to explore bound states due to both a inverse squared distance potential and a δ-function potential, which appear naturally in the model. These pathological potentials are treated with the self-adjoint extension method which yields the correct boundary condition (not necessarily a null wavefunction) at the origin. We show that the usual boundary condition requiring that the wavefunction vanishes at the origin is arbitrary and drastically reduces the number of bound states if used. The situation studied here is closely related to the problem of a dipole moving in conical space.     

On the Chernoff Distance for Asymptotic LOCC Discrimination of Bipartite Quantum States

Motivated by the recent discovery of a quantum Chernoff theorem for asymptotic state discrimination, we investigate the distinguishability of two bipartite mixed states under the constraint of local operations and classical communication (LOCC), in the limit of many copies. While for two pure states a result of Walgate et al. shows that LOCC is just as powerful as global measurements, data hiding states (DiVincenzo et al.) show that locality can impose severe restrictions on the distinguishability of even orthogonal states. Here we determine the optimal error probability and measurement to discriminate many copies of particular data hiding states (extremal d × d Werner states) by a linear programming approach. Surprisingly, the single-copy optimal measurement remains optimal for n copies, in the sense that the best strategy is measuring each copy separately, followed by a simple classical decision rule. We also put a lower bound on the bias with which states can be distinguished by separable operations.     

Contravariant densities, complete distancesand relative fidelities for quantum channels

Introducing contravariant trace densities for quantum states, we restore one-to-one correspondencebetween quantum operations described by normal CP maps and their trace densities as Hermitian-positive operator-valued contravariant kernels. The CB-norm distance between two quantum operations is explicitly expressed in terms of these densities as the supremum over the input states. A larger C-distance is given as the natural norm distance for the channel densities, and another, Helinger type complete distance (CH distance), related to the minimax mean square fidelity optimization problem by purification of quantum channels, is also introduced and evaluated in terms of their contravariant trace densities. It is proved that the CH distance between two channels is equivalent to the CB distance. An operational meaning for these distances and relative complete fidelity for quantum channels is given in terms of quantum encodings producing optimal entanglements of quantum states for an opposite and output systems.     

Bound states and band structure—A unified treatment through the quantum Hamilton-Jacobi approach

We analyze the Scarf potential, which exhibits both discrete energy bound states and energy bands, through the quantum Hamilton-Jacobi approach. The singularity structure and the boundary conditions in the above approach, naturally isolate the bound and periodic states, once the problem is mapped to the zero energy sector of another quasi-exactly solvable quantum problem. The energy eigenvalues are obtained without having to solve for the corresponding eigenfunctions explicitly. We also demonstrate how to find the eigenfunctions through this method.     

Bures Distance of Discord for Two-Qubit X-States

Two-qubit X-state is a large class of quantum states which plays an important role in the quantification and dynamical study of quantum correlations. However, the corresponding quantification of quantum discord is still missing for bona fide discord measures, like original quantum discord, Bures distance of discord, and relative entropy of discord. In this paper, we consider the calculation of Bures distance of discord, which is a kind of correlations satisfying all criteria of a discord measure, for two-qubit X-states. Firstly, we derive explicit expression for Bures distance of discord for a kind of five-parameters family of states. Moreover, for general two-qubit X-states, we not only calculate the Bures distance of discord for a subset of two-qubit X-states by classifying and analyzing the optimal local measurements and the optimal projection operators, but also provide an analytic upper bound for entirety.

     

Bound states in photonic Fabry-Perot resonator comprised of two nonlinear off-channel defects

Two off-channel nonlinear defects coupled to the photonic waveguide constitute the Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPR). The defects are made from a Kerr-like nonlinear material. For the linear case such a FPR can support the bound states in the form of standing waves between the defects if the distance between them is quantized. For the nonlinear case the bound states appear for arbitrary distance between the defects however for an quantized electromagnetic intensity. For the transmission through FPR we reveal new resonances and show these are a result of coupling of the bound states with incident wave because of nonlinearity of the defects. The resonances are spaced at the eigen frequencies of bound states.     

Classical-like description of quantum states and propagator for particles in time-independent and dispersing δ potentials

Probability distributions that determine completely the bound state in the problem of a quantum particle in one or two delta-function wells are derived within the recently developed tomographic representation of quantum states, where a state is characterized by a positive probability distribution. The quantum propagator for the Schrödinger equation is obtained for the problem of two dispersing delta-function wells.     

Faithful Squashed Entanglement

Squashed entanglement is a measure for the entanglement of bipartite quantum states. In this paper we present a lower bound for squashed entanglement in terms of a distance to the set of separable states. This implies that squashed entanglement is faithful, that is, it is strictly positive if and only if the state is entangled.     

Robustness of Quantum Markov Chains

If the conditional information of a classical probability distribution of three random variables is zero, then it obeys a Markov chain condition. If the conditional information is close to zero, then it is known that the distance (minimum relative entropy) of the distribution to the nearest Markov chain distribution is precisely the conditional information. We prove here that this simple situation does not obtain for quantum conditional information. We show that for tri-partite quantum states the quantum conditional information is always a lower bound for the minimum relative entropy distance to a quantum Markov chain state, but the distance can be much greater; indeed the two quantities can be of different asymptotic order and may even differ by a dimensional factor.     

New Inequality for Density Matrices of Single Qudit States

Using the monotonicity of relative entropy of composite quantum systems, we obtain new entropic inequalities for arbitrary density matrices of single qudit states. Examples of qutrit state inequalities and the “qubit portrait” bound for the distance between the qutrit states are considered in explicit form.     

Optical electron transfer between quantum dots

The continuous spectrum in the problem of resonance optical transitions between bound states of quantum wells is taken into account by the method of equivalence transformation of the initial Hamiltonian. The effective Hamiltonian of resonance interaction, describing the decay of levels to a continuous spectrum, is obtained. The formulas obtained are applied to the problem of resonance electron transfer between quantum dots. The conditions for effective resonance electron transfer are determined.     

基于量子模距离的量子态聚类识别

针对量子系统的状态识别，定义了一种量子模距离作为量子态之间的相似性度量，提出了一种基于量子模距离的聚类算法，它既适用于对量子叠加态的识别，也适合对量子纠缠态的识别。在算法中，根据待识别的样本量子态求取聚类中心，分别计算各量子态到聚类中心的量子模距离，根据量子模距离对量子态进行聚类识别。算例说明了这种聚类识别方法的合理性和有效性。     

Ambiguous Discrimination of General Quantum Operations

We consider the problem of discriminating general quantum operations. Using the definition of mapping operator to vector, and by some calculating skills, we derive an explicit formulation as a new bound on the minimum-error probability for ambiguous discrimination between arbitrary m quantum operations. This formulation consists only of Kraus-operators, the dimension, and the priori probabilities of the discriminated quantum operations, and is independent of input states. To some extent, we further generalize the bounds on the minimum-error probability for discriminating mixed states to quantum operations.     

Barrier Li Quantum Dots in Magnetic Fields

The methods for the few-body system are introduced to investigate the states of the barrier Li quantum dots (QDs) in an arbitrary strength of magnetic field. The configuration, which consists of a positive ion located on the z-axis at a distaneed from the two-dimensional QD plane (the x-y plane) and three electrons in the dot plane bound by the positive ion, is called a barrier Li center. The system, which consists of three electrons in the dot plane bound by the ion,is called a barrier Li QD. The dependence of energy of the state of the barrier Li QD on an external magnetic field B and the distance d is obtained. The angular momentum L of the ground states is found to jump not only with the variation orB but also with d.     

基于相干叠加态的非正交编码诱骗态量子密钥分发

非正交编码协议和诱骗态方法可以有效地抵御光子数分离攻击. 由于相干叠加态中单光子成分高达90%, 常作为单光子量子比特的替代出现, 用于量子信息过程处理和计算. 本文结合非正交编码协议和诱骗态方法提出一种新的量子密钥分发方案, 光源采用相干叠加态, 推导了单光子的密钥生成速率、计数率下限和误码率的上限, 利用Matlab 模拟了无限多诱骗态情况下和有限多诱骗态情况下密钥生成速率和传输距离的关系, 得出该方案可以提升密钥生成速率并且提高安全传输距离, 验证了该方案可以进一步提高量子密钥分发系统的性能.     

On the Geometric Distance Between Quantum States with Positive Partial Transposition and Private States

We prove an analytic positive lower bound for the geometric distance between entangled positive partial transpose (PPT) states of a broad class and any private state that delivers one secure key bit. Our proof holds for any Hilbert space of finite dimension. Although our result is proven for a specific class of PPT states, we show that our bound nonetheless holds for all known entangled PPT states with non-zero distillable key rates, irrespective of whether they are in our special class or not. Thus, our result naturally leads to the conjecture of impossibility of using PPT-bound entangled state in physical implementation of quantum key distribution.