Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

Abstract: A solid-state quantum emitter is one of the indispensable components for optical quantum technologies. Ideally, an emitter should have a compatible wavelength for efficient coupling to other components in a quantum network. It is therefore essential to understand fluorescent defects that lead to specific emitters. In this work, we employ density functional theory (DFT) to demonstrate the calculation of the complete optical fingerprints of quantum emitters in the two-dimensional material hexagonal boron nitride. These emitters are of great interest, yet many of them are still to be identified. Our results suggest that instead of comparing a single optical property, such as the commonly used zero-phonon line energy, multiple properties should be used when comparing theoretical simulations to the experiment. This way, the entire electronic structure can be predicted and quantum emitters can be designed and tailored. Moreover, we apply this approach to predict the suitability for using the emitters in specific quantum applications, demonstrating through the examples of the Al$_{\text{N}}$ and P$_{\text{N}}$V$_{\text{B}}$ defects. We therefore combine and apply DFT calculations to identify quantum emitters in solid-state crystals with a lower risk of misassignments as well as a way to design and tailor optical quantum systems. This consequently serves as a recipe for classification and the generation of universal solid-state quantum emitter systems in future hybrid quantum networks.

Abstract: With the rapid advent of quantum computing, hybrid quantum-classical machine learning has shown promising computational advantages in many key fields. Quantum reinforcement learning, as one of the most challenging tasks, has recently demonstrated its ability to solve standard benchmark environments with formally provable theoretical advantages over classical counterparts. However, despite the progress of quantum processors and the emergence of quantum computing clouds in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era, algorithms based on parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) are rarely conducted on NISQ devices. In this work, we take the first step towards executing benchmark quantum reinforcement problems on various real devices equipped with at most 136 qubits on BAQIS Quafu quantum computing cloud. The experimental results demonstrate that the Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents are capable of achieving goals that are slightly relaxed both during the training and inference stages. Moreover, we meticulously design hardware-efficient PQC architectures in the quantum model using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm and develop a learning algorithm that is adaptable to Quafu. We hope that the Quafu-RL be a guiding example to show how to realize machine learning task by taking advantage of quantum computers on the quantum cloud platform.

Abstract: The notion of convolution of two probability vectors, corresponding to a coincidence experiment can be extended for a family of binary operations determined by (tri)stochastic tensors, to describe Markov chains of a higher order. The problem of associativity, commutativity and the existence of neutral elements and inverses is analyzed for such operations. For a more general setup of multi-stochastic tensors, we present the characterization of their probability eigenvectors. Similar results are obtained for the quantum case: we analyze tristochastic channels, which induce binary operations defined in the space of quantum states. Studying coherifications of tristochastic tensors we propose a quantum analogue of the convolution of probability vectors defined for two arbitrary density matrices of the same size. Possible applications of this notion to construct schemes of error mitigation or building blocks in quantum convolutional neural networks are discussed.

Abstract: We present Quafu-Qcover, an open-source cloud-based software package designed for combinatorial optimization problems that support both quantum simulators and hardware backends. Quafu-Qcover provides a standardized and complete workflow for solving combinatorial optimization problems using the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA). It enables the automatic modeling of the original problem as a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) model and corresponding Ising model, which can be further transformed into a weight graph. The core of Qcover relies on a graph decomposition-based classical algorithm, which enables obtaining the optimal parameters for the shallow QAOA circuit more efficiently. Quafu-Qcover includes a specialized compiler that translates QAOA circuits into physical quantum circuits capable of execution on Quafu cloud quantum computers. Compared to a general-purpose compiler, ours generates shorter circuit depths while also possessing better speed performance. The Qcover compiler can establish a library of qubits coupling substructures in real time based on the updated calibration data of the superconducting quantum devices, ensuring that the task is executed on physical qubits with higher fidelity. The Quafu-Qcover allows us to retrieve quantum computer sampling result information at any time using task ID, enabling asynchronous processing. Besides, it includes modules for result preprocessing and visualization, allowing for an intuitive display of the solution to combinatorial optimization problems. We hope that Quafu-Qcover can serve as a guiding example for how to explore application problems on the Quafu cloud quantum computers

Abstract: Recently proposed correlation-matrix based sufficient conditions for bipartite steerability from Alice to Bob are applied to local informationally complete positive operator valued measures (POVMs) of the $(N,M)$-type. These POVMs allow for a unified description of a large class of local generalized measurements of current interest. It is shown that this sufficient condition exhibits a peculiar scaling property. It implies that all types of informationally complete $(N,M)$-POVMs are equally powerful in detecting bipartite steerability from Alice to Bob and, in addition, they are as powerful as local orthonormal hermitian operator bases (LOOs). In order to explore the typicality of steering numerical calculations of lower bounds on Euclidean volume ratios between steerable bipartite quantum states from Alice to Bob and all quantum states are determined with the help of a hit-and-run Monte-Carlo algorithm. These results demonstrate that with the single exception of two qubits this correlation-matrix based sufficient condition significantly underestimates these volume ratios. These results are also compared with a recently proposed method which reduces the determination of bipartite steerability from Alice's qubit to Bob's arbitrary dimensional quantum system to the determination of bipartite entanglement. It is demonstrated that in general this method is significantly more effective in detecting typical steerability provided entanglement detection methods are used which transcend local measurements.

Abstract: Entropic uncertainty relations are interesting in their own rights as well as for a lot of applications. Keeping this in mind, we try to make the corresponding inequalities as tight as possible. The use of parametrized entropies also allows one to improve relations between various information measures. Measurements of special types are widely used in quantum information science. For many of them we can estimate the index of coincidence defined as the total sum of squared probabilities. Inequalities between entropies and the index of coincidence form a long-standing direction of researches in classical information theory. The so-called information diagrams provide a powerful tool to obtain inequalities of interest. In the literature, results of such a kind mainly deal with standard information functions linked to the Shannon entropy. At the same time, generalized information functions have found use in questions of quantum information theory. In effect, R\'{e}nyi and Tsallis entropies and related functions are of a separate interest. This paper is devoted to entropic uncertainty relations derived from information diagrams. The obtained inequalities are then applied to mutually unbiased bases, symmetric informationally complete measurements and their generalizations. We also improve entropic uncertainty relations for quantum measurement assigned to an equiangular tight frame.

Abstract: When analysing Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocols several metrics can be determined, but one of the most important is the Secret Key Rate. The Secret Key Rate is the number of bits per transmission that result in being part of a Secret Key between two parties. There are equations that give the Secret Key Rate, for example, for the BB84 protocol, equation 52 from [1, p.1032] gives the Secret Key Rate for a given Quantum Bit Error Rate (QBER). However, the analysis leading to equations such as these often rely on an Asymptotic approach, where it is assumed that an infinite number of transmissions are sent between the two communicating parties (henceforth denoted as Alice and Bob). In a practical implementation this is obviously impossible. Moreover, some QKD protocols belong to a category called Asymmetric protocols, for which it is significantly more difficult to perform such an analysis. As such, there is currently a lot of investigation into a different approach called the Finite-key regime. Work by Bunandar et al. [2] has produced code that used Semi-Definite Programming to produce lower bounds on the Secret Key Rate of even Asymmetric protocols. Our work looks at devising a novel QKD protocol taking inspiration from both the 3-state version of BB84 [3], and the Twin-Field protocol [4], and then using this code to perform analysis of the new protocol.

Abstract: We study the heat transfer between N coupled quantum resonators with applied synthetic electric and magnetic fields realized by changing the resonators parameters by external drivings. To this end we develop two general methods, based on the quantum optical master equation and on the Langevin equation for $N$ coupled oscillators where all quantum oscillators can have their own heat baths. The synthetic electric and magnetic fields are generated by a dynamical modulation of the oscillator resonance with a given phase. Using Floquet theory we solve the dynamical equations with both methods which allow us to determine the heat flux spectra and the transferred power. With apply these methods to study the specific case of a linear tight-binding chain of four quantum coupled resonators. We find that in that case, in addition to a non-reciprocal heat flux spectrum already predicted in previous investigations, the synthetic fields induce here non-reciprocity in the total heat flux hence realizing a net heat flux rectification.

Abstract: State preparation for quantum algorithms is crucial for achieving high accuracy in quantum chemistry and competing with classical algorithms. The localized active space unitary coupled cluster (LAS-UCC) algorithm iteratively loads a fragment-based multireference wave function onto a quantum computer. In this study, we compare two state preparation methods, quantum phase estimation (QPE) and direct initialization (DI), for each fragment. We analyze the impact of QPE parameters, such as the number of ancilla qubits and Trotter steps, on the prepared state. We find a trade-off between the methods, where DI requires fewer resources for smaller fragments, while QPE is more efficient for larger fragments. Our resource estimates highlight the benefits of system fragmentation in state preparation for subsequent quantum chemical calculations. These findings have broad applications for preparing multireference quantum chemical wave functions on quantum circuits, particularly via QPE circuits.

Abstract: In quantum mechanics, bosonic operators are mathematical objects that are used to represent the creation ($a^\dagger$) and annihilation ($a$) of bosonic particles. The natural power of a linear combination of bosonic operators represents an operator $(a^\dagger x+ay)^n$ with $n$ as the exponent and $x,\,y$ are the variables free from bosonic operators. The normal ordering of these operators is a mathematical technique that arranges the operators so that all the creation operators are to the left of the annihilation operators, reducing the number of terms in the expression. In this paper, we present a general expansion of the natural power of a linear combination of bosonic operators in normal order. We show that the expansion can be expressed in terms of binomial coefficients and the product of the normal-ordered operators using the direct method and than prove it using the fundamental principle of mathematical induction. We also derive a formula for the coefficients of the expansion in terms of the number of bosons and the commutation relation between the creation and annihilation operators. Our results have important applications in the study of many-body systems in quantum mechanics, such as in the calculation of correlation functions and the evaluation of the partition function. The general expansion presented in this paper provides a powerful tool for analyzing and understanding the behavior of bosonic systems, and can be applied to a wide range of physical problems.

Abstract: We show that quantum graph parameters for finite, simple, undirected graphs encode winning strategies for all possible synchronous non-local games. Given a synchronous game $\mathcal{G}=(I,O,\lambda)$ with $|I|=n$ and $|O|=k$, we demonstrate what we call a weak $*$-equivalence between $\mathcal{G}$ and a $3$-coloring game on a graph with at most $3+n+9n(k-2)+6|\lambda^{-1}(\{0\})|$ vertices, strengthening and simplifying work implied by Z. Ji (arXiv:1310.3794) for winning quantum strategies for synchronous non-local games. As an application, we obtain a quantum version of L. Lov\'{a}sz's reduction (Proc. 4th SE Conf. on Comb., Graph Theory & Computing, 1973) of the $k$-coloring problem for a graph $G$ with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges to the $3$-coloring problem for a graph with $3+n+9n(k-2)+6mk$ vertices. We also show that, for ``graph of the game" $X(\mathcal{G})$ associated to $\mathcal{G}$ from A. Atserias et al (J. Comb. Theory Series B, Vol. 136, 2019), the independence number game $\text{Hom}(K_{|I|},\overline{X(\mathcal{G})})$ is hereditarily $*$-equivalent to $\mathcal{G}$, so that the possibility of winning strategies is the same in both games for all models, except the game algebra. Thus, the quantum versions of the chromatic number, independence number and clique number encode winning strategies for all synchronous games in all quantum models.

Abstract: This work aims to shed some light on the meaning of the positive energy assumption in relativistic quantum theory and its relation to questions of localization of quantum systems. It is shown that the positive energy property of solutions of relativistic wave equations (such as the Dirac equation) is very fragile with respect to state transformations beyond free time evolution. Paying attention to the connection between negative energy Dirac wave functions and pair creation processes in second quantization, this analysis leads to a better understanding of a class of problems known as the localization problem of relativistic quantum theory (associated for instance with famous results of Newton and Wigner, Reeh and Schlieder, Hegerfeldt or Malament). Finally, this analysis is reflected from the perspective of a Bohmian quantum field theory.

Abstract: We compare the lower and higher order non-classicality of a class of the photon-added Bell-type entangled coherent states (PBECS) got from Bell-type entangled coherent states using creation operators. We obtained lower and higher order criteria namely Mandel's $Q_m^l$, antibunching $d_h^{l-1}$, Subpoissioning photon statistics $D_h(l-1)$ and Squeezing $S(l)$ for the states obtained. Further we observe that first three criteria does not gives non-classicality for any state and higher order criteria gives very high positive values for all values of parameters. Also the fourth or last criterion $S(l)$ gives non-classicality for lower order as well as higher order.

Abstract: The controlled-SWAP and controlled-controlled-NOT gates are at the heart of the original proposal of reversible classical computation by Fredkin and Toffoli. Their widespread use in quantum computation, both in the implementation of classical logic subroutines of quantum algorithms and in quantum schemes with no direct classical counterparts, have made it imperative early on to pursue their efficient decomposition in terms of the lower-level gate sets native to different physical platforms. Here, we add to this body of literature by providing several logically equivalent CNOT-count-optimal circuits for the Toffoli and Fredkin gates under all-to-all and linear qubit connectivity, the latter with two different routings for control and target qubits. We then demonstrate how these decompositions can be employed on near-term quantum computers to mitigate coherent errors via equivalent circuit averaging. We also consider the case where the three qubits on which the Toffoli or Fredkin gates act nontrivially are not adjacent, proposing a novel scheme to reorder them that saves one CNOT for every SWAP. This scheme also finds use in the shallow implementation of long-range CNOTs. Our results highlight the importance of considering different entanglement structures and connectivity constraints when designing efficient quantum circuits.

Abstract: We study the entanglement dynamics of quantum automaton (QA) circuits in the presence of U(1) symmetry. We find that the second R\'enyi entropy grows diffusively with a logarithmic correction as $\sqrt{t\ln{t}}$, saturating the bound established by Huang [IOP SciNotes 1, 035205 (2020)]. Thanks to the special feature of QA circuits, we understand the entanglement dynamics in terms of a classical bit string model. Specifically, we argue that the diffusive dynamics stems from the rare slow modes containing extensively long domains of spin 0s or 1s. Additionally, we investigate the entanglement dynamics of monitored QA circuits by introducing a composite measurement that preserves both the U(1) symmetry and properties of QA circuits. We find that as the measurement rate increases, there is a transition from a volume-law phase where the second R\'enyi entropy persists the diffusive growth (up to a logarithmic correction) to a critical phase where it grows logarithmically in time. This interesting phenomenon distinguishes QA circuits from non-automaton circuits such as U(1)-symmetric Haar random circuits, where a volume-law to an area-law phase transition exists, and any non-zero rate of projective measurements in the volume-law phase leads to a ballistic growth of the R\'enyi entropy.

Abstract: Exactly-solvable Hamiltonians that can be diagonalized using relatively simple unitary transformations are of great use in quantum computing. They can be employed for decomposition of interacting Hamiltonians either in Trotter-Suzuki approximations of the evolution operator for the quantum phase estimation algorithm, or in the quantum measurement problem for the variational quantum eigensolver. One of the typical forms of exactly solvable Hamiltonians is a linear combination of operators forming a modest size Lie algebra. Very frequently such linear combinations represent non-interacting Hamiltonians and thus are of limited interest for describing interacting cases. Here we propose the extension where coefficients in these combinations are substituted by polynomials of the Lie algebra symmetries. This substitution results in a more general class of solvable Hamiltonians and for qubit algebras is related to the recently proposed non-contextual Pauli Hamiltonians. In fermionic problems, this substitution leads to Hamiltonians with eigenstates that are single Slater determinants but with different sets of single-particle states for different eigenstates. The new class of solvable Hamiltonians can be measured efficiently using quantum circuits with gates that depend on the result of a mid-circuit measurement of the symmetries.

Abstract: We present a systematic study on the effects of dynamical transfer and steady-state synchronization of quantum states in a hybrid optomechanical network, consisting of two cavities with atoms inside and interacting via a common moving mirror (i.e. mechanical oscillator), are studied. It is found that high fidelity transfer of Schr\"{o}dinger's cat and squeezed states between the cavities modes is possible. Additionally, we show the effect of synchronization of cavity modes in a steady squeezed states at high fidelity realizable by the mechanical oscillator which intermediates the generation, transfer and stabilization of the squeezing. In this framework, we also have studied the generation and evolution of bipartite and tripartite entanglement and found its interconnection to the effects of transfer and synchronization. Particularly, when the transfer occurs at the maximal fidelity, at this instant any entanglement is almost zero, so the modes are disentangled. On the other hand, when the two bosonic modes are synchronized in a squeezed stationary state, then these modes are also entangled. The results found in this study may find their applicability in quantum information and computation technologies, as well in metrology setups, where the squeezed states are essential.

Abstract: The computational complexity of simulating quantum many-body systems generally scales exponentially with the number of particles. This enormous computational cost prohibits first principles simulations of many important problems throughout science, ranging from simulating quantum chemistry to discovering the thermodynamic phase diagram of quantum materials or high-density neutron stars. We present a classical algorithm that samples from a high-temperature quantum Gibbs state in a computational (product state) basis. The runtime grows polynomially with the number of particles, while error vanishes polynomially. This algorithm provides an alternative strategy to existing quantum Monte Carlo methods for overcoming the sign problem. Our result implies that measurement-based quantum computation on a Gibbs state can provide exponential speed up only at sufficiently low temperature, and further constrains what tasks can be exponentially faster on quantum computers.

Abstract: For quantum state tomography on rank-$r$ dimension-$d$ states, we show that $\widetilde{O}(r^{.5}d^{1.5}/\epsilon) \leq \widetilde{O}(d^2/\epsilon)$ copies suffice for accuracy $\epsilon$ with respect to (Bures) $\chi^2$-divergence, and $\widetilde{O}(rd/\epsilon)$ copies suffice for accuracy $\epsilon$ with respect to quantum relative entropy. The best previous bound was $\widetilde{O}(rd/\epsilon) \leq \widetilde{O}(d^2/\epsilon)$ with respect to infidelity; our results are an improvement since \[ \text{infidelity} \leq \text{relative entropy} \leq \text{$\chi^2$-divergence}.\] For algorithms that are required to use single-copy measurements, we show that $\widetilde{O}(r^{1.5} d^{1.5}/\epsilon) \leq \widetilde{O}(d^3/\epsilon)$ copies suffice for $\chi^2$-divergence, and $\widetilde{O}(r^{2} d/\epsilon)$ suffice for relative entropy. Using this tomography algorithm, we show that $\widetilde{O}(d^{2.5}/\epsilon)$ copies of a $d\times d$-dimensional bipartite state suffice to test if it has quantum mutual information 0 or at least $\epsilon$. As a corollary, we also improve the best known sample complexity for the classical version of mutual information testing to $\widetilde{O}(d/\epsilon)$.

Abstract: Fault-tolerant quantum computing requires classical hardware to perform the decoding necessary for error correction. The Union-Find decoder is one of the best candidates for this. It has remarkably organic characteristics, involving the growth and merger of data structures through nearest-neighbour steps; this naturally suggests the possibility of realising Union-Find using a lattice of very simple processors with strictly nearest-neighbour links. In this way the computational load can be distributed with near-ideal parallelism. Here we build on earlier work to show for the first time that this strict (rather than partial) locality is practical, with a worst-case runtime $\mathcal O(d^3)$ and mean runtime subquadratic in $d$ where $d$ is the surface code distance. A novel parity-calculation scheme is employed, which can also simplify previously proposed architectures. We compare our strictly local realisation with one augmented by long-range links; while the latter is of course faster, we note that local asynchronous logic could largely negate the difference.

Abstract: We introduce a method to measure many-body magic in quantum systems based on a statistical exploration of Pauli strings via Markov chains. We demonstrate that sampling such Pauli-Markov chains gives ample flexibility in terms of partitions where to sample from: in particular, it enables to efficiently extract the magic contained in the correlations between widely-separated subsystems, which characterizes the nonlocality of magic. Our method can be implemented in a variety of situations. We describe an efficient sampling procedure using Tree Tensor Networks, that exploits their hierarchical structure leading to a modest $O(\log N)$ computational scaling with system size. To showcase the applicability and efficiency of our method, we demonstrate the importance of magic in many-body systems via the following discoveries: (a) for one dimensional systems, we show that long-range magic displays strong signatures of conformal quantum criticality (Ising, Potts, and Gaussian), overcoming the limitations of full state magic; (b) in two-dimensional $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theories, we provide conclusive evidence that magic is able to identify the confinement-deconfinement transition, and displays critical scaling behavior even at relatively modest volumes. Finally, we discuss an experimental implementation of the method, which only relies on measurements of Pauli observables.

Abstract: We introduce a sum-of-squares SDP hierarchy approximating the ground-state energy from below for quantum many-body problems, with a natural quantum embedding interpretation. We establish the connections between our approach and other variational methods for lower bounds, including the variational embedding, the RDM method in quantum chemistry, and the Anderson bounds. Additionally, inspired by the quantum information theory, we propose efficient strategies for optimizing cluster selection to tighten SDP relaxations while staying within a computational budget. Numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy. As a byproduct of our investigation, we find that quantum entanglement has the potential to capture the underlying graph of the many-body Hamiltonian.

Abstract: An alternative view of semiclassical mechanics is derived in the form of an approximation to Schr\"odinger's equation, giving a linear first-order partial differential equation on phase space. The equation advectively transports wavefunctions along classical trajectories, so that as a trajectory is followed the amplitude remains constant and the phase changes by the action divided by $\hbar$. The wavefunction's squared-magnitude is a plausible phase space density and obeys Liouville's equation for the classical time evolution of such densities. This is a derivation of the Koopman-von~Neumann (KvN) formulation of classical mechanics, which previously was postulated but not derived. With the time-independent form, quantization arises because continuity constrains the change of phase around any closed path in the torus covered by the classical solution to be an integer multiple of $2\pi$, essentially giving standing waves on the torus. While this applies to any system, for separable systems it gives Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization.

Abstract: Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP) is a widely used method for adiabatic population transfer in a multilevel system. In this work, we study STIRAP under novel conditions and focus on the fractional, F-STIRAP, which is known to create a superposition state with the maximum coherence. In both configurations, STIRAP and F-STIRAP, we implement pulse chirping aiming at a higher contrast, a broader range of parameters for adiabaticity, and enhanced spectral selectivity. Such goals target improvement of quantum imaging, sensing and metrology, and broaden the range of applications of quantum control techniques and protocols. In conventional STIRAP and F-STIRAP, two-photon resonance is required conceptually to satisfy the adiabaticity condition for dynamics within the dark state. Here, we account for a non-zero two-photon detuning and present control schemes to achieve the adiabatic conditions in STIRAP and F-STIRAP through a skillful compensation of the two-photon detuning by pulse chirping. We show that the chirped configuration - C-STIRAP - permits adiabatic passage to a predetermined state among two nearly degenerate final states, when conventional STIRAP fails to resolve them. We demonstrate such a selectivity within a broad range of parameters of the two-photon detuning and the chirp rate. In the C-F-STIRAP, chirping of the pump and the Stokes pulses with different time delays permits a complete compensation of the two-photon detuning and results in a selective maximum coherence of the initial and the target state with higher spectral resolution than in the conventional F-STIRAP.