Mutually unbiased bases for quantum degrees of freedom are central to all theoretical investigations and practical exploitations of complementary properties. Much is known about mutually unbiased bases, but there are also a fair number of important questions that have not been answered in full as yet. In particular, one can find maximal sets of N + 1 mutually unbiased bases in Hilbert spaces of prime-power dimension N = pM, with p prime and M a positive integer, and there is a continuum of mutually unbiased bases for a continuous degree of freedom, such as motion along a line. But not a single example of a maximal set is known if the dimension is another composite number (N = 6, 10, 12,…). In this review, we present a unified approach in which the basis states are labeled by numbers 0, 1, 2, …, N - 1 that are both elements of a Galois field and ordinary integers. This dual nature permits a compact systematic construction of maximal sets of mutually unbiased bases when they are known to exist but throws no light on the open existence problem in other cases. We show how to use the thus constructed mutually unbiased bases in quantum-informatics applications, including dense coding, teleportation, entanglement swapping, covariant cloning, and state tomography, all of which rely on an explicit set of maximally entangled states (generalizations of the familiar two–q-bit Bell states) that are related to the mutually unbiased bases. There is a link to the mathematics of finite affine planes. We also exploit the one-to-one correspondence between unbiased bases and the complex Hadamard matrices that turn the bases into each other. The ultimate hope, not yet fulfilled, is that open questions about mutually unbiased bases can be related to open questions about Hadamard matrices or affine planes, in particular the notorious existence problem for dimensions that are not a power of a prime. The Hadamard-matrix approach is instrumental in the very recent advance, surveyed here, of our understanding of the N = 6 situation. All evidence indicates that a maximal set of seven mutually unbiased bases does not exist — one can find no more than three pairwise unbiased bases — although there is currently no clear-cut demonstration of the case.

https://chaos.if.uj.edu.pl/~karol/pdf/DEBZ10.pdf

On mutually unbiased bases

Dynamics of Loschmidt echoes and fidelity decay

We exhibit an infinite family of triplets of mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) in dimension 6. These triplets involve the Fourier family of Hadamard matrices, F(a, b). However, in the main result of this paper we also prove that for any values of the parameters (a, b), the standard basis and F(a, b) cannot be extended to a MUB-quartet. The main novelty lies in the method of proof which may successfully be applied in the future to prove that the maximal number of MUBs in dimension 6 is three.

/pdf/a-generalized-pauli-problem-and-an-infinite-family-of-mub-2o5qaheeqg.pdf

A generalized Pauli problem and an infinite family of MUB-triplets in dimension 6

We present a numerically feasible semiclassical (SC) method to evaluate quantum fidelity decay (Loschmidt echo) in a classically chaotic system. It was thought that such evaluation would be intractable, but instead we show that a uniform SC expression not only is tractable but it also gives remarkably accurate numerical results for the standard map in both the Fermi-golden-rule and Lyapunov regimes. Because it allows Monte Carlo evaluation, the uniform expression is accurate at times when there are 10(70) semiclassical contributions. Remarkably, it also explicitly contains the "building blocks" of analytical theories of recent literature, and thus permits a direct test of the approximations made by other authors in these regimes, rather than an a posteriori comparison with numerical results. We explain in more detail the extended validity of the classical perturbation approximation and show that within this approximation, the so-called "diagonal approximation" is automatic and does not require ensemble averaging.

Semiclassical evaluation of quantum fidelity

In the problem of quantum state discrimination, one has to determine by measurements the state of a quantum system, based on the a priori side information that the true state is one of the two given and completely known states, ρ or σ. In general, it is not possible to decide the identity of the true state with certainty, and the optimal measurement strategy depends on whether the two possible errors (mistaking ρ for σ, or the other way around) are treated as of equal importance or not. Results on the quantum Chernoff and Hoeffding bounds and the quantum Stein's lemma show that, if several copies of the system are available then the optimal error probabilities decay exponentially in the number of copies, and the decay rate is given by a certain statistical distance between ρ and σ (the Chernoff distance, the Hoeffding distances, and the relative entropy, respectively). While these results provide a complete solution to the asymptotic problem, they are not completely satisfying from a practical point of view. Indeed, in realistic scenarios one has access only to finitely many copies of a system, and therefore it is desirable to have bounds on the error probabilities for finite sample size. In this paper we provide finite-size bounds on the so-called Stein errors, the Chernoff errors, the Hoeffding errors, and the mixed error probabilities related to the Chernoff and the Hoeffding errors.

Quantum state discrimination bounds for finite sample size

In our previous paper \cite{co1} we have shown that the theory of circulant matrices allows to recover the result that there exists $p+1$ Mutually Unbiased Bases in dimension $p$, $p$ being an arbitrary prime number. Two orthonormal bases $\mathcal B, \mathcal B'$ of $\mathbb C^d$ are said mutually unbiased if $\forall b\in \mathcal B, \forall b' \in \mathcal B'$ one has that $$| b\cdot b'| = \frac{1}{\sqrt d}$$ ($b\cdot b'$ hermitian scalar product in $\mathbb C^d$). In this paper we show that the theory of block-circulant matrices with circulant blocks allows to show very simply the known result that if $d=p^n$ ($p$ a prime number, $n$ any integer) there exists $d+1$ mutually Unbiased Bases in $\mathbb C^d$. Our result relies heavily on an idea of Klimov, Munoz, Romero \cite{klimuro}. As a subproduct we recover properties of quadratic Weil sums for $p\ge 3$, which generalizes the fact that in the prime case the quadratic Gauss sums properties follow from our results.

Block circulant matrices with circulant blocks, weil sums and mutually unbiased bases, II. The prime power case

In our previous paper [Combescure, M., “Circulant matrices, Gauss sums and the mutually unbiased bases. I. The prime number case,” Cubo A Mathematical Journal (unpublished)] we have shown that the theory of circulant matrices allows to recover the result that there exists p+1 mutually unbiased bases in dimension p, p being an arbitrary prime number. Two orthonormal bases B, B′ of Cd are said mutually unbiased if ∀b∊B, ∀b′∊B′ one has that |b⋅b′|=1/d (b⋅b′ Hermitian scalar product in Cd). In this paper we show that the theory of block-circulant matrices with circulant blocks allows to show very simply the known result that if d=pn (p a prime number and n any integer) there exists d+1 mutually unbiased bases in Cd. Our result relies heavily on an idea of Klimov et al. [“Geometrical approach to the discrete Wigner function,” J. Phys. A 39, 14471 (2006)]. As a subproduct we recover properties of quadratic Weil sums for p≥3, which generalizes the fact that in the prime case the quadratic Gauss sum properties fo...

Block-circulant matrices with circulant blocks, Weil sums, and mutually unbiased bases. II. The prime power case

In this paper we perform an exact study of “quantum fidelity” (also called Loschmidt echo) for the time-periodic quantum harmonic oscillator of the following Hamiltonian: Hg(t)≔(P2∕2)+f(t)(Q2∕2)+(g2∕Q2), when compared with the quantum evolution induced by H0(t) (g=0), in the case where f is a T-periodic function and g a real constant. The reference (initial) state is taken to be an arbitrary “generalized coherent state” in the sense of Perelomov. We show that, starting with a quadratic decrease in time in the neighborhood of t=0, this quantum fidelity may recur to its initial value 1 at an infinite sequence of times tk. We discuss the result when the classical motion induced by Hamiltonian H0(t) is assumed to be stable versus unstable.

Monique Combescure

Papers

Block circulant matrices with circulant blocks, weil sums and mutually unbiased bases, II. The prime power case

Block-circulant matrices with circulant blocks, Weil sums, and mutually unbiased bases. II. The prime power case

The quantum fidelity for the time-periodic singular harmonic oscillator