Scribd
Upload
26 views

2024 Spring QuantInfo Assignment1

This document contains an assignment for a quantum information course. It includes 5 questions about unitary operators, qubit observables and projective measurements, relative phase and expectation values, partial trace and Schmidt decomposition, and non-projective measurements. Students are instructed to show their work and include their name and student number. They are asked to think abstractly using bra-ket notation when possible and are provided hints for some questions.

Uploaded by

hanchii504
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
26 views

2024 Spring QuantInfo Assignment1

This document contains an assignment for a quantum information course. It includes 5 questions about unitary operators, qubit observables and projective measurements, relative phase and expectation values, partial trace and Schmidt decomposition, and non-projective measurements. Students are instructed to show their work and include their name and student number. They are asked to think abstractly using bra-ket notation when possible and are provided hints for some questions.

Uploaded by

hanchii504
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Quantum Information (PHYS8149E / L251300), Semester II, 2023/2024

Assignment No. 1
Hand in your solution to the assignment by 14:00 on Wednesday, 20th March 2024.
7
The final score will be rescaled by a factor of 19 (to give a maximum score of 7% without bonus).
Note: Remember to put your name and student number on your work.

Hint: Your calculation often simplifies if you use the abstract notation of bras and kets, rather than expanding them as matrices
or vectors. Throughout, you may take | ± ii = √12 (|0i ± i|1i) as the eigenstate corresponding to the ±1 eigenvalue of the Pauli
observable σy .

Q 1. [2%] Unitary operators [Adapted from Nielsen & Chuang, Exercise 2.18]
Show that all eigenvalues {λ} of a unitary matrix U (regardless of its size) have modulus 1, i.e., λ = eiθ for some real θ.

Q 2. [4%] Qubit observable and projective measurements


Consider the qubit observable O = m̂ · ~σ where m̂ ∈ R3 is a unit vector, and ~σ = (σx , σy , σz ) is the vector of Pauli matrices.
Let |v± i be two orthonormal eigenvectors of O. A projective measurement of this observable—often implicitly assumed in
textbooks—amounts to taking the eigenprojector of O, denoted by E± ≡ |v± ihv± |, as the measurement operators M± = M†±
(and hence the POVM elements) of this measurement. Starting from the completeness requirement of POVM and the spectral
decomposition of O in terms of E± , derive an expression for the POVM elements E± in terms of O and the identity operator I.

Q 3. [5%] Relative phase, global phase, outcome probabilities, and expectation value
iχ
Consider a system prepared in the coherent superposition of the eigenstates of σy , |Ψ(χ, ϕ)i = e√2 | + ii + eiϕ | − ii , ϕ, χ ∈


[0, 2π). Compute the expectation value of σz for this state and determine all the value(s) of χ and ϕ where a measurement of σz
would always give the +1 result, i.e., an expectation value equals to 1? Note that σz = |0ih0| − |1ih1|.

Q 4. [4%] Partial trace, reduced states, and Schmidt decomposition [Adapted from an exercise in Preskill’s lecture notes]
Consider the two-qubit state:
1 1
|ψi = |0iA ⊗ (−|0iB + |1iB ) + |1iA ⊗ (|0iB + |1iB ) (1)
2 2
(a) Using partial trace, determine the reduced state of A, i.e., ρA .
(b) Invoke a symmetry argument to deduce the reduced state of B, i.e., ρB .
(c) Using your result from (a), deduce the Schmidt decomposition of |ψi.
Hint: Don’t compute any singular value decomposition, but explain how the eigenvalues of the reduced state are related to the
expansion coefficients in the Schmidt basis.

Bonus Q 4. [2%]: Entangled or not?


Is |ψi of Q 4. an entangled state? Explain your answer. If the minus sign in Eq. (1) is replaced by a positive sign, is the resulting
state entangled? Again, explain your answer.

Q 5. [4%] Non-projective measurement


Consider the list of operators specified by
√ √
2 2
E1 ≡ √ |1ih1| , E2 ≡ √ (|0i − |1i) (h0| − h1|) , E3 ≡ I − E1 − E2 . (2)
1+ 2 2(1 + 2)

Show that they indeed constitute a valid POVM (and hence define a legitimate measurement).

Bonus Q 5. [2%] Unambiguous state discrimination


Show that the POVM of Eq. (2) can be used to discriminate between the two overlapping quantum states |φ1 i = |0i and
|φ2 i = √12 (|0i + |1i) unambiguously whenever the measurement outcome is not the one corresponding to E3 . What can we
conclude when the measurement outcome is indeed the one corresponding to E3 ?

You might also like