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This document is a tutorial on Quantum Channels for the course PH5842 at IIT Madras, covering topics such as measurement, quantum operations, bit-flip channels, unital maps, single-qubit channels, and amplitude damping channels. It includes exercises on deriving Kraus operators, calculating fidelity, and exploring the effects of various quantum channels on states. The tutorial emphasizes the mathematical framework and physical interpretations of quantum operations and their implications in quantum information theory.

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Bhushan Waghade
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
7 views

Assignment_1

This document is a tutorial on Quantum Channels for the course PH5842 at IIT Madras, covering topics such as measurement, quantum operations, bit-flip channels, unital maps, single-qubit channels, and amplitude damping channels. It includes exercises on deriving Kraus operators, calculating fidelity, and exploring the effects of various quantum channels on states. The tutorial emphasizes the mathematical framework and physical interpretations of quantum operations and their implications in quantum information theory.

Uploaded by

Bhushan Waghade
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Department of Physics

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras


PH5842 Advanced Topics in QCQI

Tutorial 1 Quantum Channels 10 February 2025

1. Measurement and Quantum Operations

(i) Suppose we have a single-qubit system S interacting with a single-


qubit environment E through the transform,

USE = (|0⟩⟨0|)S ⊗ IE + (|1⟩⟨1|)S ⊗ (σX )E ,

where the projections act on the system and identity or the Pauli
matrix act on the environment. Assuming the environment starts in
the state |0⟩, obtain the Kraus operators of the quantum operation on
the system for this process.
(ii) Repeat the exercise for the unitary process,
   
σX σY
USE = √ ⊗ (I)E + √ ⊗ (σX )E
2 S 2 S

(iii) More generally, suppose the environment is measured in the basis


{|ei ⟩} after the joint system-environment unitary USE has been ap-
plied. Write down the Kraus operators {Ek } of the corresponding
quantum channel induced on the system, in terms of USE and the
basis {|ei ⟩}.
Show that, if the system started out in state ρ, the probability of ob-
taining outcome k (after the action of USE followed by a measurement
in E) is given by pk = Tr(Ek ρEk† ), and the system state ρk correspond-
ing to outcome k being realized is ρk ∝ Ek ρEk† .

2. Bit-flip Channel: The action of a single-qubit bit-flip channel is described


by the quantum operation

E(ρ) = (1 − p)ρ + pσX ρσX .

between a pure state |ψ⟩ and a mixed state ρ is given by


(i) The fidelity p
F (|ψ⟩, ρ) = ⟨ψ|ρ|ψ⟩. Obtain an expression for the fidelity between
an initial pure state |ψ⟩ and the final state after the action of the
bit-flip channel. Hence evaluate the minimum fidelity (obtained by
minimizing the fidelity function over all pure, initial states) after the
action of the bit-flip channel.
(ii) Show that the bit-flip channel may be given an alternate operator-sum
representation of the form E(ρ) = (1 − 2p)ρ + 2pP+ ρP+ + 2pP− ρP− ,
where P+ = |+⟩⟨+| and P− = |−⟩⟨−| are the projectors onto the +1
and −1 eigenstates of σX .

3. Unital maps: Recall that the action of a completely positive trace-preserving


(CPTP) map (also called a quantum channel on any state ρ is described by,
N
X
E(ρ) = Ei ρEi† ,
i=1

wherein the Kraus operators of the map {Ei } satisfy


X †
Ei Ei = I.
i

A CPTP map is said to be unital if it leaves the identity operator invariant


(E(I) = I), or equivalently,
X
Ei Ei† = I.
i

(i) Show that the bit-flip channel, phase-flip and the depolarizing channel
are unital.
(ii) Consider a pair of probability distributions P ≡ {p(i)}, Q ≡ {q(j)}.
If there exists a doubly stochastic matrix D such that P = DQ , then,
P is said to be majorized by Q; this is denoted as P ≺ Q. A doubly
stochastic matrix is a matrix with P real, non-negativePentries whose
rows and columns sum to one: i Dij = 1, ∀j and j Dij = 1 ∀i.
Such a majorization relation indicates as to which distribution is more
mixed: if P is majorized by Q, then P is more mixed that Q, that is,
the corresponding Shannon entropies satisfy H(P ) ≥ H(Q).
Now, consider two quantum states ρ, σ. We know that their corre-
sponding eigenvalue spectra Λρ ≡ {λρ (i)}, Λσ ≡ {λσ (j)} can be re-
garded as probability distributions. We say ρ ≺ σ (ρ is majorized by
σ) if the corresponding eigenvalue distributions satisfy Λρ ≺ Λσ . Show
that, if E is a unital channel, the final state after the action of a unital
map is majorized by the initial state:

E(ρ) ≺ ρ.

Note: This result shows that unital maps are the natural quantum
generalizations of doubly stochastic maps. The final state after the
action of a unital map is no less random than the original state.
4. Single-qubit channels: Consider a single-qubit density operator ρ with
corresponding Bloch vector ⃗r ≡ (rx , ry , rz ). Recall that the phase-flip chan-
nel EP and the depolarizing channel ED are described by the following Kraus
operators:
√ √ √ r
√ p p p p 3p
EB ≡ { pσZ , 1 − pI}, ED ≡ { σX , σy , σZ , 1 − I}.
2 2 2 4

For each of these channels obtain the Bloch vector r⃗′ ≡ (rx′ , ry′ , rz′ ) of the
state ρ′ = E(ρ) = i Ei ρEi† , after a single application of the channel. Hence
P
represent pictorially, the effect of these channels on the Bloch sphere.

5. Amplitude Damping Channel: The quantum amplitude damping chan-


nel is defined by two Kraus operators, given by,
   √ 
1 √ 0 0 p
E0 = , E1 = .
0 1−p 0 0

In this exercise, we will work out how such a noise channel can arise out of
a physical system-bath interaction.

(i) Check that the channel described by the two Kraus operators above
is trace preserving. Is it also unital?
(ii) Spontaneous emission as amplitude damping: The dynamics of
an idealized two-level atom in a cavity can be modeled via the stan-
dard Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian which describes the interaction
between a two-level atom in a cavity and a quantized mode of the
electromagnetic field. Specifically,

Htot = Hatom + Hfield + Hint , (1)

where, Hatom = ℏω2 0 σZ is the Hamiltonian of the atom in the two-


level {|0⟩atom , |1⟩atom } subspace, and, Hfield = ℏωa† a, with a† , a being
the creation and annihilation operators of the single-mode field1 . The
interaction Hamiltonian is given (under the rotating wave approxima-
tion) as,
Hint = g(a† σ− + aσ+ ),
where σ± = σX ±iσ
2
Y
are the Pauli raising and lowering operators, and
g is the coupling constant for the interaction between the radiation
and the field.
1
The creation and annihilation operators are √ defined by their action √
in the photon-number
basis (also known as the Fock basis): a† |n⟩ = n + 1|n + 1⟩, a|n⟩ = n|n − 1⟩, where, for
n = 0, 1, 2, . . ., |n⟩ is an n−photon energy eigenstate.
First, show that the Hamiltionian in Eq. (1) can be rewritten in terms

of the number operator N = a a+σ2
Z
, as,

Htot = ℏwN + δσZ + g(a† σ− + aσ+ ),

where δ = (w02−w) is known as the detuning – the frequency difference


between the field and atomic resonance.
Next, suppose we focus on the case where there is at most one exci-
tation (i.e., one photon) in the field mode of the cavity. Write down
the matrix form of the atom-field Hamiltonian in the four-dimensional
space spanned by {|0⟩field |0⟩atom , |0⟩field |1⟩field , |1⟩field |0⟩atom , |1⟩field |1⟩atom }.
Hence, show that the time-evolution operator for the atom-field system
is given by,
 
−iHt −iδt δ
U (t) = e = e |00⟩⟨00| + cos Ωt + i sin Ωt |01⟩⟨01|

 
δ
+ cos Ωt − i sin Ωt |10⟩⟨10|

g
− i sin Ωt (|01⟩⟨10| + |10⟩⟨01|) , (2)

p
where Ω ≡ g 2 + δ 2 is called the Rabi frequency.

Finally, show that the quantum operation resulting from tracing out
the radiation field mode at zero-detuning (δ = 0) is indeed an ampli-
tude damping channel.
(iii) Circuit Model: In the figure below, the first wire represents a ‘sys-
tem’ (S) qubit and the second wire represents the ’environment’ (E).
The environment qubit starts out in |0⟩ and is measured in the {|0⟩, |1⟩}
in the end. The joint system-environment (SE) unitary is described
by a sequence of controlled-unitaries as specified in the figure. Work
ρin • ρout
|0⟩ RY (θ) •

out the Kraus operators Ei such that, ρout = i Ei ρin Ei† . Hence show
P
that this is a circuit model of the amplitude damping channel.

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