Past exam of the laser science and quantum information processing course of the University of Oxford / 2005 / 7 and 8 / 8

The three printed unlettered blocks are identified below by navigation labels 1, 2 and 3. Their mark allocations are 10, 10 and 5 respectively.

A universal quantum gate set can implement any unitary operator on any finite number of qubits, exactly when arbitrary continuous gate parameters are allowed, or to arbitrary accuracy with a suitable finite gate alphabet. More precisely, for every target $V$ and $ϵ>0$ there is a finite quantum circuit $W$ with ${\min }_{\gamma }\Vert W-e^{i\gamma }V\Vert <ϵ$ in operator norm. This ignores only an overall global phase of the complete operation. Universality lets a fixed collection of controllable elementary operations run arbitrary quantum algorithms rather than requiring a different physical interaction for each algorithm.

All single-qubit unitary gates, together with the controlled-NOT gate between selectable pairs, form an exact universal quantum gate set. One way to see sufficiency is to eliminate entries of a finite unitary matrix by two-level rotations between computational basis vectors; these rotations decompose into controlled single-qubit rotations, which in turn decompose into single-qubit gates and controlled-NOT gates. Single-qubit gates alone preserve product states and cannot supply general quantum entanglement. A finite approximate universal example is the Hadamard gate, the T gate $T=\mathrm{diag}(1,e^{i\pi /4})$, and the controlled-NOT gate; finite exact words over a finite alphabet cannot represent every continuously parameterized unitary operator exactly.

Distinguish the Hamiltonian operator $H_{\mathrm{int}}$ from the Hadamard gate $H_{\mathrm{Had}}$. For the printed collisional phase gate,As written, $\Omega$ has units of energy. The Schrödinger equation givesbecause only $|01⟩$ has a nonzero energy eigenvalue. In the ordered computational basis $(00,01,10,11)$, defineIf an interaction strength is instead quoted as an angular frequency ${\Omega }_{\mathrm{f}}$, the Hamiltonian operator is $\hslash {\Omega }_{\mathrm{f}}|01⟩⟨01|$ and $\varphi ={\Omega }_{\mathrm{f}}\tau$. An alternative definition with $e^{+i\varphi }$ would have $\varphi =-\Omega \tau /\hslash$. The minus sign above follows the usual time-evolution operator convention. At $\varphi =\pi$ these conventions give the same $U_{\pi }$.

For the quantum circuit, use $X$ on the first qubit to move the selective minus sign from $01$ to $11$:Conjugating the target of this Controlled-Z gate by the Hadamard gate gives the required controlled-NOT gate:The rightmost matrix acts first. Thus the network applies $X_1,H_2$, then $U_{\pi }$, then $X_1,H_2$, and maps $|a,b⟩$ to $|a,b\oplus a⟩$, where $\oplus$ is exclusive or.

Define the Hadamard basis $|\pm ⟩=(|0⟩\pm |1⟩)/\sqrt{2}$ and write $s=e^{-i\varphi }$. After $U_{\varphi }$ the two-qubit quantum state isApplying the Hadamard gate to the first qubit gives the normalized quantum stateFor $\varphi =n\pi$, $s=(-1{)}^n$, soThe first is a product state. The second is exactly the minus Bell state in the printed phase gate convention; its reduced density matrices are $I/2$.

For three qubits, let $U_{12}$ use the ordered pair $(1,2)$ and $U_{23}$ the ordered pair $(2,3)$. The two diagonal quantum gates commute. For $\varphi =n\pi$ their action before the final Hadamard gates isIf $n$ is even this is $|+++⟩$, and $H_1{H}_3$ gives $|0⟩|+⟩|0⟩$. If $n$ is odd, group the quantum superposition by the middle qubit:Since $H_{\mathrm{Had}}|+⟩=|0⟩$ and $H_{\mathrm{Had}}|-⟩=|1⟩$, the final states areThe odd case is a GHZ state: each individual qubit has reduced density matrix $I/2$, and it is related to $(|000⟩+|111⟩)/\sqrt{2}$ by the local Pauli gates $Z_1{X}_3$. Conversely, applying those gates converts $|G⟩$ to that standard form. They have not been applied in the printed network, so the actual output used in the next part is $|G⟩=(|001⟩-|110⟩)/\sqrt{2}$.

Keep the actual odd-$n$ GHZ state from the preceding calculation. Resolving its first qubit in the Hadamard basis givesThus the $+$ outcome leaves $|{\psi }^{-}{⟩}_{23}$ and the $-$ outcome leaves $|{\psi }^{+}{⟩}_{23}$, each with probability $1/2$. Conditional on a known result the remaining qubits share a maximally entangled state.

When the result is not revealed, the appropriate density matrix is the probability-weighted mixture from a nonselective quantum measurement:The cross terms cancel. The displayed convex combination of product states proves directly that this is a separable quantum state. It still has perfect computational-basis measurement anticorrelation, so it is not itself a product state. It also equals the partial trace ${\mathrm{Tr}}_1|G⟩⟨G|$, as required by the no-communication theorem: a local quantum measurement with an unobserved outcome cannot change the remote reduced density matrix.