Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 323 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let denote the partial transpose. The partial transpose of a maximally entangled projector iswhere is the swap operator, satisfying and . If has positive partial transpose, then is a positive operator of trace one, hence .
For a pure state , the unsquared quantum fidelity obeys . Using the trace-adjoint identity for partial transpose and part (i),The overlap is nonnegative, so taking its square root proves the PPT maximally entangled overlap bound:The product state attains the bound, so it is sharp.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 324 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Write . Instead of storing the output vector, use Heisenberg propagation of a Pauli observable through a Clifford circuit:Initialize the compact Pauli group representation at and conjugate successively by , in that order, using . This giveswith local-update work and storage. The resulting Pauli operator is Hermitian, so we can express it as , where and each is or . Any factors in the representation from part (i) are converted using , with their phases absorbed into .
The product state input now makes the expectation factorize:Each factor is a two-by-two matrix calculation. More explicitly, for , the three nontrivial expectations are , , and for , respectively.
Thus this single-output process has a strong classical simulation in polynomial time, even when the individual input states are not stabilizer states. As usual, the given state identities must provide efficiently computable amplitudes. With finite-precision inputs, each factor can be evaluated to error and its approximation clipped to to obtain the final expectation to error at most , because all factors lie in . The required extra precision is only bits. Exact evaluation applies when the input descriptions support exact arithmetic. This avoids silently assigning a finite exact-computation cost to arbitrary unspecified real numbers.
Once the probabilities are known, a classical randomized computation can reproduce this measured bit. The argument concerns the specified one-qubit output; it does not assert that every joint measurement distribution for arbitrary product inputs can be simulated by this same single-observable calculation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 324 3 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use GHZ preparation with Hadamard and controlled-Z gates for . Apply a Hadamard gate to the first qubit, then a controlled-NOT gate from that qubit to each of the other qubits. Every controlled-NOT can be written in the allowed gate set asIndeed conjugating the target by makes the controlled phase into a controlled . The rightmost gate acts first. Consequently the Clifford circuit uses allowed gates and givesFor every chosen qubit , tracing out the other qubits yields . Equivalently, across that qubit versus the rest, the displayed state is a Schmidt decomposition with two nonzero coefficients . It is therefore entangled across every such bipartition.
Entanglement does not prevent the polynomial single-output simulation from part (iii). The simulation follows the measured observable rather than claiming that the intermediate states remain product states. When , there is no remaining subsystem and the requested entanglement is impossible; the construction and claim require .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 1 10D a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Sincewe haveIts coefficient matrix is proportional towhose determinant is . By the two-qubit product-state determinant criterion, a product state would have determinant zero. Therefore is entangled.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 323 1 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the normalized Choi state , with . If is an entanglement-breaking channel, its action on this particular bipartite input makes a separable quantum state.
Conversely, suppose , with local density operators . The Choi reconstruction formula givesBecause is trace preserving, , so . Thus the form a POVM and the channel is a measure-and-prepare channel.
For any bipartite input , define the positive, possibly unnormalized reference operatorsIts output is . Since , normalizing each nonzero expresses this as a convex combination of product states. Hence every output is separable, proving the separable Choi-state criterion for entanglement breaking.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 323 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Assume a finite-dimensional memoryless quantum channel, no shared entanglement, and a code of messages with . Use a uniform message to relate average and maximum error. Each permitted input is a product state , giving output . The factors may depend on both the message and the channel use.
Let denote the one-use Holevo capacity in the question. The Subadditivity of Von Neumann entropy for the average output, and entropy additivity for each product output, implyThis is the key step of the product-input classical-capacity converse; it does not assume that the average output itself is a product.
Bob may measure all outputs jointly. The Holevo bound still gives . Let be his average message-error probability. Fano's inequality givesSince the maximum error is at least ,when . Thus the maximum error cannot vanish asymptotically.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 4 10C ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
For , the binary label is the integer , sowhere and . It is a product state and hence has no quantum entanglement.
The relation makes a root of unity, so and normalization gives . Write the binary expansion . Then , and henceup to the convention for ordering the binary digits. This explicit tensor product of one-qubit states proves that is a product state.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 325 2 Solution 2026-09-28
The pure state is entangled when it cannot be written as a product state , equivalently when its Schmidt rank exceeds one. Its subsystem states are the reduced density matriceswhere the partial trace is characterized by for every observable .
Let Bob's measurement have Kraus operators satisfying . If Alice does not learn Bob's random outcome, her state after the measurement isThis no-communication theorem means that Bob can change Alice's conditional state after she learns his outcome, but cannot change any local outcome distribution available to her alone. Standard nonrelativistic quantum mechanics is therefore operationally compatible with the prohibition of superluminal signalling in special relativity, despite its nonlocal conditional-state updates.
An exact nondisturbing state readout would destroy this protection if it reported the globally collapsed state on an absolute-time slice. For example, Alice and Bob may share Bell states. At a prearranged time Bob encodes a bit by measuring his qubit in either the computational or Hadamard basis. The usual projection postulate assigns Alice respectively one of or one of . A device returning the exact pure state lets Alice identify which basis Bob chose without waiting for his outcome, producing a superluminal signal. Equivalently, Bob may choose whether to measure, and the device distinguishes the resulting proper pure state from the original improper maximally mixed local state.
A causal alternative is a quantum state readout device located at a spacetime point that reports the local quantum state under objective collapse: take reduced states on spacelike hypersurfaces through and let those hypersurfaces approach the past light cone of . The result includes localized collapses in and excludes spacelike-separated collapses. This assumes a fixed Minkowski spacetime, localized collapse events, ordinary local unitary dynamics between them, and outputs that may control only operations in their causal future. The postulate is logically consistent because it adds a classical record of this local state without changing the state or any standard measurement probability. It also cannot support an indirect signalling algorithm. Inductively through the algorithm's events, every readout at depends only on operations, collapses, and earlier readouts in ; any operation selected from that output lies in the readout's future light cone. Composing readouts, unitary evolutions, and measurements therefore never carries a controllable dependence outside a future light cone, so relativistic causality is preserved.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 325 3 Solution 2026-09-28
Take and . Initially the two masses are in the product stateThe branch-dependent Newtonian gravitational potential energy is . Under the stated approximation, only the branch acquires an appreciable relative phase, so after time ,The determinant of its two-by-two coefficient matrix is , which is nonzero unless is a multiple of . Thus the state generally has Schmidt rank two: the branch-dependent gravitational phase creates gravitationally induced entanglement.
An entanglement witness has a bound obeyed by every separable quantum state and violated by at least one entangled state. For a product state with Bloch vectors and ,by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. Convexity gives the same bound for every separable mixed state. Consequently certifies entanglement; in conventional operator form, one of has negative expectation whenever the absolute-value criterion is violated.
For the state above, direct use of the Pauli matrices givesWith the supplied values,which is close to . Hence , and to the nearest integerThis is the operating principle of the Bose--Marletto--Vedral experiment.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 324 1 a i Solution 2026-09-28
A strong classical simulation of a quantum circuit computes any requested output probabilityin polynomial time, to the prescribed inverse-polynomial accuracy. A weak classical simulation of a quantum circuit instead produces classical samples from the circuit's output distribution, with exact or suitably small total-variation error.
The Extended Gottesman--Knill theorem states that a unitary Clifford circuit with an arbitrary product state input and final computational-basis measurements is weakly classically simulable. It is strongly simulable when only output qubits are measured. Indeed, each joint output projector expands into Pauli operators, and Clifford conjugation maps every such operator to another Pauli operator whose expectation factors over the input qubits. The factor is polynomial precisely for .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 4 33B a iv Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
A product state factors as ; an entangled state admits no such factorization. The state is a product state. When , each state with displayed in part (iii) has two nonzero terms with orthogonal states in both subsystems, so its Schmidt rank is two and it is entangled. If one subsystem has spin zero, only the multiplet remains and its states factor through the unique state of that subsystem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 325 4 Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-14
For particle positions , the two-particle Schrödinger equation isWrite for the localized wave packet and . Neglecting packet spreading and branch overlap, the initial product state evolves branchwise asup to phases generated independently on the two particles. These branch-dependent phases generally cannot be separated into one phase depending only on and one depending only on , so the Newtonian gravitational potential energy creates gravitationally induced entanglement.
If is much smaller than the other separations, remove their nearly common phase and retain onlyThe state is approximatelyIts concurrence is , so it becomes maximally entangled first at . For ,Thus the near-maximal entanglement time is about within the stated approximation.
A single prescribed classical gravitational potential gives a Hamiltonian of the form . Its evolution factorizes as and preserves every initial product state, so it cannot generate this entanglement. A semiclassical mean field sourced only by expectation values likewise gives each particle a local one-body potential and does not provide a quantum mediator carrying branch correlations.
An entanglement witness is a Hermitian operator whose expectation is nonnegative on every separable state but negative on at least one entangled state. At , defineThe largest Schmidt coefficient of is , so every product state in the four-dimensional branch subspace satisfies . By closure under convex combinations, for every separable mixture, whereasA negative measured value therefore certifies entanglement. Under the assumptions that the masses began unentangled and interacted only through gravity, such certification would show that the mediator can transmit quantum coherence; it would be evidence against a purely classical gravitational channel and for the quantum nature of gravity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 343 2 a Solution 2026-09-28
Write the spin-one-half Heisenberg antiferromagnet ason a bipartite lattice of coordination number . A one-spin density operator is , where is its Bloch vector and . In a two-sublattice product state,The minimum is , attained by pure antiparallel Bloch vectors, so the minimizing product state is a Néel state. In the limit this mean-field approximation becomes exact and the ground-state energy per bond is therefore
The phrase “energy density” requires a coupling convention. For the unscaled Hamiltonian above, every site belongs to bonds andwhich diverges as . With the standard Kac normalizationthe finite energy density isIf the convention divides by the spatial dimension instead, the answer is per site. A Hamiltonian written with rather than multiplies all these energies by four.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 343 3 b Solution 2026-09-28
Consider a depth- circuit whose gates have range at most . Under backward Heisenberg evolution, a one-site observable has a backward light cone of a local quantum circuit of radius at most . Choose sites separated by . Their two backward light cones are disjoint. Since the input is a product state, expectations factorize, and hence every connected correlation function between the two output observables vanishes.
For the GHZ statehowever,at every separation. The light cones must therefore overlap, which forcesFor opposite ends of a one-dimensional chain, , so and no constant-depth local circuit can prepare the GHZ state. The continuous-time version follows directly from the Lieb-Robinson bound, with preparation time at least up to exponentially small tails.
This is the GHZ-state circuit-depth lower bound. Finite-depth local circuits define equivalence within a gapped phase, so a state with this long-range order cannot lie in the same circuit phase as a product state. The GHZ state is the finite-size cat state associated with spontaneous symmetry breaking; it is not a unique short-range-entangled ground state. The persistent distant correlation is precisely the obstruction.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 323 2 i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
A bipartite density operator is a separable quantum state when it has a convex combination decompositioninto product states. A state for which no such decomposition exists is an entangled state.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 323 2 v Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
At the proposed boundary , the identity from part (iv) yieldsBoth and are convex combinations of product states, so is a separable quantum state. For , the state is a convex combination of and the maximally mixed product state , and is therefore separable.
For the converse, the partial transpose of the maximally entangled projector is , where is the swap operator. ThereforeOn the antisymmetric subspace, has eigenvalue , so the corresponding eigenvalue of iswhich is negative exactly when . The positive partial transpose criterion then proves that is entangled. Thus
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 324 4 a ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Suppose output qubit is measured. Its probability of outcome zero isBecause is a Clifford operation, the Pauli group is preserved under conjugation. Propagating backward through the gates therefore produces, including its sign, a tensor-product PauliThe input is a product state, so the expectation factors:Each one-qubit factor follows directly from the classical description of , and conjugating a Pauli through each Clifford gate takes constant classical work. Hence , and , are computable in polynomial time. This is Heisenberg propagation of a Pauli observable through a Clifford circuit.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 325 3 Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For positions , the two-particle Schrödinger equation isNeglecting packet spreading and writing for , branchwise evolution givesup to local kinetic phases. This branch-dependent Newtonian gravitational potential energy produces gravitationally induced entanglement.
Under the stated distance approximation, only the three branches acquire an appreciable common phaseThe coefficient matrix iswhere is the all-ones matrix. The reduced density matrix isIt equals when , so the first maximally entangled state occurs at . Therefore
The state does not remain entangled for every . Whenever , all branch phases again agree and the state returns to its initial product state. The revival period is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 325 3 Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For equal masses with positions , the two-body Schrödinger equation isNeglecting wave-packet spreading and overlap, write for the packet . The initial state and its branchwise gravitational evolution areup to local kinetic phases. The branch dependence of the Newtonian gravitational potential energy is the source of gravitationally induced entanglement.
Under the approximation stated in the question, only the matching pairs acquire an appreciable common phaseThe coefficient matrix of the resulting bipartite state iswhere is the all-ones matrix. ThereforeA maximally entangled state would require . This demandsThat equation has no solution for . Thus the requested large- conclusion does not follow from the assumptions printed in the paper: within the stated approximation, the system never becomes maximally entangled in the large- limit. For completeness, maximal entanglement is possible for at and for at ; for it occurs at or . The time would bebut it is not a large- answer.
The system also does not remain entangled for every . Whenever , the phase matrix again factorizes and the state returns to its initial product state. The revival period isFor it is entangled at all intervening times; for there is the additional product-state revival at .