Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 323 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The useful object is the Choi state of the entanglement-breaking channel. Put , introduce a reference with the same computational basis as , and use the normalized maximally entangled stateThe entanglement-breaking channel makes a separable quantum state. Its partial trace is , because is a quantum channel. Write a separable positive operator decompositionDiscard any term with : a positive operator with zero trace is zero. DefineEach is a density operator. Each is a positive operator, and taking the matrix transpose of the partial trace identity givesThus the form a POVM. In this reference-first convention, the Choi reconstruction formula isThe factor is essential because we used a normalized Choi state. A measurement channel storing the outcome , followed by the prescribed quantum state preparation of , has precisely this action on every linear operator . The desired factorization is therefore