Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 57 3 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Replace the two arms by three identical arms of length attached to one central qubit. Label the hub and the sites on arm by , , . Use XY exchange interactions with coupling on each hub-to-first-site link, and coupling on each arm link to . Initially excite only the hub: this is the product state with every arm qubit in .
In the symmetric single-excitation subspace, define and . The hub coupling isand the reverse coupling has the same coefficient. All other radial links have coefficients , just as in part (c). Thus the symmetric-arm reduction of an exchange Hamiltonian is again exactly . At time its evolution isEvery nontip qubit is zero, so tracing them out leaves the three tips in the pure W stateThe essential change is the additional identical arm and the normalization of each hub coupling by instead of .
Consider identical length- arms joined to one hub, with XY exchange interactions of strength from the hub to each first site and strength between sites on each arm. Let be the hub excitation and . This orthonormal symmetric single-excitation subspace is invariant, and its restricted Hamiltonian operator iswith endpoint terms omitted. At the first link the hub contributions add to ; all other links act identically on the arms. Thus the linear isometry intertwines with the path Hamiltonian operator : . Expanding the matrix exponential gives . Perfect quantum state transfer from zero to on the path therefore produces an equal excitation superposition at the arm tips. Since all other qubits are zero, the tip state is a pure W state, up to the transfer's common phase.
W state 2026-10-14
The -qubit W state is the Dicke state with one excitation:For three qubits it is . Its reduced density matrix on any one qubit is , from the Dicke state recursion. For both diagonal entries are nonzero, so that qubit is entangled with the rest: a pure product state would have a pure marginal. A symmetric-arm reduction of an exchange Hamiltonian supplies a dynamical preparation from one initial excitation.