A heuristic method for bi-decomposition of partial Boolean functions

The problem of decomposition of a Boolean function is to represent a given Boolean function in the form of a superposition of some Boolean functions whose number of arguments are less than the number of given function. The bi-decomposition represents a given function as a logic algebra operation, which is also given, over two Boolean functions. The task is reduced to specification of those two functions. A method for bi-decomposition of incompletely specified (partial) Boolean function is suggested. The given Boolean function is specified by two sets, one of which is the part of the Boolean space of the arguments of the function where its value is 1, and the other set is the part of the space where the function has the value 0. The complete graph of orthogonality of Boolean vectors that constitute the definitional domain of the given function is considered. In the graph, the edges are picked out, any of which has its ends corresponding the elements of Boolean space where the given function has different values. The problem of bi-decomposition is reduced to the problem of a weighted two-block covering the set of picked out edges of considered graph by its complete bipartite subgraphs (bicliques). Every biclique is assigned with a disjunctive normal form (DNF) in definite way. The weight of a biclique is a pair of certain parameters of assigned DNF. According to each biclique of obtained cover, a Boolean function is constructed whose arguments are the variables from the term of minimal rank on the DNF. A technique for constructing the mentioned cover for two kinds of output function is described.

Using and reusing coherence to realize quantum processes

Coherent superposition is a key feature of quantum mechanics that underlies the advantage of quantum technologies over their classical counterparts. Recently, coherence has been recast as a resource theory in an attempt to identify and quantify it in an operationally well-defined manner. Here we study how the coherence present in a state can be used to implement a quantum channel via incoherent operations and, in turn, to assess its degree of coherence. We introduce the robustness of coherence of a quantum channel-which reduces to the homonymous measure for states when computed on constant-output channels-and prove that: i) it quantifies the minimal rank of a maximally coherent state required to implement the channel; ii) its logarithm quantifies the amortized cost of implementing the channel provided some coherence is recovered at the output; iii) its logarithm also quantifies the zero-error asymptotic cost of implementation of many independent copies of a channel. We also consider the generalized problem of imperfect implementation with arbitrary resource states. Using the robustness of coherence, we find that in general a quantum channel can be implemented without employing a maximally coherent resource state. In fact, we prove that every pure coherent state in dimension larger than 2, however weakly so, turns out to be a valuable resource to implement some coherent unitary channel. We illustrate our findings for the case of single-qubit unitary channels.