Uniform probability distribution over all density matrices

Let $$\mathscr {H}$$ H be a finite-dimensional complex Hilbert space and $$\mathscr {D}$$ D the set of density matrices on $$\mathscr {H}$$ H , i.e., the positive operators with trace 1. Our goal in this note is to identify a probability measure u on $$\mathscr {D}$$ D that can be regarded as the uniform distribution over $$\mathscr {D}$$ D . We propose a measure on $$\mathscr {D}$$ D , argue that it can be so regarded, discuss its properties, and compute the joint distribution of the eigenvalues of a random density matrix distributed according to this measure.

Spin alignment measurement of vector mesons produced in high energy collisions

This paper covers the recent experimental development on spin alignment measurements of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] vector mesons in heavy-ion and [Formula: see text] collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. Measurements in [Formula: see text] collisions at LEP energies are also discussed. Spin alignment of vector mesons is studied by measuring the second diagonal element [Formula: see text] of spin density matrix. The spin density matrix element [Formula: see text] is obtained by measuring the angular distribution of vector meson decay daughter with respect to the quantization axis in vector meson rest frame. Measured [Formula: see text] values for vector mesons are found to be larger than [Formula: see text] at high momentum in [Formula: see text] collisions at LEP energies, suggesting the preferential production of vector meson with helicity zero state from the fragmentation process. The [Formula: see text] values are found to be smaller than [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text] implies no spin alignment) for [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] vector mesons at low transverse momentum in Pb–Pb collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV. These observations are qualitatively consistent with the expectation from models which attribute the spin alignment effect due to polarization of quarks in the presence of large initial angular momentum in noncentral heavy-ion collisions and its subsequent hadronization by the process of recombination. No significant spin alignment effect is observed for [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] in mid-central Pb–Pb collisions and for vector mesons in [Formula: see text] collisions. However, the preliminary results of [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text] mesons are larger than [Formula: see text] at intermediate [Formula: see text] in Au–Au collisions at RHIC energies and can be attributed to the presence of [Formula: see text] meson field. Although there is evidence of spin alignment effect of vector mesons in heavy-ion collisions but the measured effect is surprisingly larger in context of hyperon polarization. Therefore, these results will trigger further theoretical study.

Quantum information approach to high energy interactions

High energy hadron interactions are commonly described by using a probabilistic parton model that ignores quantum entanglement present in the light-cone wave functions. Here, we argue that since a high energy interaction samples an instant snapshot of the hadron wave function, the phases of different Fock state wave functions cannot be measured—therefore the light-cone density matrix has to be traced over these unobservable phases. Performing this trace with the corresponding U ( 1 ) Haar integration measure leads to ‘Haar scrambling’ of the density matrix, and to the emergence of entanglement entropy. This entanglement entropy is determined by the Fock state probability distribution, and is thus directly related to the parton structure functions. As proposed earlier, at large rapidity η the hadron state becomes maximally entangled, and the entanglement entropy is S E ∼ η according to QCD evolution equations. When the phases of Fock state components are controlled, for example in spin asymmetry measurements, the Haar average cannot be performed, and the probabilistic parton description breaks down. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Quantum technologies in particle physics’.

Experimental realization of quantum controlled teleportation of arbitrary two-qubit state via a five-qubit entangled state

Quantum controlled teleportation is the transmission of the quantum state under the supervision of a third party. This paper presents a theoretical and experimental combination of an arbitrary two-qubit quantum controlled teleportation scheme. In the scheme, the sender Alice only needs to perform two Bell state measurements, and the receiver Bob can perform the appropriate unitary operation to reconstruct arbitrary two-qubit states under the control of the supervisor Charlie. We verified the operation process of the scheme on the IBM Quantum Experience platform and further checked the accuracy of the transmitted quantum state by performing quantum state tomography. Meanwhile, good fidelity is obtained by calculating the theoretical density matrix and the experimental density matrix. We also introduced a sequence of photonic states to analyze the possible intercept-replace-resend, intercept-measure-resend, and entanglement-measure-resend attacks on this scheme. The results proved that our scheme is highly secure.

Spacetime Entanglement Entropy of de Sitter and Black Hole Horizons

We calculate Sorkin's manifestly covariant, spacetime entanglement entropy (SSEE) for a massive and massless minimally coupled free Gaussian scalar field for the de Sitter horizon and Schwarzschild de Sitter horizons, respectively, in d > 2. In de Sitter spacetime we restrict the Bunch-Davies vacuum in the conformal patch to the static patch to obtain a mixed state. The finiteness of the spatial L2 norm in the static patch implies that the SSEE is well defined for each mode. We find that for this mixed state it is independent of the effective mass of the scalar field and matches results obtained by Higuchi and Yamamoto, where, a spatial density matrix was used to calculate the horizon entanglement entropy. Using a cut-off in the angular modes we show that the SSEE is proportional to the area of the de Sitter cosmological horizon. Our analysis can be carried over to the black hole and cosmological horizon in Schwarzschild de Sitter spacetime, which also has finite spatial L2 norm in the static regions. Although the explicit form of the modes is not known in this case, we use appropriate boundary conditions for a massless minimally coupled scalar field, to find the mode-wise SSEE for both the black hole and de Sitter cosmological horizons. As in the de Sitter calculation we see that SSEE is proportional to the horizon area in each case after taking a cut-off in the angular modes.

Extraction of a One-Particle Reduced Density Matrix from a Quantum Monte Carlo Electronic Density: A New Tool for Studying Nondynamic Correlation

In this work, we present a method to build a first order reduced density matrix (1-RDM) of a molecule from variational Quantum Monte Carlo (VMC) computations by means of a given correlated mapping wave function. Such a wave function is modeled on a Generalized Valence Bond plus Complete Active Space Self Configuration Interaction form and fits at best the density resulting from the Slater-Jastrow wave function of VMC. The accuracy of the method proposed has been proved by comparing the resulting kinetic energy with the corresponding VMC value. This 1-RDM is used to analyze the amount of correlation eventually captured in Kohn-Sham calculations performed in an unrestricted approach (UKS-DFT) and with different energy functionals. We performed test calculations on a selected set of molecules that show a significant multireference character. In this analysis, we compared both local and global indicators of nondynamic and dynamic correlation. Moreover, following the natural orbital decomposition of the 1-RDM, we also compared the effective temperatures of the corresponding Fermi-like distributions. Although there is a general agreement between UKS-DFT and VMC, we found the best match with the functional LC-BLYP.