Aidan Roy

Equiangular lines, mutually unbiased bases, and spin models

We use difference sets to construct interesting sets of lines in complex space. Using (v,k,1)-difference sets, we obtain k^2-k+1 equiangular lines in C^k when k-1 is a prime power. Using semiregular relative difference sets with parameters (k,n,k,@l) we construct sets of n+1 mutually unbiased bases in C^k. We show how to construct these difference sets from commutative semifields and that all known maximal sets of mutually unbiased bases can be obtained in this way, resolving a conjecture about the monomiality of maximal sets. We also relate mutually unbiased bases to spin models.

Weighted complex projective 2-designs from bases: optimal state determination by orthogonal measurements

We introduce the problem of constructing weighted complex projective 2-designs from the union of a family of orthonormal bases. If the weight remains constant across elements of the same basis, then such designs can be interpreted as generalizations of complete sets of mutually unbiased bases, being equivalent whenever the design is composed of d+1 bases in dimension d. We show that, for the purpose of quantum state determination, these designs specify an optimal collection of orthogonal measurements. Using highly nonlinear functions on Abelian groups, we construct explicit examples from d+2 orthonormal bases whenever d+1 is a prime power, covering dimensions d=6, 10, and 12, for example, where no complete sets of mutually unbiased bases have thus far been found.

Entanglement can Increase Asymptotic Rates of Zero-Error Classical Communication over Classical Channels

It is known that the number of different classical messages which can be communicated with a single use of a classical channel with zero probability of decoding error can sometimes be increased by using entanglement shared between sender and receiver. It has been an open question to determine whether entanglement can ever increase the zero-error communication rates achievable in the limit of many channel uses. In this paper we show, by explicit examples, that entanglement can indeed increase asymptotic zero-error capacity, even to the extent that it is equal to the normal capacity of the channel.

Minimal Euclidean representations of graphs

A simple graph G is representable in a real vector space of dimension m, if there is an embedding of the vertex set in the vector space such that the Euclidean distance between any two distinct vertices is one of only two distinct values, @a and @b, with distance @a if the vertices are adjacent and distance @b otherwise. The Euclidean representation number of G is the smallest dimension in which G is representable. In this note, we bound the Euclidean representation number of a graph using multiplicities of the eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix. We also give an exact formula for the Euclidean representation number using the main angles of the graph.

Entanglement of subspaces in terms of entanglement of superpositions

We investigate upper and lower bounds on the entropy of entanglement of a superposition of bipartite states as a function of the individual states in the superposition. In particular, we extend the results in [G. Gour, arxiv.org:0704.1521 (2007)] to superpositions of several states rather than just two. We then investigate the entanglement in a subspace as a function of its basis states: we find upper bounds for the largest entanglement in a subspace and demonstrate that no such lower bound for the smallest entanglement exists. Finally, we consider entanglement of superpositions using measures of entanglement other than the entropy of entanglement.

On the epistemic view of quantum states

We investigate the strengths and limitations of the Spekkens toy model, which is a local hidden variable model that replicates many important properties of quantum dynamics. First, we present a set of five axioms that fully encapsulate Spekkens’ toy model. We then test whether these axioms can be extended to capture more quantum phenomena by allowing operations on epistemic as well as ontic states. We discover that the resulting group of operations is isomorphic to the projective extended Clifford group for two qubits. This larger group of operations results in a physically unreasonable model; consequently, we claim that a relaxed definition of valid operations in Spekkens’ toy model cannot produce an equivalence with the Clifford group for two qubits. However, the new operations do serve as tests for correlation in a two toy bit model, analogous to the well known Horodecki criterion for the separability of quantum states.

Two Characterizations of Crooked Functions

In this correspondence, we give two characterizations of crooked functions: one based on the minimum distance of a Preparata-like code, and the other based on the distance-regularity of a crooked graph.

Note: The chromatic number and rank of the complements of the Kasami graphs

We determine the rank and chromatic number of the complements of all Kasami graphs, some of which form an infinite family of counterexamples to the now disproven rank-coloring conjecture.