Antonio Acín

Random numbers certified by Bell’s theorem

Randomness is a fundamental feature of nature and a valuable resource for applications ranging from cryptography and gambling to numerical simulation of physical and biological systems. Random numbers, however, are difficult to characterize mathematically, and their generation must rely on an unpredictable physical process. Inaccuracies in the theoretical modelling of such processes or failures of the devices, possibly due to adversarial attacks, limit the reliability of random number generators in ways that are difficult to control and detect. Here, inspired by earlier work on non-locality-based and device-independent quantum information processing, we show that the non-local correlations of entangled quantum particles can be used to certify the presence of genuine randomness. It is thereby possible to design a cryptographically secure random number generator that does not require any assumption about the internal working of the device. Such a strong form of randomness generation is impossible classically and possible in quantum systems only if certified by a Bell inequality violation. We carry out a proof-of-concept demonstration of this proposal in a system of two entangled atoms separated by approximately one metre. The observed Bell inequality violation, featuring near perfect detection efficiency, guarantees that 42 new random numbers are generated with 99 per cent confidence. Our results lay the groundwork for future device-independent quantum information experiments and for addressing fundamental issues raised by the intrinsic randomness of quantum theory.

Quantum Cryptography Protocols Robust against Photon Number Splitting Attacks for Weak Laser Pulse Implementations

We introduce a new class of quantum key distribution protocols, tailored to be robust against photon number splitting (PNS) attacks. We study one of these protocols, which differs from the original protocol by Bennett and Brassard (BB84) only in the classical sifting procedure. This protocol is provably better than BB84 against PNS attacks at zero error.

From Bell's Theorem to Secure Quantum Key Distribution

The first step in any quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol consists of sequences of measurements that produce correlated classical data. We show that these correlation data must violate some Bell inequality in order to contain distillable secrecy, if not they could be produced by quantum measurements performed on a separable state of larger dimension. We introduce a new QKD protocol and prove its security against any individual attack by an adversary only limited by the no-signaling condition.

Almost all quantum states have nonclassical correlations

Quantum discord quantifies nonclassical correlations in a quantum system including those not captured by entanglement. Thus, only states with zero discord exhibit strictly classical correlations. We prove that these states are negligible in the whole Hilbert space: typically a state picked out at random has positive discord and, given a state with zero discord, a generic arbitrarily small perturbation drives it to a positive-discord state. These results hold for any Hilbert-space dimension and have direct implications for quantum computation and for the foundations of the theory of open systems. In addition, we provide a simple necessary criterion for zero quantum discord. Finally, we show that, for almost all positive-discord states, an arbitrary Markovian evolution cannot lead to a sudden, permanent vanishing of discord.

A convergent hierarchy of semidefinite programs characterizing the set of quantum correlations

We are interested in the problem of characterizing the correlations that arise when performing local measurements on separate quantum systems. In a previous work (Navascues et al 2007 Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 010401), we introduced an infinite hierarchy of conditions necessarily satisfied by any set of quantum correlations. Each of these conditions could be tested using semidefinite programming. We present here new results concerning this hierarchy. We prove in particular that it is complete, in the sense that any set of correlations satisfying every condition in the hierarchy has a quantum representation in terms of commuting measurements. Although our tests are conceived to rule out non- quantum correlations, and can in principle certify that a set of correlations is quantum only in the asymptotic limit where all tests are satisfied, we show that in some cases it is possible to conclude that a given set of correlations is quantum after performing only a finite number of tests. We provide a criterion to detect when such a situation arises, and we explain how to reconstruct the quantum states and measurement operators reproducing the given correlations. Finally, we present several applications of our approach. We use it in particular to bound the quantum violation of various Bell inequalities.

Discriminating States: The Quantum Chernoff Bound

We consider the problem of discriminating two different quantum states in the setting of asymptotically many copies, and determine the minimal probability of error. This leads to the identification of the quantum Chernoff bound, thereby solving a long-standing open problem. The bound reduces to the classical Chernoff bound when the quantum states under consideration commute. The quantum Chernoff bound is the natural symmetric distance measure between quantum states because of its clear operational meaning and because it does not seem to share some of the undesirable features of other distance measures.

General properties of nonsignaling theories

This article identifies a series of properties common to all theories that do not allow for superluminal signaling and predict the violation of Bell inequalities. Intrinsic randomness, uncertainty due to the incompatibility of two observables, monogamy of correlations, impossibility of perfect cloning, privacy of correlations, bounds in the shareability of some states; all these phenomena are solely a consequence of the no-signaling principle and nonlocality. In particular, it is shown that for any distribution, the properties of i nonlocal, ii no arbitrarily shareable, and iii positive secrecy content are equivalent.

Generalized Schmidt Decomposition and Classification of Three-Quantum-Bit States

We prove for any pure three-quantum-bit state the existence of local bases which allow one to build a set of five orthogonal product states in terms of which the state can be written in a unique form. This leads to a canonical form which generalizes the two-quantum-bit Schmidt decomposition. It is uniquely characterized by the five entanglement parameters. It leads to a complete classification of the three-quantum-bit states. It shows that the right outcome of an adequate local measurement always erases all entanglement between the other two parties.

Device-independent quantum key distribution secure against collective attacks

Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) represents a relaxation of the security assumptions made in usual quantum key distribution (QKD). As in usual QKD, the security of DIQKD follows from the laws of quantum physics, but contrary to usual QKD, it does not rely on any assumptions about the internal working of the quantum devices used in the protocol. In this paper, we present in detail the security proof for a DIQKD protocol introduced in Acin et al (2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 230501). This proof exploits the full structure of quantum theory (as opposed to other proofs that exploit only the no-signaling principle), but only holds against collective attacks, where the eavesdropper is assumed to act on the quantum systems of the honest parties independently and identically in each round of the protocol (although she can act coherently on her systems at any time). The security of any DIQKD protocol necessarily relies on the violation of a Bell inequality. We discuss the issue of loopholes in Bell experiments in this context.

Bounding the set of quantum correlations

We introduce a hierarchy of conditions necessarily satisfied by any distribution P_{alphabeta} representing the probabilities for two separate observers to obtain outcomes alpha and beta when making local measurements on a shared quantum state. Each condition in this hierarchy is formulated as a semidefinite program. Among other applications, our approach can be used to obtain upper bounds on the quantum violation of an arbitrary Bell inequality. It yields, for instance, tight bounds for the violations of the Collins et al. inequalities.