Eric M. Rains

Quantum error correction via codes over GF(4)

The unreasonable effectiveness of quantum computing is founded on coherent quantum superposition or entanglement which allows a large number of calculations to be performed simultaneously. This coherence is lost as a quantum system interacts with its environment. In the present paper the problem of finding quantum-error-correcting codes is transformed into one of finding additive codes over the field GF(4) which are self-orthogonal with respect to a certain trace inner product. Many new codes and new bounds are presented, as well as a table of upper and lower bounds on such codes of length up to 30 qubits.

Quantum nonlocality without entanglement

We exhibit an orthogonal set of product states of two three-state particles that nevertheless cannot be reliably distinguished by a pair of separated observers ignorant of which of the states has been presented to them, even if the observers are allowed any sequence of local operations and classical communication between the separate observers. It is proved that there is a finite gap between the mutual information obtainable by a joint measurement on these states and a measurement in which only local actions are permitted. This result implies the existence of separable superoperators that cannot be implemented locally. A set of states are found involving three two-state particles that also appear to be nonmeasurable locally. These and other multipartite states are classified according to the entropy and entanglement costs of preparing and measuring them by local operations.

Nonbinary quantum codes

We present several results on quantum codes over general alphabets (that is, in which the fundamental units may have more than two states). In particular, we consider codes derived from finite symplectic geometry assumed to have additional global symmetries. From this standpoint, the analogs of Calderbank-Shor-Steane codes and of GF(4)-linear codes turn out to be special cases of the same construction. This allows us to construct families of quantum codes from certain codes over number fields; in particular, we get analogs of quadratic residue codes, including a single-error-correcting code encoding one letter in five, for any alphabet size. We also consider the problem of fault-tolerant computation through such codes, generalizing ideas of Gottesman (see Phys. Rev. A, vol.57, no.1, p127-37, 1998).

Shadow bounds for self-dual codes

Conway and Sloane (1990) have previously given an upper bound on the minimum distance of a singly-even self-dual binary code, using the concept of the shadow of a self-dual code. We improve their bound, finding that the minimum distance of a self-dual binary code of length n is at most 4[n/24]+4, except when n mod 24=22, when the bound is 4[n/24]+6. We also show that a code of length a multiple of 24 meeting the bound cannot be singly-even. The same technique gives similar results for additive codes over GF(4) (relevant to quantum coding theory).

Limiting Distributions for a Polynuclear Growth Model with External Sources

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the limiting distribution functions for a polynuclear growth model with two external sources which was considered by Prähofer and Spohn. Depending on the strength of the sources, the limiting distribution functions are either the Tracy–Widom functions of random matrix theory or a new explicit function which has the special property that its mean is zero. Moreover, we obtain transition functions between pairs of the above distribution functions in suitably scaled limits. There are also similar results for a discrete totally asymmetric exclusion process.

Eynard–Mehta Theorem, Schur Process, and their Pfaffian Analogs

We give simple linear algebraic proofs of the Eynard–Mehta theorem, the Okounkov-Reshetikhin formula for the correlation kernel of the Schur process, and Pfaffian analogs of these results. We also discuss certain general properties of the spaces of all determinantal and Pfaffian processes on a given finite set

Algebraic aspects of increasing subsequences

We present a number of results relating partial Cauchy-Littlewood sums, integrals over the compact classical groups, and increasing subsequences of permutations. These include: integral formulae for the distribution of the longest increasing subsequence of a random involution with constrained number of fixed points; new formulae for partial Cauchy-Littlewood sums, as well as new proofs of old formulae; relations of these expressions to orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle; and explicit bases for invariant spaces of the classical groups, together with appropriate generalizations of the straightening algorithm.

The asymptotics of monotone subsequences of involutions

We compute the limiting distributions of the lengths of the longest monotone subsequences of random (signed) involutions with or without conditions on the number of fixed points (and negated points) as the sizes of the involutions tend to infinity. The resulting distributions are, depending on the number of fixed points, (1) the Tracy-Widom distributions for the largest eigenvalues of random GOE, GUE, GSE matrices, (2) the normal distribution, or (3) new classes of distributions which interpolate between pairs of the Tracy-Widom distributions. We also consider the second rows of the corresponding Young diagrams. In each case the convergence of moments is also shown. The proof is based on the algebraic work of J. Baik and E. Rains in [7] which establishes a connection between the statistics of random involutions and a family of orthogonal polynomials, and an asymptotic analysis of the orthogonal polynomials which is obtained by extending the Riemann-Hilbert analysis for the orthogonal polynomials by P. Deift, K. Johansson, and Baik in [3].

BOUND ON DISTILLABLE ENTANGLEMENT

The best bound known on 2-locally distillable entanglement is that of Vedral and Plenio, involving a certain measure of entanglement based on relative entropy. It turns out that a related argument can be used to give an even stronger bound; we give this bound, and examine some of its properties. In particular, and in contrast to the earlier bounds, the new bound is not additive in general. We give an example of a state for which the bound fails to be additive, as well as a number of states for which the bound is additive.

RIGOROUS TREATMENT OF DISTILLABLE ENTANGLEMENT

The notion of distillable entanglement is one of the fundamental concepts of quantum information theory. Unfortunately, there is an apparent mismatch between the intuitive and rigorous definitions of distillable entanglement. To be precise, the existing rigorous definitions impose the constraint that the distilation protocol produce an output of constant dimension. It is therefore conceivable that this unnecessary constraint might have led to underestimation of the true distillable entanglement. We give a new definition of distillable entanglement which removes this constraint, but could conceivably overestimate the true value. Since the definitions turn out to be equivalent, neither underestimation nor overestimation is possible, and both definitions are arguably correct