Paper 2, Section II, D

Quantum Information and Computation
Part II, 2019

Let α0α1\left|\alpha_{0}\right\rangle \neq\left|\alpha_{1}\right\rangle be two quantum states and let p0p_{0} and p1p_{1} be associated probabilities with p0+p1=1,p00,p10p_{0}+p_{1}=1, p_{0} \neq 0, p_{1} \neq 0 and p0p1p_{0} \geqslant p_{1}. Alice chooses state αi\left|\alpha_{i}\right\rangle with probability pip_{i} and sends it to Bob. Upon receiving it, Bob performs a 2-outcome measurement M\mathcal{M} with outcomes labelled 0 and 1 , in an attempt to identify which state Alice sent.

(a) By using the extremal property of eigenvalues, or otherwise, show that the operator D=p0α0α0p1α1α1D=p_{0}\left|\alpha_{0}\right\rangle\left\langle\alpha_{0}\left|-p_{1}\right| \alpha_{1}\right\rangle\left\langle\alpha_{1}\right| has exactly two nonzero eigenvalues, one of which is positive and the other negative.

(b) Let PSP_{S} denote the probability that Bob correctly identifies Alice's sent state. If the measurement M\mathcal{M} comprises orthogonal projectors {Π0,Π1}\left\{\Pi_{0}, \Pi_{1}\right\} (corresponding to outcomes 0 and 1 respectively) give an expression for PSP_{S} in terms of p1,Π0p_{1}, \Pi_{0} and DD.

(c) Show that the optimal success probability PSopt P_{S}^{\text {opt }}, i.e. the maximum attainable value of PSP_{S}, is

PSopt=1+14p0p1cos2θ2P_{S}^{\mathrm{opt}}=\frac{1+\sqrt{1-4 p_{0} p_{1} \cos ^{2} \theta}}{2}

where cosθ=α0α1\cos \theta=\left|\left\langle\alpha_{0} \mid \alpha_{1}\right\rangle\right|.

(d) Suppose we now place the following extra requirement on Bob's discrimination process: whenever Bob obtains output 0 then the state sent by Alice was definitely α0\left|\alpha_{0}\right\rangle. Show that Bob's PSoptP_{S}^{\mathrm{opt}} now satisfies PSopt1p0cos2θP_{S}^{\mathrm{opt}} \geqslant 1-p_{0} \cos ^{2} \theta.