Paper 2, Section II, D
Let be two quantum states and let and be associated probabilities with and . Alice chooses state with probability and sends it to Bob. Upon receiving it, Bob performs a 2-outcome measurement 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 has exactly two nonzero eigenvalues, one of which is positive and the other negative.
(b) Let denote the probability that Bob correctly identifies Alice's sent state. If the measurement comprises orthogonal projectors (corresponding to outcomes 0 and 1 respectively) give an expression for in terms of and .
(c) Show that the optimal success probability , i.e. the maximum attainable value of , is
where .
(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 . Show that Bob's now satisfies .