We show that quantum circuits cannot be made fault-tolerant against a depolarizing noise level of approximately 45 , thereby improving on a previous bound of 50 (due to Razborov). Our precise quantum circuit model enables perfect gates from the Clifford group (CNOT, Hadamard, S, X, Y, Z) and arbitrary additional one-qubit gates that are subject to that much depolarizing noise. We prove that this set of gates cannot be universal for arbitrary (even classical) computation, from which the upper bound on the noise threshold for fault-tolerant quantum computation follows.
Finally, we note that our work is related to, and partly stimulated by, the circle of ideas surrounding measurement-based quantum computation that was largely initiated by @cite_1 @cite_9 .
@cite_9 @cite_1
2027707976 1988174048 2171253836 1758846674
The effects of any quantum measurement can be described by a collection of measurement operators l_brace M sub m r_brace acting on the quantum state of the measured system. However, the Hilbert space formalism tends to obscure the relationship between the measurement results and the physical properties of the measured system. In this paper, a characterization of measurement operators in terms of measurement resolution and disturbance is developed. It is then possible to formulate uncertainty relations for the measurement process that are valid for arbitrary input states. The motivation of these concepts is explained from a quantum communication viewpoint. It is shown that the intuitive interpretation of uncertainty as a relation between measurement resolution and disturbance provides a valid description of measurement back action. Possible applications to quantum cryptography, quantum cloning, and teleportation are discussed. The most efficient way of obtaining information about the state of a quantum system is not always a direct measurement. It is sometimes preferable to extend the original Hilbert space of states into a larger space, and then to perform a quantum measurement in the enlarged space. Such an extension is always possible, by virtue of Neumark's theorem. The physical interpretation usually given to that theorem is the introduction of an auxiliary quantum system, prepared in a standard state, and the execution of a quantum measurement on both systems together. However, this widespread interpretation is unacceptable, because the statistical properties of the supposedly standard auxiliary system are inseparably entangled with those of the original, unknown system. A different method of preparing the auxiliary system is proposed, and shown to be physically acceptable. Traditional quantum state tomography requires a number of measurements that grows exponentially with the number of qubits n . But using ideas from computational learning theory, we show that one can do exponentially better in a statistical setting. In particular, to predict the outcomes of most measurements drawn from an arbitrary probability distribution, one needs only a number of sample measurements that grows linearly with n . This theorem has the conceptual implication that quantum states, despite being exponentially long vectors, are nevertheless ‘reasonable’ in a learning theory sense. The theorem also has two applications to quantum computing: first, a new simulation of quantum one-way communication protocols and second, the use of trusted classical advice to verify untrusted quantum advice. We study, in the context of quantum information and quantum communication, a configuration of devices that includes (1) a source of some unknown bipartite quantum state that is claimed to be the Bell state Φ+ and (2) two spatially separated but otherwise unknown measurement apparatus one on each side, that are each claimed to execute an orthogonal measurement at an angle θ ∈ -π 8, 0, π 8 that is chosen by the user. We show that, if the nine distinct probability distributions that are generated by the self checking configuration, one for each pair of angles, are consistent with the specifications, the source and the two measurement apparatus are guaranteed to be identical to the claimed specifications up to a local change of basis on each side. We discuss the connection with quantum cryptography.