Process estimation in qubit systems: a quantum decision theory approach

Abstract

We address quantum decision theory as a convenient framework to analyze process discrimination and estimation in qubit systems. In particular we discuss the following problems: i) how to discriminate whether or not a given unitary perturbation has been applied to a qubit system; ii) how to determine the amplitude of the minimum detectable perturbation. In order to solve the first problem, we exploit the so-called Bayes strategy, and look for the optimal measurement to discriminate, with minimum error probability, whether or not the unitary transformation has been applied to a given signal. Concerning the second problem, the strategy of Neyman and Pearson is used to determine the ultimate bound posed by quantum mechanics to the minimum detectable amplitude of the qubit transformation. We consider both pure and mixed initial preparations of the qubit, and solve the corresponding binary decision problems. We also analyze the use of entangled qubits in the estimation protocol and found that entanglement, in general, improves stability rather than precision. Finally, we take into account the possible occurrence of different kinds of background noise and evaluate the corresponding effects on the discrimination strategies.

Generalized quantum process discrimination problems

“…Discrimination of two quantum processes with maximum average success probability has been widely studied [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. Optimal unambiguous discrimination [42][43][44][45], optimal inconclusive discrimination [38], and the Neyman-Pearson strategy [46,47] have also been investigated. It is well known that the problem of finding minimumerror discrimination between two channels can be formulated as an SDP problem [48][49][50].…”