CS191x Assignment 2 Solutions

The rst six questions are true/false questions. 1. The inner product of |+ and | is 1. Solution: False 2. The standard basis for a two-qubit quantum system is |00 , |01 , |10 , |11 . Solution: True 3. Any state of a two-qubit quantum system can be written in the form (a|0 + b|1 )(c|0 + d|1 ). (a, b, c, d C) Solution: False. Entangled states cannot be written in this form. 4. Two qubits are entangled if their state can be written as (a|0 + b|1 )(a|0 + b|1 ). (a, b C) Solution: False. Two qubits are entangled if their state cannot be written as (a|0 + b|1 )(c|0 + d|1 ). (a, b, c, d C) 5. a|00 + b|11 = a| + + + b| for any a, b C that satisfy the normalization condition. Solution: False. Simply take a = 1, b = 0. 6. Bells theorem implies that there is no local hidden variable theory (local realism) that is consistent with the predictions of quantum mechanics. Solution: True 7. What is the inner product of Solution: 8. Rewrite
1 2 | 6 1+ 2 6 1 |0 3 2 |1 3

and |+ ?

1 |0 3

2 |1 3

in the sign basis.

Solution: Use |0 = .

1 | 2

and |1 =

1 |+ 2

1 | 2

. The answer is

1+ 2 |+ 6

9. Suppose that a qubit is in the state | = a|0 + 1 a2 |1 where a [1, 1]. If we rst perform a standard basis measurement on this qubit and then perform a |u , |u -basis mea surement where |u = b|0 + 1 b2 |1 for some b [1, 1], what is the probability that the outcome of the second measurement is u, in terms of a and b? Solution: Let us denote by x1 and x2 the outcomes of the rst and second measurements respectively. Then, Pr[x2 = u] = Pr[x1 = 0] Pr[x2 = u|x1 = 0] + Pr[x1 = 1] Pr[x2 = u|x1 = 1]= a2 b2 + (1 a2 )(1 b2 ). 1

10. Pick one of the following four alternatives which is not an orthogonal basis for a two-qubit system, or options 5 or 6 if none or all are valid. (a) |00 , |01 , |10 , |11 (b) | + + , | + , | + , | (c) (d)
1 |00 2 1 |00 2

+ +

1 |11 2 1 |11 2

, ,

1 |01 2 1 |00 2

1 |10 2 1 |11 2

, ,

1 |+ 2 1 |01 2

+ + +

1 | 2

, ,

1 | 2

+ +
1 |10 2

1 | 2

1 |10 2

1 |01 2

(e) None of the above is a valid orthogonal basis. (f) All of the above are valid orthogonal bases. Solution: (c)
1 + 2 |11 is not orthogonal to rotational invariance of Bell states. 1 |00 2 1 | 2

++ +

1 | 2

. In fact, they are equal by the

1 11. If the rst qubit is in the state 3 |0 + 2 |1 and the second qubit is in the state 3 what is the state of the composite system?

Solution: The answer is

1 1 12. Factor 22 |00 22 |01 and |c|2 + |d|2 = 1. What is the value of |a|?

2 1 2 3 |00 + 3 |01 + 3 |10 + 232 |10 232 |11 into

2 3 |11

(a|0 +b|1 )(c|0 +d|1 ), where |a|2 +|b|2 = 1

Solution: A factorization of the given state is ( 1 |0 + 2 13. Suppose we have two qubits in the state |00 + |11 .

).

(a) If we measure the rst qubit in the sign basis, what is the probability of seeing a +? (b) What is the resulting state of the second qubit in that case? Solution:
1 (a) |0 |0 + |1 |1 = ( 2 |+ + |+ 2 1 | 2 1 )|0 + ( 2 |+ 1 | 2

)|1 =

|+ 2

|0 +

| 2

|0 +

|1

| 2

|1
2 + 2 2

Thus, the probability that we see a + is ( 2 )2 + ( 2 )2 =

= 1. 2

(b) In that case, the resulting state collapses to 2 |+ |0 + 2 |+ |1 . Renormalizing this, we get that the second qubit is in the state |0 + |1 .

14. A two-qubit system was originally in the state 3 |00 45 |01 + 1 |10 1 |11 , and then we 4 4 4 measured the rst qubit to be 0. Now, if we measure the second qubit in the standard basis, what is the probability that the outcome is 0? Solution: After the rst qubit is measured to be a 0, the state of the system is 3 |00 4 Renormalizing this, we get 0 is
9 14 . 3 |00 14

5 |01 14

5 4 |01

. Thus, the probability that the second qubit is

15. We have two qubits originally in the state |0+ (which means that the rst qubit is in |0 and the second qubit is in |+ ), which we want to entangle by performing a measurement. Which of the following measurements should we perform? (a) |00 , |01 , |10 , |11 (b) | + + , | + , | + , | (c) |0+ , |0 , |1+ , |1 (d)
1 |00 2

1 |11 2

1 , 2 |00

1 |11 2

1 , 2 |01 +

1 |10 2

1 , 2 |01

1 |10 2

(e) There is no way to entangle two qubits by a measurement. Solution: (d) Since all these basis vectors are entangled, the measurement will leave the two qubits entangled regardless of the outcome. 16. Again we have two qubits in the state |0+ , but this time we want to entangle them by performing a partial measurement on the rst qubit. Which of the following measurements should we perform on the rst qubit? (a) |0 , |1 (b) |+ , | (c) (d)
1 |0 2 1 |0 2

i |1 2 i |1 2

i , 2 |0 i , 2 |0

1 |1 2

1 |1 2

(e) There is no way to entangle two qubits by a partial measurement. Solution: (e) Suppose we measure the rst qubit in an arbitrary basis and get the outcome u. Then, the resulting state of the two-qubit system is |u |+ , which is clearly unentangled. Thus, there is no way to entangle two qubits by a partial measurement of the rst qubit. 17. How do we write | = (a) (b) (c) (d)
1+ei 2 |+ 1+ei 2 |+ 1ei 2 |+ 1ei 2 |+ 1 |0 2

ei |1 2

in the sign basis?

+ +

1ei 2 | 1ei 2 | 1+ei 2 | 1+ei 2 |

(e) It cannot be rewritten in the sign basis. Solution: (a) | =

ei |1 2

1 2

1 |+ 2

+
i

1 | 2

ei 2

1 |+ 2

1 | 2

1+ei 2 |+

1ei 2 |

1 e 18. Consider the state | = 2 |0 + 2 |1 from the previous question. To estimate the phase , we measure | in the sign basis. What is the probability that the outcome of the measurement is +? Recall that ei = cos + i sin .

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

1+cos 2 1cos 2 1+sin 2 1sin 2 2 ( 2 )

Solution: (a) Since | =

1ei 2 |

,
2

1 + ei Pr[+] = 2

1 + ei 1 + ei 1 = (1 + ei + ei + 1) 2 2 4

1 1 + cos = (2 + cos + i sin + cos() + i sin()) = 4 2