Computational Complexity in the Analysis of Quantum Operations
Miosz Michalski · InTech eBooks · 2013
Mathematical theory of infinite dimensional Hilbert spaces and the theory of operator algebras acting in such spaces (or C algebras in a more abstract approach) provide a standard setting for the formulation of modern quantum mechanics. On the other hand, experimental and theoretical progress achieved in the field of quantum information theory in the last two decades has indicated the practical and technological importance of low-dimensional quantum systems, where only a few basic modes play a significant role. Such modes can often be effectively decoupled from the rest of the system and controlled separately, providing physical realizations of qubits, qutrits and other basic information carriers. Regardless of concrete physical realization, be it photon polarization, electron or nuclear spin, charge in Josephson junctions to name just a few, the mathematical description of such systems requires only finite-dimensional Hilbert space language and finite-dimensional matrix algebras. Such structures are in principle computationally manageable in sharp contrast to the infinite dimensional ones.