dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaInformation Gain vs. State Disturbance in Quantum Theory
| Authors | Christopher A. Fuchs |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9605014 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9605014 |
Abstract
The engine that powers quantum cryptography is the principle that there are no physical means for gathering information about the identity of a quantum system's state (when it is known to be prepared in one of a set of nonorthogonal states) without disturbing the system in a statistically detectable way. This situation is often mistakenly described as a consequence of the ``Heisenberg uncertainty principle.'' A more accurate account is that it is a unique feature of quantum phenomena that rests ultimately on the Hilbert space structure of the theory along with the fact that time evolutions for isolated systems are unitary. In this paper I explore several aspects of the ``information / disturbance principle'' in an attempt to make it firmly quantitative for both pure and mixed states. The final section briefly explores the extent to which such a principle can be taken as a foundation for unitary dynamics rather than as a consequence.
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"abstract": "The engine that powers quantum cryptography is the principle that there are\nno physical means for gathering information about the identity of a quantum\nsystem\u0027s state (when it is known to be prepared in one of a set of\nnonorthogonal states) without disturbing the system in a statistically\ndetectable way. This situation is often mistakenly described as a consequence\nof the ``Heisenberg uncertainty principle.\u0027\u0027 A more accurate account is that it\nis a unique feature of quantum phenomena that rests ultimately on the Hilbert\nspace structure of the theory along with the fact that time evolutions for\nisolated systems are unitary. In this paper I explore several aspects of the\n``information / disturbance principle\u0027\u0027 in an attempt to make it firmly\nquantitative for both pure and mixed states. The final section briefly explores\nthe extent to which such a principle can be taken as a foundation for unitary\ndynamics rather than as a consequence.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9605014",
"authors": [
"Christopher A. Fuchs"
],
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"title": "Information Gain vs. State Disturbance in Quantum Theory",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9605014"
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