[en] In this work we study the dynamics of the maximum extractable entanglement for a system composed of two qubits interacting either with two independent thermal baths, a common thermal bath or a common squeezed bath. The states with maximum entanglement are found by applying filtering operations which transform each state to a state in Bell diagonal form. We observe a revival of the maximum extractable entanglement for common baths. It is also shown that for some particular states in two independent baths at zero temperature, one can partially recover the initial entanglement at any time.

[en] Code-word-stabilized (CWS) codes are, in general, nonadditive quantum codes that can correct errors by an exhaustive search of different error patterns, similar to the way that we decode classical nonlinear codes. For an n-qubit quantum code correcting errors on up to t qubits, this brute-force approach consecutively tests different errors of weight t or less and employs a separate n-qubit measurement in each test. In this article, we suggest an error grouping technique that allows one to simultaneously test large groups of errors in a single measurement. This structured error recovery technique exponentially reduces the number of measurements by about 3^t times. While it still leaves exponentially many measurements for a generic CWS code, the technique is equivalent to syndrome-based recovery for the special case of additive CWS codes.

[en] We propose a scheme for an exact efficient transformation of a tensor product state of many identically prepared qubits into a state of a logarithmically small number of qubits. Using a quadratic number of elementary quantum gates we transform N identically prepared qubits into a state, which is nontrivial only on the first [log₂(N+1)] qubits. This procedure might be useful for quantum memories, as only a small portion of the original qubits has to be stored. Another possible application is in communicating a direction encoded in a set of quantum states, as the compressed state provides a high-effective method for such an encoding.

[en] An (n,m,p) random access code (RAC) makes it possible to encode n bits in an m-bit message in such a way that a receiver of the message can guess any of the original n bits with probability p greater than (1/2). In quantum RACs (QRACs), one transmits n qubits. The full set of primitive entanglement-assisted random access codes (EARACs) is introduced, in which parties are allowed to share a two-qubit singlet. It is shown that via a concatenation of these, one can build for any n an (n,1,p) EARAC. QRACs for n>3 exist only if parties also share classical randomness. We show that EARACs outperform the best of known QRACs not only in the success probabilities but also in the amount of communication needed in the preparatory stage of the protocol. Upper bounds on the performance of EARACs are given and shown to limit also QRACs.

[en] We investigate the physically allowed probabilities for transforming one N-partite W-class state to another by means of local operations assisted with classical communication. Recently, S. Kintas and S. Turgut [J. Math. Phys. 51, 092202 (2010)] obtained an upper bound for the maximum probability of transforming two such states. Here, we provide a simple sufficient and necessary condition for when this upper bound can be satisfied and, thus, when optimality of state transformation can be achieved. Our discussion involves obtaining lower bounds for the transformation of arbitrary W-class states and showing precisely when this bound saturates the bound of Kintas and Turgut. Finally, we consider the question of transforming symmetric W-class states and find that, in general, the optimal one-shot procedure for converting two symmetric states requires a nonsymmetric filter by all the parties.

[en] Using spectral joint measurements of the qubits, we propose a scheme to test the tripartite Mermin inequality with three qubits dispersively coupled to a driven cavity. First, we show how to generate a three-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state by only one-step quantum operation. Then spectral joint measurements are introduced to directly confirm such tripartite entanglement. Assisted by a series of single-qubit operations, these measurements are further utilized to test the Mermin inequality. The feasibility of the proposal is robustly demonstrated by the present numerical experiments.

[en] We explore the physical limits of pulsed dynamical decoupling methods for decoherence control as determined by finite timing resources. By focusing on a decohering qubit controlled by arbitrary sequences of π pulses, we establish a nonperturbative quantitative upper bound to the achievable coherence for specified maximum pulsing rate and noise spectral bandwidth. We introduce numerically optimized control ''bandwidth-adapted'' sequences that saturate the performance bound and show how they outperform existing sequences in a realistic excitonic-qubit system where timing constraints are significant. As a by-product, our analysis reinforces the impossibility of fault-tolerance accuracy thresholds for generic open quantum systems under purely reversible error control.

[en] We investigate the influence of the dynamical decoupling pulses on the quantum correlations in a superconducting system consisting of two noninteracting qubits interacting with their own data buses. It is found that the geometric discord and entanglement between the two superconducting qubits can be increased by applying a train of π-phase pulses. We then proceed to explore how the decoupling pulses affect the quantum transfer of information between the two superconducting qubits by making use of the change of trace distance. (paper)

[en] In a recent protocol, partial measurement and quantum reversal are combined to suppress amplitude-damping decoherence. In the protocol, quantum states are monitored and then collapsed ones discarded before further processes. However, ideal monitoring efficiency is assumed in these recent studies. Here we study the protection of single-qubit states and two-qubit entangled states against amplitude-damping using the protocol under finite-monitoring efficiency. Fidelity and concurrence are evaluated to quantify the effect of protection. We show that the effect is weakened distinctly and affected by various parameters. It even becomes worse in conditions where protection with ideal efficiency can obtain the best effect. A criterion for deciding whether to apply the protocol is given. The parameters to obtain optimal effect are also studied. (paper)

[en] We give a separability criterion for three qubit states in terms of diagonal and anti-diagonal entries. This gives us a complete characterization of separability when all the entries are zero except for diagonal and anti-diagonals. The criterion is expressed in terms of a norm arising from anti-diagonal entries. We compute this norm in several cases, so that we get criteria with which we can decide the separability by routine computations. (paper)