PC/CP 351 Assignment 3

Due by February 18, 2024, 11:59 PM ET

This assignment covers content in Lectures 9 - 12.

Instructions: To receive full credit, please explain clearly the steps used to solve each problem.
The reader must be able to follow your logic. Draw a diagram when necessary.

Please submit 1 assignment per group on Gradescope and list the names of all group
members on your assignment. Instructions on how to submit the assignment online are available
on MLS.

1. Consider the 2-qubit state

𝑖 2
#01⟩ + # 10⟩
3 3

(a) Check whether this is a tensor product state or an entangled state.

First normalize the state:

If a 2-qubit state is a tensor product state then

ψ = ψ1 ⊗ ψ1 = (α1 0 + β1 1 ) ⊗ (α 2 0 + β2 1 ) = α1α 2 00 + α1β2 01 + β1α 2 10 + β1β2 11

Comparing to the given state,

𝑖 2
𝛼" 𝛼! = 0, 𝛼" 𝛽! = , 𝛽" 𝛼! = , 𝛽" 𝛽! = 0
√5 √5

Since these 4 equations cannot all be true at the same time, there is a contradiction and so this is
not a tensor product state. It is an entangled state.

(b) Alice and Bob each measure one of the two qubits. What is the probability that they get at
least one ‘0’ in their measurement outcomes?

The possible measurement outcomes are 01 and 10. In either measurement outcome there is at
least 1 ‘0’. So the probability of getting at least 1 ‘0’ is 1.

(c) What is the probability that Alice and Bob will measure their qubits and both get the result 1?
The possible measurement outcomes are 01 and 10. So the probability of getting outcome 11 is
0.

(d) If Alice and Bob each first apply a Hadamard to their qubit and then measure their qubit,
what is the probability that they will both get the result 1?

𝑖 2
𝐻# 𝐻$ |𝜓⟩ = 𝐻# 𝐻$ 5 |01⟩ + |10⟩6
√5 √5
𝑖 𝑖 𝑖 𝑖 2 2 2
=5 |00⟩ + |10⟩ − |01⟩ − |11⟩ + |00⟩ − |10⟩ + |01⟩
√20 √20 20 √20 √20 √20 √20
2
− |11⟩6
√20
% ! ! ! "
𝑃(11) = ;− ; + ;− ; =(
√!' √!'

(e) If only Alice applies the Hadamard and then measures, what is the probability that Alice
measures 0 and Bob measures 1? If only Bob applies the Hadamard and then measures, what is
the probability that Alice measures 1 and Bob measures 0? Discuss your results and what they
tell you about the state.

𝑖 2 𝑖 𝑖 2 2
𝐻# |𝜓⟩ = 𝐻# 5 |01⟩ + |10⟩6 = |01⟩ + |11⟩ + |00⟩ − |10⟩
√5 √5 √10 √10 √10 √10
% ! "
𝑃(01) = ; ; = "'
√"'

𝑖 2 𝑖 𝑖 2 2
𝐻$ |𝜓⟩ = 𝐻$ 5 |01⟩ + |10⟩6 = |00⟩ − |01⟩ + |10⟩ + |11⟩
√5 √5 √10 √10 √10 √10
! ! "
𝑃(10) = ; ; =)
√"'

Each person’s local gates impacts the 2-qubit measurement outcomes due to entanglement.

2. What is the action of the following operator on a 2-qubit state?

A swap operation U on qubits A and B switches the state of the two qubits. Therefore

𝑈(𝛼|00⟩ + 𝛽|01⟩ + 𝛾|10⟩ + 𝛿|11⟩) = |00⟩ + 𝛽|01⟩ + 𝛾|10⟩ + 𝛿|11⟩

So the swap operation is given by the matrix above. You can also check that this matrix is
unitary.

3. What is the effect of the following sequence of operations acting on 2 qubits?

𝐶"! 𝐻! 𝐻" 𝑍" 𝑌! 𝑍" 𝑌! 𝐶"! 𝐻! 𝐻"

Since Z1 and Y2 act on different qubits we can change the order of the gates (you cannot change
the order of gates acting on the same qubit).

So
𝐶"! 𝐻! 𝐻" 𝑍" 𝑌! 𝑍" 𝑌! 𝐶"! 𝐻! 𝐻" =𝐶"! 𝐻! 𝐻" 𝑍" 𝑍" 𝑌! 𝑌! 𝐶"! 𝐻! 𝐻" =𝐶"! 𝐻! 𝐻" 𝐶"! 𝐻! 𝐻"

Here we have used the fact that Z1Z1 = I, Y2Y2 = I

C12 H 1 H 2C12 H 1 H 2 00 = 00
C12 H 1 H 2C12 H 1 H 2 01 = 10
C12 H 1 H 2C12 H 1 H 2 10 = 11
C12 H 1 H 2C12 H 1 H 2 11 = 01
This is equivalent to C12C21

4. Consider Hadamard gates H1 and H 2 acting on qubits 1 and 2.

# 1 1 1 1 &
% (
1# 1 1 & # 1 1 & 1% 1 −1 1 −1 (
H1 ⊗ H 2 = % (⊗% (=
2 $ 1 −1 ' $ 1 −1 ' 2 % 1 1 −1 −1 (
% 1 −1 −1 1 ('
$

(b) Find the output state when this unitary operation is applied to the state |10>

1 1 1 1 0 1
"
𝐻" 𝐻! |10⟩ = ! B 1 −1 1 −1 0
C B C = B 1 C=! (|00⟩ + |01⟩ − |10⟩ − |11⟩)
"
1 1 −1 −1 1 −1
1 −1 −1 1 0 −1

(c) Now consider the unitary operation H1 ⊗ H 2 ⊗ H 3 acting on state |100>. What is the output
state? (Hint: use Dirac notation rather than matrix algebra)
 1 1
𝐻" 𝐻! 𝐻* |100⟩ = (|00⟩ + |01⟩ − |10⟩ − |11⟩) (|0⟩ + |1⟩)
2 √2
1
= (|000⟩ + |010⟩ − |100⟩ − |110⟩+|001⟩ + |011⟩ − |101⟩ − |111⟩)
2√2

(d) Can you predict what the output state would be if N Hadamard gates were applied to N qubits
starting in state |100..0> ?

1
+
(|0⟩ − |1⟩)(|000 … 0⟩ + |000 … 1⟩ + ⋯ |111 … 1⟩)
√2

This is an equal superposition of the basis states with a negative sign in front of half the terms.

5. Write out the superdense coding protocol for sending the message 10. Show the output of each
step explicitly.

Protocol
1. Alice and Bob each get one qubit of an entangled Bell pair
2. If x=1, Alice applies Z. If y=1 she applies X
3. Alice sends her qubit to Bob
4. Bob applies a CNOT with Alice’s qubit as a control
5. Bob then applies a Hadamard to Alice’s qubit
6. Bob measures both qubits

xy=10

1 1
1. |𝜓#$ ⟩ = |00⟩ + |11⟩
√2 √2
1 1
2. 𝑍# |𝜓#$ ⟩ = |00⟩ − |11⟩
√2 √2
1 1
3. |𝜓#$ ⟩ = |00⟩ − |11⟩
√2 √2
1 1
4. 𝐶𝑁𝑂𝑇#$ 𝑍# |𝜓#$ ⟩ = |00⟩ −
|10⟩
√2 √2
1 1 1 1
5. 𝐻# 𝐶𝑁𝑂𝑇#$ 𝑍# |𝜓#$ ⟩ = |00⟩ + |10⟩ − |00⟩ + |10⟩ = |10⟩
2 2 2 2

6. 𝑃(10) = 1