Mutually unbiased bases and discrete Wigner functions

• Mutually unbiased bases and discrete Wigner functions are closely but not uniquely related. Such a connection becomes more interesting when the Hilbert space has a dimension that is a power of a prime N=d(n), which describes a composite system of n qudits. Hence, entanglement naturally enters the picture. Although our results are general, we concentrate on the simplest nontrivial example of dimension N=8=2(3). It is shown that the number of fundamentally different Wigner functions is severely limited if one simultaneously imposes translational covariance and that the generating operators consist of rotations around two orthogonal axes, acting on the individual qubits only.

Keyword

quantum-state tomography

prime power dimensions

mean kings problem

hilbert-space

systems

spin

separability

mechanics

operators

geometry

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)