Technical Companion: Approximation and Accounting for Quantum Sources
A noisy delayed trine process: exact qutrit realizations
A noisy delayed trine process: exact qutrit realizations
The formerly unresolved positive-noise case admits an exact three-dimensional quantum source in a nonempty, explicitly certified regime. This improves the two-qubit upper bound. The result preserves every finite output word, and its cone constraints are certified on an entire parameter interval by exact rational arithmetic. A separate analytic construction gives a narrower interval without computer-assisted positivity checks. Both constructions use ordinary quantum instruments; neither derives the Born rule or an actual-event selection law.
Process, source class and baseline bounds
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For 0 ≤λ ≤1, write r = 1 −λ and
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T λ aa = 1 −r 3 , T λ ab = 1 + r/2 3 (a ̸= b). (1)
All parameters and probabilities are dimensionless. Interleave two independent stationary chains with this symmetric doubly stochastic transition matrix. The stationary word law is
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n−2 Y Pλ(y1 · · · yn) = 1 t=1 T λ yt,yt+2, n ≥2, Pλ(y1) = 1/3. (2) 9
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The source class is a time-homogeneous quantum instrument on Cd: CP maps Φj with P j Φj trace preserving, a stationary density matrix ω, and word probabilities Tr[Φyn · · · Φy1(ω)]. Outputs are emitted into a retained classical archive. The current symbol need not occupy an orthogonal sector of the internal memory. Fresh Markov environments are admitted explicitly; the cost d counts internal memory, not archives, purifying environments, or a hidden history-dependent controller.
The eigenvalues of are 1
2. For
1 the past-two/future-two cut matrix
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Hab,cd = 1 9T λ acT λ bd (3)
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has ordinary rank nine. Classical finite HMMs factor this matrix through their hidden states, so require at least nine. Explicitly, the pair source has states (a, b), transition (a, b) 7→(b, j) with probability T λ aj, uniform stationary weights 1/9, and emitted symbol j at its update; it attains the full law with nine states. A d-dimensional instrument gives factors Aab = ΦbΦa(ω) and Bcd = Φ∗ cΦ∗ d(I), with Hab,cd = Tr(AabBcd), in the d2-dimensional real space of Hermitian matrices, so d ≥3. A four-dimensional construction exists for every λ. With equatorial trine Bloch vectors na, let ρa = (I + na · σ)/2 and Ej = (I −rnj · σ)/3. Then
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Φ(4) j (X) = Tr1[(Ej ⊗I)X] ⊗ρj (4)
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is CP, has effects Ej ⊗I summing to identity, and fixes I4/4 after summing j. It sends ρa ⊗ρb to T λ ajρb ⊗ρj, establishing every word of (2). Thus
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3 ≤dmin(λ) ≤4 (0 ≤λ < 1), (5)
whereas at = 1 the law is iid uniform and
= 1. The rank argument and quantum-process framework have established antecedents [5, 8]; no new rank method is claimed.
A general exact encoded-pair construction
Let have zero sum, and let a diagonal metric
= diag(
) obey
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2 X ( 1 a = j, −1/2 a ̸= j. μ=1 gμxaμxjμ =
Let be any basis of traceless Hermitian 3
3 matrices. Use the contractions
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Aa = X μ xaμAμ, Bb = X ν xbνBν, Cab = X μ,ν xaμxbνCμν, Cν,j = X η xjηCνη.
For nonzero positive coefficients, define candidate pair states
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Sab = I3/3 + uAa + vBb + wCab, Rj = I3/3 + vBj. (6)
Specify a Hermiticity-preserving complex-linear map by its values on the Hermitian basis:
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Φj(I3/3) = Rj/3, (7) Φj(Aμ) = −r 3ugμxjμRj, (8) Φj(Bν) = u 3vAν + w 3vCν,j, (9) Φj(Cμν) = −ru 3wgμxjμAν −r 3gμxjμCν,j. (10)
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Lemma 1.1 (Exact update and full-law realization). If all Sab are positive and all maps in (10) are CP, then they form a quantum instrument with stationary state I3/3 and generate (2) exactly. In particular, Φj(Sab) = T λ ajSbj. (11)
For this attains the minimum dimension three.
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Proof. All basis matrices except I are traceless, so the candidates have trace one. Expand (10) on (6), writing qaj = P μ gμxaμxjμ. The constant and a terms give (1 −rqaj)Rj/3; the b and ab terms give (1 −rqaj)(uAb + wCbj)/3. This is T λ ajSbj, proving the update. Summing the trace of the maps on the basis yields trace preservation: the I/3 traces sum to one, the A traces vanish because P j xj = 0, and the B, C images are traceless. Summing Φj(I/3) = Rj/3 gives I/3, proving stationarity. The first output j has probability 1/3 and leaves state Rj. A direct application gives Φk(Rj) = Sjk/3, so the second output is independent uniform and leaves Sjk. Every later update is (11); induction proves all finite words. This does not infer temporal independence from a reset: it uses the explicitly specified CP instrument at every step. Finally (3) gives the matching dimension-three lower bound.
For positive, the nine candidate matrices span the full Hermitian qutrit space. The functions
form a basis of functions on three labels; their tensor products provide the nine independent coordinate functions used above. Thus the construction is not silently collapsing an unobserved classical coordinate or omitting an internal controller.
An analytic high-noise interval
Choose the ordinary unit trine coordinatescos
sin
= 1, and an orthonormal traceless Hermitian basis with Tr(
, split as the
basis above. Put
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r = ε3, u = ε2, v = ε, w = ε3, 0 < ε ≤1/7. (12)
The state perturbation has exact squared Frobenius norm
9, so every
is positive. For the unnormalized Choi matrix
of (10), the depolarizing branch
Tr
9 has Choi matrix
9. Orthonormality of the input basis makes squared Frobenius norms add, giving
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9 (1/3 + ε2) + 2(ε2 + ε4) 9 + 2(ε4 + ε6) ∥Jj −I9/9∥2 F = ε2 3 + ε2 9 = 16ε2 27 + 5ε4 9 + 2ε6 9 . (13)
At7, eighty-one times this expression is 117471
1; the expression increases with
The operator norm is at most the Frobenius norm, so
is strictly positive and the map is CP by the Choi criterion [1]. Lemma 1.1 therefore proves
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dmin(λ) = 3 for 342/343 ≤λ < 1. (14)
This is a complete analytic interval proof, independent of the sharper finite certificate below.
A larger interval certified entirely by rational arithmetic
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Take rational trine coordinates
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x0 = (1, 0), x1 = (−1/2, 1/2), x2 = (−1/2, −1/2), (g1, g2) = (1, 3).
Let denote matrix units and set
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A1 = E01 + E10, A2 = −iE01 + iE10, B1 = E02 + E20, B2 = −iE02 + iE20, C11 = E12 + E21, C12 = −iE12 + iE21, C21 = diag(1, −1, 0), C22 = diag(1, 1, −2).
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These are orthogonal, with squared Frobenius norms two except ∥C22∥2 F = 6. This is a different, explicitly specified frame from the preceding analytic construction. Put
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r = ε3, u = αε2, v = βε, w = γε3, (α, β, γ) = (3/8, 3/4, 3/4), 0 < ε ≤h := 7/20. (15)
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The maps and states are now degree-three matrix polynomials in ε, with Gaussian rational coefficients. Here are explicit coefficients, making the positivity certificate reconstructible without fitting numerical samples. Superscript ∨denotes the Hilbert–Schmidt dual basis (F ∨= F/2, except C∨ 22 = C22/6). Define Ag,∨ j = X μ gμxjμA∨ μ, Cg,∨ j,ν = X μ gμxjμC∨ μν.
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In the convention Jj = P pq Epq ⊗Φj(Epq), write Jj(ε) = P3 l=0 εlJjl. Then
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Jj0 = I9/9, (16) Jj1 = β 3 I ⊗Bj −1 9α(Ag,∨ j )T ⊗I + α ν (B∨ ν )T ⊗Aν, (17) X 3β Jj2 = −β 3α(Ag,∨ j )T ⊗Bj + γ ν (B∨ ν )T ⊗Cν,j X 3β −α ν (Cg,∨ j,ν )T ⊗Aν, (18) X 3γ Jj3 = −1 ν (Cg,∨ j,ν )T ⊗Cν,j. (19) X 3
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For any degree-three matrix polynomial P(ε) = P l εlPl, its Bernstein representation on [0, h] is