Quantum Reference Frames and the Classification of Rotationally-Invariant Maps

TL;DR

This paper develops a new mathematical framework to analyze how quantum directional reference frames, modeled as spin-j systems, evolve under repeated covariant operations, providing insights into their degradation and classification.

Contribution

It introduces a complete representation for SU(2)-covariant maps and classifies the dynamics of quantum reference frames under repeated use, generalizing previous results.

Findings

Complete description of covariant maps using moments

Classification of spin-j system dynamics under covariant maps

Quantitative analysis of reference frame degradation

Abstract

We give a convenient representation for any map that is covariant with respect to an irreducible representation of SU(2), and use this representation to analyze the evolution of a quantum directional reference frame when it is exploited as a resource for performing quantum operations. We introduce the moments of a quantum reference frame, which serve as a complete description of its properties as a frame, and investigate how many times a quantum directional reference frame represented by a spin-j system can be used to perform a certain quantum operation with a given probability of success. We provide a considerable generalization of previous results on the degradation of a reference frame, from which follows a classification of the dynamics of spin-j system under the repeated action of any covariant map with respect to SU(2).