Certifying experimental errors in quantum experiments

TL;DR

This paper introduces tests to detect systematic errors in quantum experiments, especially in quantum state tomography, ensuring the reliability of experimental results with finite data.

Contribution

The paper develops three novel detection methods for systematic errors in quantum experiments, including linear inequality tests and a likelihood ratio approach.

Findings

Effective detection of systematic errors in ion trap quantum data

Validation of quantum state tomography accuracy

Enhanced reliability of quantum experimental analysis

Abstract

When experimental errors are ignored in an experiment, the subsequent analysis of its results becomes questionable. We develop tests to detect systematic errors in quantum experiments where only a finite amount of data is recorded and apply these tests to tomographic data taken in an ion trap experiment. We put particular emphasis on quantum state tomography and present three detection methods: the first two employ linear inequalities while the third is based on the generalized likelihood ratio.