Equivalence of mutually unbiased bases via orbits: general theory and a $d=4$ case study

TL;DR

This paper develops a geometric framework to classify mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) in quantum mechanics, revealing their orbit structure and applying it to simplify the classification of MUBs in dimension 4.

Contribution

It introduces a geometric approach to classify MUBs via orbit decomposition, generalizing the relation with complex Hadamard matrices and applying it to dimension 4.

Findings

Decomposes MUBs into orbits under group actions.

Establishes inequivalence of MUB lists based on orbit classification.

Reduces parameter space for MUB triples in dimension 4 by a factor of 4.

Abstract

In quantum mechanics, mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) represent orthonormal bases that are as "far apart" as possible, and their classification reveals rich underlying geometric structure. Given a complex inner product space, we construct the space of its orthonormal bases as a discrete quotient of the complete flag manifold. We introduce a metric on this space, which corresponds to the "MUBness" distance. This allows us to describe equivalence between sets of mutually unbiased bases in terms of the geometry of this space. The subspace of bases that are unbiased with respect to the standard basis decomposes into orbits under a certain group action, and this decomposition corresponds to the classification of complex Hadamard matrices. More generally, we consider a list of $k$ MUBs, that one wishes to extend. The candidates are points in the subspace comprising all bases which are unbiased with respect to the entire list. This space also decomposes into orbits under a group action, and we prove that points in distinct orbits yield inequivalent MUB lists. Thus, we generalize the relation between complex Hadamard matrices and MUBs. As an application, we identify new symmetries that reduce the parameter space of MUB triples in dimension $4$ by a factor of $4$.