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Statistical distinguishability between unitary operations

A. Acin
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Abstract

The problem of distinguishing two unitary transformations, or quantum gates, is analyzed and a function reflecting their statistical distinguishability is found. Given two unitary operations, $U_1$ and $U_2$, it is proved that there always exists a finite number $N$ such that $U_1^{\otimes N}$ and $U_2^{\otimes N}$ are perfectly distinguishable, although they were not in the single-copy case. This result can be extended to any finite set of unitary transformations. Finally, a fidelity for one-qubit gates, which satisfies many useful properties from the point of view of quantum information theory, is presented.

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A. Acin. 2001-03-07. Statistical distinguishability between unitary operations. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.87.177901

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