Finite geometry behind the Harvey-Chryssanthacopoulos four-qubit magic rectangle
Author(s) -
Метод Санига,
Michel Planat
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
quantum information and computation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.504
H-Index - 73
ISSN - 1533-7146
DOI - 10.26421/qic12.11-12-8
Subject(s) - mathematics , rectangle , observable , finite geometry , qubit , fano plane , projective space , affine space , symplectic geometry , combinatorics , pure mathematics , geometry , physics , quantum mechanics , affine transformation , quantum , projective test
A "magic rectangle" of eleven observables of four qubits, employed by Harvey and Chryssanthacopoulos (2008) to prove the Bell-Kochen-Specker theorem in a 16-dimensional Hilbert space, is given a neat finite-geometrical reinterpretation in terms of the structure of the symplectic polar space $W(7, 2)$ of the real four-qubit Pauli group. Each of the four sets of observables of cardinality five represents an elliptic quadric in the three-dimensional projective space of order two (PG$(3, 2)$) it spans, whereas the remaining set of cardinality four corresponds to an affine plane of order two. The four ambient PG$(3, 2)$s of the quadrics intersect pairwise in a line, the resulting six lines meeting in a point. Projecting the whole configuration from this distinguished point (observable) one gets another, complementary "magic rectangle" of the same qualitative structure.
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