<p>This problem has been studied in great detail, not just for the case of imperfectly cloning 1 qubit to get 2 copies, but more general problems of how to get m copies of a state given n copies, etc. I don't work in the area, but I'll try to give you some answers. Others may be able to provide a better answer.</p>
<p>For the problem you describe, 1 qubit to 2 qubit cloning, the optimal cloner is due to</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Bužek, Vladimir, and Mark Hillery. &quot;Quantum copying: Beyond the no-cloning theorem.&quot; Physical Review A 54, no. 3 (1996): 1844.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They show how to take an input state <span class="math-container">$|\psi\rangle$</span> and output two qubits such that the reduced density matrix of either output qubit (let's call it <span class="math-container">$\rho$</span>) satisfies <span class="math-container">$\langle\psi|\rho|\psi\rangle=5/6$</span>.</p>
<p>This was later shown to be optimal by several authors:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Bruß, Dagmar, David P. DiVincenzo, Artur Ekert, Christopher A. Fuchs, Chiara Macchiavello, and John A. Smolin. &quot;Optimal universal and state-dependent quantum cloning.&quot; Physical Review A 57, no. 4 (1998): 2368.</p>
<p>Gisin, Nicolas, and Serge Massar. &quot;Optimal quantum cloning machines.&quot; Physical review letters 79, no. 11 (1997): 2153.</p>
<p>Gisin, Nicolas. &quot;Quantum cloning without signaling.&quot; Physics Letters A, Volume 242, Issues 1–2, 1998, Pages 1-3</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A survey on the topic that covers this and much more:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Scarani, Valerio, Sofyan Iblisdir, Nicolas Gisin, and Antonio Acin. &quot;Quantum cloning.&quot; Reviews of Modern Physics 77, no. 4 (2005): 1225.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-12T11:10:42.173Z
2015-03-12T11:10:42.173Z
2020-06-17T09:38:08.363Z
Robin Kothari
<p>How well can an arbitrary unknown (quantum) state $\rvert \psi \rangle = \alpha\rvert 0 \rangle + \beta \rvert 1 \rangle$, be imperfectly/approximately cloned?</p>

<p>Given an unknown state ${\rvert \psi \rangle}$, say one can clone ${\rvert \phi \rangle}$ , such that
$${\langle \phi }{\rvert \psi \rangle}= \delta$$  </p>

<p>If $\rvert \phi \rangle$  and  $\rvert \psi \rangle$ are identical and same, $\delta = 1$, however we know, due the no cloning theorem, that $\delta&lt;1$.</p>

<p>My question is what is the 'highest' value of $\delta$ one can achieve using polynomial time 'resources', i.e. how well can an UNKNOWN quantum state be imperfectly cloned?</p>

<p>(Let's agree we $\rvert \psi \rangle$, both $\alpha, \beta$ are non-zero, i.e. not basis states)</p>

<reference-request><quantum-computing><quantum-information>
How well can an arbitrary (unknown) quantum state be imperfectly cloned?
Subhayan
# How well can an arbitrary (unknown) quantum state be imperfectly cloned?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-03-12)

How well can an arbitrary unknown (quantum) state $\rvert \psi \rangle = \alpha\rvert 0 \rangle + \beta \rvert 1 \rangle$, be imperfectly/approximately cloned?

Given an unknown state ${\rvert \psi \rangle}$, say one can clone ${\rvert \phi \rangle}$ , such that
$${\langle \phi }{\rvert \psi \rangle}= \delta$$

If $\rvert \phi \rangle$ and $\rvert \psi \rangle$ are identical and same, $\delta = 1$, however we know, due the no cloning theorem, that $\delta<1$.

My question is what is the 'highest' value of $\delta$ one can achieve using polynomial time 'resources', i.e. how well can an UNKNOWN quantum state be imperfectly cloned?

(Let's agree we $\rvert \psi \rangle$, both $\alpha, \beta$ are non-zero, i.e. not basis states)

**Tags:** reference-request, quantum-computing, quantum-information


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-03-12. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

This problem has been studied in great detail, not just for the case of imperfectly cloning 1 qubit to get 2 copies, but more general problems of how to get m copies of a state given n copies, etc. I don't work in the area, but I'll try to give you some answers. Others may be able to provide a better answer.

For the problem you describe, 1 qubit to 2 qubit cloning, the optimal cloner is due to

> Bužek, Vladimir, and Mark Hillery. "Quantum copying: Beyond the no-cloning theorem." Physical Review A 54, no. 3 (1996): 1844.

They show how to take an input state $|\psi\rangle$ and output two qubits such that the reduced density matrix of either output qubit (let's call it $\rho$) satisfies $\langle\psi|\rho|\psi\rangle=5/6$.

This was later shown to be optimal by several authors:

> Bruß, Dagmar, David P. DiVincenzo, Artur Ekert, Christopher A. Fuchs, Chiara Macchiavello, and John A. Smolin. "Optimal universal and state-dependent quantum cloning." Physical Review A 57, no. 4 (1998): 2368.
>
> Gisin, Nicolas, and Serge Massar. "Optimal quantum cloning machines." Physical review letters 79, no. 11 (1997): 2153.
>
> Gisin, Nicolas. "Quantum cloning without signaling." Physics Letters A, Volume 242, Issues 1–2, 1998, Pages 1-3

A survey on the topic that covers this and much more:

> Scarani, Valerio, Sofyan Iblisdir, Nicolas Gisin, and Antonio Acin. "Quantum cloning." Reviews of Modern Physics 77, no. 4 (2005): 1225.


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