English

Mutually unbiased bases for the rotor degree of freedom

Quantum Physics 2012-05-24 v2

Abstract

We consider the existence of a continuous set of mutually unbiased bases for the continuous and periodic degree of freedom that describes motion on a circle (rotor degree of freedom). By a singular mapping of the circle to the line, we find a first, but somewhat unsatisfactory, continuous set which does not relate to an underlying Heisenberg pair of complementary observables. Then, by a nonsingular mapping of the discrete angular momentum basis of the rotor onto the Fock basis for linear motion, we construct such a Heisenberg pair for the rotor and use it to obtain a second, fully satisfactory, set of mutually unbiased bases.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1203.5201,
  title  = {Mutually unbiased bases for the rotor degree of freedom},
  author = {Xin Lü and Philippe Raynal and Berthold-Georg Englert},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1203.5201},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

9 pages, 4 figures