English

When can perfect state transfer occur?

Combinatorics 2011-01-05 v2 Quantum Physics

Abstract

Let XX be a graph on nn vertices with with adjacency matrix AA and let H(t)H(t) denote the matrix-valued function exp(iAt)\exp(iAt). If uu and vv are distinct vertices in XX, we say perfect state transfer from uu to vv occurs if there is a time τ\tau such that H(τ)u,v=1|H({\tau})_{u,v}| = 1. Our chief problem is to characterize the cases where perfect state transfer occurs. We show that if perfect state transfer does occur in a graph, then the spectral radius is an integer or a quadratic irrational; using this we prove that there are only finitely many graphs with perfect state transfer and with maximum valency at most 4K4. We also show that if perfect state transfer from uu to vv occurs, then the graphs XuX\setminus u and XvX\setminus v are cospectral and any automorphism of XX that fixes uu must fix vv (and conversely).

Cite

@article{arxiv.1011.0231,
  title  = {When can perfect state transfer occur?},
  author = {Chris Godsil},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1011.0231},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

16 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-21T16:36:50.442Z