English

Three-dimensional visualization of a qutrit

Quantum Physics 2016-07-04 v2

Abstract

We present a surprisingly simple three-dimensional Bloch sphere representation of a qutrit, i.e., a single three-level quantum system. We start with a symmetric state of a two-qubit system and relate it to the spin-1 representation. Using this representation we associate each qutrit state with a three-dimensional vector a\mathbf{a} and a metric tensor Γ^\mathbf{\hat\Gamma} which satisfy aΓ^a1\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{\hat\Gamma} \cdot \mathbf{a}\leq 1. This resembles the well known condition for qubit Bloch vectors in which case Γ^=I^\mathbf{\hat\Gamma}=\hat{I}. In our case the vector a\mathbf{a} corresponds to spin-1 polarisation, whereas the tensor Γ^\mathbf{\hat\Gamma} is a function of polarisation uncertainties. Alternatively, a\mathbf{a} is a local Bloch vector of a symmetric two-qubit state and Γ^\mathbf{\hat\Gamma} is a function of the corresponding correlation tensor. We also discuss how a purity of states and state-dynamics is depicted in our representation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1601.07361,
  title  = {Three-dimensional visualization of a qutrit},
  author = {Pawel Kurzynski and Adrian Kolodziejski and Wieslaw Laskowski and Marcin Markiewicz},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1601.07361},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

8 pages, 6 figures, journal version

R2 v1 2026-06-22T12:37:44.831Z