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Main Authors: Ma, Shuowei, Wang, Qianfan, Li, Lvzhou, Shi, Fei
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10059
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author Ma, Shuowei
Wang, Qianfan
Li, Lvzhou
Shi, Fei
author_facet Ma, Shuowei
Wang, Qianfan
Li, Lvzhou
Shi, Fei
contents Quantum state tomography is essential for characterizing quantum systems, but it becomes infeasible for large systems due to exponential resource scaling. Overlapping tomography addresses this challenge by reconstructing all $k$-body marginals using few measurement settings, enabling the efficient extraction of key information for many quantum tasks. While optimal schemes are known for qubits, the extension to higher-dimensional qudit systems remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigate optimal qudit overlapping tomography, constructing local measurement settings from generalized Gell-Mann matrices. By establishing a correspondence with combinatorial covering arrays, we present two explicit constructions of optimal measurement schemes. For $n$-qutrit systems, we prove that pairwise tomography requires at most $8 + 56\left\lceil \log_{8} n \right\rceil$ measurement settings, and provide an explicit scheme achieving this bound. Furthermore, we develop an efficient algorithm to determine the optimal order of these measurement settings, minimizing the experimental overhead associated with switching configurations. Compared to the worst-case ordering, our optimized schedule reduces switching costs by approximately 50\%. These results provide a practical pathway for efficient characterization of qudit systems, facilitating their application in quantum communication and computation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_10059
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Optimal qudit overlapping tomography and optimal measurement order
Ma, Shuowei
Wang, Qianfan
Li, Lvzhou
Shi, Fei
Quantum Physics
Quantum state tomography is essential for characterizing quantum systems, but it becomes infeasible for large systems due to exponential resource scaling. Overlapping tomography addresses this challenge by reconstructing all $k$-body marginals using few measurement settings, enabling the efficient extraction of key information for many quantum tasks. While optimal schemes are known for qubits, the extension to higher-dimensional qudit systems remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigate optimal qudit overlapping tomography, constructing local measurement settings from generalized Gell-Mann matrices. By establishing a correspondence with combinatorial covering arrays, we present two explicit constructions of optimal measurement schemes. For $n$-qutrit systems, we prove that pairwise tomography requires at most $8 + 56\left\lceil \log_{8} n \right\rceil$ measurement settings, and provide an explicit scheme achieving this bound. Furthermore, we develop an efficient algorithm to determine the optimal order of these measurement settings, minimizing the experimental overhead associated with switching configurations. Compared to the worst-case ordering, our optimized schedule reduces switching costs by approximately 50\%. These results provide a practical pathway for efficient characterization of qudit systems, facilitating their application in quantum communication and computation.
title Optimal qudit overlapping tomography and optimal measurement order
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10059