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Main Authors: Bradshaw, Peter T. J., Gouveia, Marcus, Hance, Jonte R.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.16285
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author Bradshaw, Peter T. J.
Gouveia, Marcus
Hance, Jonte R.
author_facet Bradshaw, Peter T. J.
Gouveia, Marcus
Hance, Jonte R.
contents It is well-known that any two pure quantum states (in the same Hilbert space) can be mapped to any other using unitary transformations. However, previous approaches to this problem required two explicit bases for the Hilbert space, one each for the initial and target states, and thus their complexity necessarily scales with the dimension of the Hilbert space. In this Letter, we show how to utilize novel algebraic methods to construct a closed-form exponential unitary transformation which achieves this in general, using only a single unitary generator. This construction is independent of any bases and agnostic to the dimension of the Hilbert space. We highlight the usefulness of this tool for studying relationships between systems of pure states in quantum information theory, as well in elementary analyses of quantum circuits and unitary operators.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_16285
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How to unitarily map between any two pure states with a single closed-form exponential
Bradshaw, Peter T. J.
Gouveia, Marcus
Hance, Jonte R.
Quantum Physics
Mathematical Physics
It is well-known that any two pure quantum states (in the same Hilbert space) can be mapped to any other using unitary transformations. However, previous approaches to this problem required two explicit bases for the Hilbert space, one each for the initial and target states, and thus their complexity necessarily scales with the dimension of the Hilbert space. In this Letter, we show how to utilize novel algebraic methods to construct a closed-form exponential unitary transformation which achieves this in general, using only a single unitary generator. This construction is independent of any bases and agnostic to the dimension of the Hilbert space. We highlight the usefulness of this tool for studying relationships between systems of pure states in quantum information theory, as well in elementary analyses of quantum circuits and unitary operators.
title How to unitarily map between any two pure states with a single closed-form exponential
topic Quantum Physics
Mathematical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.16285