Abstract
We solve the long-standing problem of making perfect clones from copies of one of two known pure states with minimum failure probability in the general case where the known states have arbitrary a priori probabilities. The solution emerges from a geometric formulation of the problem. This formulation reveals that cloning converges to state discrimination followed by state preparation as the number of clones goes to infinity. The convergence exhibits a phenomenon analogous to a second-order symmetry-breaking phase transition.
- Received 28 May 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.200401
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