1306.0978 (Aidan Roy)

Complex Lines with Restricted Angles    [PDF]

Aidan Roy

This thesis is a study of large sets of unit vectors in $\cx^n$ such that the absolute value of their standard inner products takes on only a small number of values. We begin with bounds: what is the maximal size of a set of lines with only a given set of angles? We rederive a series of upper bounds originally due to Delsarte, Goethals and Seidel, but in a novel way using only zonal polynomials and linear algebra. In the process we get some new results about complex $t$-designs and also some new characterizations of tightness. Next we consider constructions. We describe some generic constructions using linear codes and Cayley graphs, and then move to two specific instances of the problem: mutually unbiased bases and equiangular lines. Both cases are motivated by problems in quantum computing, although they have applications in digital communications as well. Mutually unbiased bases are collections of orthonormal bases with a constant angle between vectors from different bases. We construct some maximal sets in prime-power dimensions, originally due to Calderbank, Cameron, Kantor and Seidel, but again in a novel way using relative difference sets or distance-regular antipodal covers. We also detail their numerous relations to other combinatorial objects, including symplectic spreads, orthogonal decompositions of Lie algebras, and spin models. Peripherally, we discuss mutually unbiased bases in small dimensions that are not prime powers and in real vector spaces. Equiangular lines are collections of vectors with only one angle between them. We use difference sets from finite geometry to construct equiangular lines: these sets do not have maximal size, but they are maximal with respect to having all entries of the same absolute value. We also include some negative results about constructions of maximal sets in large dimensions.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.0978