Exact distinguishability between real-valued and complex-valued Haar random quantum states

Quantum 10, 2120 (2026).

https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2026-05-29-2120

Haar random states are fundamental objects in quantum information theory and quantum computing. We study the density matrix resulting from sampling $t$ copies of a $d$-dimensional quantum state according to the Haar measure on the orthogonal group. In particular, we analytically compute its spectral decomposition. This allows us to compute exactly the trace distance between $t$-copies of a real Haar random state and $t$-copies of a complex Haar random state. Using this we show a lower-bound on the approximation parameter of real-valued state $t$-designs and improve the lower-bound on the number of copies required for imaginarity testing.