BEADS: a canonical visualization of quantum states for applications in quantum information processing

Abstract We introduce a generalized phase-space representation of qubit systems called the BEADS representation which makes it possible to visualize arbitrary quantum states in an intuitive and an easy to grasp way. Our representation is exact, bijective, and general. It bridges the gap between the highly abstract mathematical description of quantum mechanical phenomena and the mission to convey them to non-specialists in terms of meaningful pictures and tangible models. Several levels of simplifications can be chosen, e.g. when using the BEADS representation in the communication of quantum mechanics to the general public. In particular, this visualization has predictive power in contrast to simple metaphors such as Schrödinger’s cat.