The Frame Potential, on Average

Abstract

A SIC consists of N^2 equiangular unit vectors in an N dimensional Hilbert space. The frame potential is a function of N^2 unit vectors. It has a unique global minimum if the vectors form a SIC, and this property has been made use of in numerical searches for SICs. When the vectors form an orbit of the Heisenberg group the frame potential becomes a function of a single fiducial vector. We analytically compute the average of this function over Hilbert space. We also compute averages when the fiducial vector is placed in certain special subspaces defined by the Clifford group.