Remote preparation of arbitrary ensembles and quantum bit commitment

The Hughston-Jozsa-Wootters theorem shows that any finite ensemble of quantum states can be prepared "at a distance," and it has been used to demonstrate the insecurity of all bit commitment protocols based on finite quantum systems without superselection rules. In this paper, we prove a generalized HJW theorem for arbitrary ensembles of states on a C*-algebra. We then use this result to demonstrate the insecurity of bit commitment protocols based on infinite quantum systems, and quantum systems with Abelian superselection rules.