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arXiv:0801.1586 · Physical Review A

Metric character of the quantum Jensen-Shannon divergence

Pedro W. Lamberti, A. P. Majtey, Antoni Borràs, M. Casas, Angel Ricardo Plastino

Published May 9, 2008• 150 citations
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Abstract

In a recent paper, the generalization of the Jensen-Shannon divergence in the context of quantum theory has been studied [Majtey et al., Phys. Rev. A 72, 052310 (2005)]. This distance between quantum states has shown to verify several of the properties required for a good distinguishability measure. Here we investigate the metric character of this distance. More precisely we show, formally for pure states and by means of a numerical procedure for mixed states, that its square root verifies the triangle inequality.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.77.052311

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In a recent paper, the generalization of the Jensen-Shannon divergence in the context of quantum theory has been studied [Majtey et al., Phys. Rev. A 72, 052310 (2005)]. This distance between quantum states has shown to verify several of the properties required for a good distinguishability measure. Here we investigate the metric character of this distance. More precisely we show, formally for pure states and by means of a numerical procedure for mixed states, that its square root verifies the triangle inequality.
We discuss an alternative to relative entropy as a measure of distance between mixed quantum states. The proposed quantity is an extension to the realm of quantum theory of the Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD) between probability distributions. The JSD has several interesting properties. It arises in information theory and, unlike the Kullback-Leibler divergence, it is symmetric, always well-defined, and bounded. We show that the quantum JSD shares with the relative entropy most of the physically relevant properties, in particular those required for a ``good'' quantum distinguishability measure. We relate it to other known quantum distances and we suggest possible applications in the field of the quantum information theory.
Jensen-Shannon divergence (JD) is a symmetrized and smoothed version of the most important divergence measure of information theory, Kullback divergence. As opposed to Kullback divergence it determines in a very direct way a metric; indeed, it is the square of a metric. We consider a family of divergence measures (${\text{JD}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ for $\ensuremath{\alpha}>0$), the Jensen divergences of order $\ensuremath{\alpha}$, which generalize JD as JD1=JD{\text{JD}}_{1}=\text{JD}JD1​=JD. Using a result of Schoenberg, we prove that ${\text{JD}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ is the square of a metric for $\ensuremath{\alpha}∊(0,2]$, and that the resulting metric space of probability distributions can be isometrically embedded in a real Hilbert space. Quantum Jensen-Shannon divergence (QJD) is a symmetrized and smoothed version of quantum relative entropy and can be extended to a family of quantum Jensen divergences of order $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ $({\text{QJD}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}})$. We strengthen results by Lamberti and co-workers by proving that for qubits and pure states, ${\text{QJD}}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{1/2}$ is a metric space which can be isometrically embedded in a real Hilbert space when $\ensuremath{\alpha}∊(0,2]$. In analogy with Burbea and Rao's generalization of JD, we also define general QJD by associating a Jensen-type quantity to any weighted family of states. Appropriate interpretations of quantities introduced are discussed and bounds are derived in terms of the total variation and trace distance.
The notion of distinguishability between quantum states has shown to be fundamental in the frame of quantum information theory. In this paper we present a new distinguishability criterium by using a information theoretic quantity: the Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD). This quantity has several interesting properties, both from a conceptual and a formal point of view. Previous to define this distinguishability criterium, we review some of the most frequently used distances defined over quantum mechanics' Hilbert space. In this point our main claim is that the JSD can be taken as a unifying distance between quantum states.
We study symmetric divergences on Hermitian positive definite matrices generated by functions closely related to Pick-Nevanlinna functions. Our main result proves that the square root of these divergences is a distance metric. As a corollary we obtain the metric property for Quantum Jensen-Shannon-Tsallis divergences (parameterized by α∈[0,2]\alpha\in [0,2]α∈[0,2]), which in turn (for α=1\alpha=1α=1) yields a proof of the metric property conjectured by Briet and Harremoes a decade ago (\emph{Properties of classical and quantum Jensen-Shannon divergence}, Phy. Rev. A, \textbf{79}, 052311 (2009)). A somewhat more intricate argument also establishes metric properties of Jensen-Renyi divergences (for α∈(0,1)\alpha \in (0,1)α∈(0,1)), and outlines a techniques for proving this property for symmetric divergences involving completely monotonic functions.
Quantum Wasserstein divergences are modified versions of quantum Wasserstein distances defined by channels and they have been conjectured to be genuine metrics on quantum state spaces by De Palma and Trevisan. We prove triangle inequality for quantum Wasserstein divergences for every quantum system described by a separable Hilbert space and any quadratic cost operator under the assumption that a particular state involved is pure and all the states have finite energy. We also provide strong numerical evidence suggesting that the triangle inequality holds in general for an arbitrary choice of states.