In recent years it has been recognized that properties of physical systems such as entanglement, athermality, and asymmetry, can be viewed as resources for important tasks in quantum information, thermodynamics, and other areas of physics. This recognition was followed by the development of specific quantum resource theories (QRTs), such as entanglement theory, determining how quantum states that cannot be prepared under certain restrictions may be manipulated and used to circumvent the restrictions. Here we discuss the general structure of QRTs, and show that under a few assumptions (such as convexity of the set of free states), a QRT is asymptotically reversible if its set of allowed operations is maximal, that is, if the allowed operations are the set of all operations that do not generate (asymptotically) a resource. In this case, the asymptotic conversion rate is given in terms of the regularized relative entropy of a resource which is the unique measure or quantifier of the resource in the asymptotic limit of many copies of the state. This measure also equals the smoothed version of the logarithmic robustness of the resource.
In recent years it has been recognized that properties of physical systems such as entanglement, athermality, and asymmetry, can be viewed as resources for important tasks in quantum information, thermodynamics, and other areas of physics. This recognition was followed by the development of specific quantum resource theories (QRTs), such as entanglement theory, determining how quantum states that cannot be prepared under certain restrictions may be manipulated and used to circumvent the restrictions. Here we discuss the general structure of QRTs, and show that under a few assumptions (such as convexity of the set of free states), a QRT is asymptotically reversible if its set of allowed operations is maximal, that is, if the allowed operations are the set of all operations that do not generate (asymptotically) a resource. In this case, the asymptotic conversion rate is given in terms of the regularized relative entropy of a resource which is the unique measure or quantifier of the resource in the asymptotic limit of many copies of the state. This measure also equals the smoothed version of the logarithmic robustness of the resource.
A question that is commonly asked in all areas of physics is how a certain property of a physical system can be used to achieve useful tasks and how to quantify the amount of such a property in a meaningful way. We answer this question by showing that, in a general resource-theoretic framework that allows the use of free states as catalysts, the amount of "resources" contained in a given state, in the asymptotic scenario, is equal to the regularized relative entropy of a resource of that state. While we need to place a few assumptions on our resource-theoretical framework, it is still sufficiently general, and its special cases include quantum resource theories of entanglement, coherence, asymmetry, athermality, nonuniformity, and purity. As a by-product, our result also implies that the amount of noise one has to inject locally to erase all the entanglement contained in an entangled state is equal to the regularized relative entropy of entanglement.
Quantum resource theories (QRTs) provide a unified theoretical framework for understanding inherent quantum-mechanical properties that serve as resources in quantum information processing, but resources motivated by physics may possess intractable mathematical structure to analyze, such as non-uniqueness of maximally resourceful states, lack of convexity, and infinite dimension. We investigate state conversion and resource measures in general QRTs under minimal assumptions to figure out universal properties of physically motivated quantum resources that may have such intractable mathematical structure. In the general setting, we prove the existence of maximally resourceful states in one-shot state conversion. Also analyzing asymptotic state conversion, we discover catalytic replication of quantum resources, where a resource state is infinitely replicable by free operations. In QRTs without assuming uniqueness of maximally resourceful states, we formulate the tasks of distillation and formation of quantum resources, and introduce distillable resource and resource cost based on the distillation and the formation, respectively. Furthermore, we introduce consistent resource measures that quantify the amount of quantum resources without contradicting the rate of state conversion even in QRTs with non-unique maximally resourceful states. Progressing beyond the previous work showing a uniqueness theorem for additive resource measures, we prove the corresponding uniqueness inequality for the consistent resource measures; that is, consistent resource measures of a quantum state take values between the distillable resource and the resource cost of the state. These formulations and results establish a foundation of QRTs applicable to mathematically intractable but physically motivated quantum resources in a unified way.
Quantum resource theories (QRTs) provide a unified theoretical framework for understanding inherent quantum-mechanical properties that serve as resources in quantum information processing, but resources motivated by physics may possess structure whose analysis is mathematically intractable, such as non-uniqueness of maximally resourceful states, lack of convexity, and infinite dimension. We investigate state conversion and resource measures in general QRTs under minimal assumptions to figure out universal properties of physically motivated quantum resources that may have such mathematical structure whose analysis is intractable. In the general setting, we prove the existence of maximally resourceful states in one-shot state conversion. Also analyzing asymptotic state conversion, we discover catalytic replication of quantum resources, where a resource state is infinitely replicable by free operations. In QRTs without assuming the uniqueness of maximally resourceful states, we formulate the tasks of distillation and formation of quantum resources, and introduce distillable resource and resource cost based on the distillation and the formation, respectively. Furthermore, we introduce consistent resource measures that quantify the amount of quantum resources without contradicting the rate of state conversion even in QRTs with non-unique maximally resourceful states. Progressing beyond the previous work showing a uniqueness theorem for additive resource measures, we prove the corresponding uniqueness inequality for the consistent resource measures; that is, consistent resource measures of a quantum state take values between the distillable resource and the resource cost of the state. These formulations and results establish a foundation of QRTs applicable in a unified way to physically motivated quantum resources whose analysis can be mathematically intractable.
Among the most fundamental questions in the manipulation of quantum resources such as entanglement is the possibility of reversibly transforming all resource states. The key consequence of this would be the identification of a unique entropic resource measure that exactly quantifies the limits of achievable transformation rates. Remarkably, previous results claimed that such asymptotic reversibility holds true in very general settings; however, recently those findings have been found to be incomplete, casting doubt on the conjecture. Here we show that it is indeed possible to reversibly interconvert all states in general quantum resource theories, as long as one allows protocols that may only succeed probabilistically. Although such transformations have some chance of failure, we show that their success probability can be ensured to be bounded away from zero, even in the asymptotic limit of infinitely many manipulated copies. As in previously conjectured approaches, the achievability here is realised through operations that are asymptotically resource non-generating, and we show that this choice is optimal: smaller sets of transformations cannot lead to reversibility. Our methods are based on connecting the transformation rates under probabilistic protocols with strong converse rates for deterministic transformations, which we strengthen into an exact equivalence in the case of entanglement distillation.
We review the basic idea behind resource theories, where we quantify quantum resources by specifying a restricted class of operations. This divides the state space into various sets, including states which are free (because they can be created under the class of operations), and those which are a resource (because they cannot be). One can quantify the worth of the resource by the relative entropy distance to the set of free states, and under certain conditions, this is a unique measure which quantifies the rate of state to state transitions. The framework includes entanglement, asymmetry and purity theory. It also includes thermodynamics, which is a hybrid resource theory combining purity theory and asymmetry. Another hybrid resource theory which merges purity theory and entanglement can be used to study quantumness of correlations and discord, and we present quantumness in this more general framework of resource theories.
We review the basic idea behind resource theories, where we quantify quantum resources by specifying a restricted class of operations. This divides the state space into various sets, including states which are free (because they can be created under the class of operations), and those which are a resource (because they cannot be). One can quantify the worth of the resource by the relative entropy distance to the set of free states, and under certain conditions, this is a unique measure which quantifies the rate of state to state transitions. The framework includes entanglement, asymmetry and purity theory. It also includes thermodynamics, which is a hybrid resource theory combining purity theory and asymmetry. Another hybrid resource theory which merges purity theory and entanglement can be used to study quantumness of correlations and discord, and we present quantumness in this more general framework of resource theories.