In estimating an unknown parameter of a quantum state the quantum Fisher information (QFI) is a pivotal quantity, which depends on the state and its derivate with respect to the unknown parameter. We prove the continuity property for the QFI in the sense that two close states with close first derivatives have close QFIs. This property is completely general and irrespective of dynamics or how states acquire their parameter dependence and also the form of parameter dependence---indeed this continuity is basically a feature of the classical Fisher information that in the case of the QFI naturally carries over from the manifold of probability distributions onto the manifold of density matrices. We demonstrate that, in the special case where the dependence of the states on the unknown parameter comes from one dynamical map (quantum channel), the continuity holds in its reduced form with respect to the initial states. In addition, we show that, when one initial state evolves through two different quantum channels, the continuity relation applies in its general form. A situation in which such a scenario can occur is an open-system metrology where one of the maps represents the ideal dynamics, whereas the other map represents the real (noisy) dynamics. In the making of our main result, we also introduce a regularized representation for the symmetric logarithmic derivative which works for general states even with incomplete rank, and it features continuity similar to the QFI.
In estimating an unknown parameter of a quantum state the quantum Fisher information (QFI) is a pivotal quantity, which depends on the state and its derivate with respect to the unknown parameter. We prove the continuity property for the QFI in the sense that two close states with close first derivatives have close QFIs. This property is completely general and irrespective of dynamics or how states acquire their parameter dependence and also the form of parameter dependence---indeed this continuity is basically a feature of the classical Fisher information that in the case of the QFI naturally carries over from the manifold of probability distributions onto the manifold of density matrices. We demonstrate that, in the special case where the dependence of the states on the unknown parameter comes from one dynamical map (quantum channel), the continuity holds in its reduced form with respect to the initial states. In addition, we show that, when one initial state evolves through two different quantum channels, the continuity relation applies in its general form. A situation in which such a scenario can occur is an open-system metrology where one of the maps represents the ideal dynamics, whereas the other map represents the real (noisy) dynamics. In the making of our main result, we also introduce a regularized representation for the symmetric logarithmic derivative which works for general states even with incomplete rank, and it features continuity similar to the QFI.
Open quantum system dynamics traditionally described by a quantum master equation can be effectively reformulated in the Liouville space of vectorised density matrices. Despite an extensive use of the Liouville space framework to describe quantum states evolution, its application to quantum metrology is not well explored. Several papers have studied a Liouville-space generalisation of the quantum Fisher information, called the dissipative quantum Fisher information (DQFI). We perform a comparative study between the quantum Fisher information (QFI) in Hilbert space and DQFI, deriving an explicit relation between the two quantities for qubit, qudit, and harmonic oscillator systems. The derived relations are nontrivial, and depend on the state's purity. We show that for a single qubit, the QFI can be efficiently recovered from the DQFI via a simple mapping, while in higher dimensions the expression becomes convoluted and does not convert to a compact form. We find examples where the DQFI is neither an upper nor lower bound for the Hilbert space QFI, and suggest that the informational content of the DQFI itself cannot be straightforwardly interpreted. Our results clarify the limitations of the Liouville space based approach and structural differences with the QFI in the context of quantum parameter estimation problem.
The dissipative quantum Fisher information (DQFI) for a dynamic map with a general parameter in an open quantum system is investigated, which can be regarded as an analog of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) in the Liouville space. We first derive a general dissipative generator in the Liouville space, and based on its decomposition form, find the DQFI stems from two parts. One is the dependence of eigenvalues of the Liouvillian supermatrix on the estimated parameter, which shows a linear dependence on time. The other is the variation of the eigenvectors with the estimated parameter. The relationship between this part and time presents rich characteristics, including harmonic oscillation, pure exponential gain and attenuation, as well as exponential gain and attenuation of oscillatory type, which depend specifically on the properties of the Liouville spectrum. This is in contrast to that of the conventional generator, where only oscillatory dependencies are seen. Further, we illustrate the theory through a toy model: a two-level system with spin-flip noise. Especially, by using the DQFI, we demonstrated that the exceptional estimation precision cannot be obtained at the Liouvillian exceptional point.
We prove an extended convexity for quantum Fisher information of a mixed state with a given convex decomposition. This convexity introduces a bound which has two parts: (i) The classical part associated with the Fisher information of the probability distribution of the states contributing to the decomposition, and (ii) the quantum part given by the average quantum Fisher information of the states in this decomposition. Next we use a non-Hermitian extension of a symmetric logarithmic derivative in order to obtain another upper bound on quantum Fisher information, which helps to derive a closed form for the bound in evolutions having the semigroup property. We enhance the extended convexity with this concept of a non-Hermitian symmetric logarithmic derivative (which we show is computable) to lay out a general metrology framework where the dynamics is described by a quantum channel and derive the ultimate precision limit for open-system quantum metrology. We illustrate our results and their applications through two examples where we also demonstrate how the extended convexity allows identifying a crossover between quantum and classical behaviors for metrology.
In this thesis, I focus on the quantum Fisher information (QFI) - a central quantity in parameter estimation theory for quantum systems, which provides a lower bound on the precision one can achieve. In the first part of the thesis, I explore a Lie algebraic approach to evaluate the quantum Fisher information for unitary dynamics. I show how the Lie algebra associated with the unitary evolution, together with the initial state, allows one to compute various quantities of interest, circumventing the computation of the time-evolved state. In particular, I apply this shortcut approach to calculate the QFI and use it for the QFI evaluation in various prototype models, both finiteand infinite-dimensional. In the second part of the thesis, I shift focus to non-unitary dynamics, such as those described by a quantum master equation. In this setting, I theoretically study the description of open system dynamics in the Liouville space of vectorized density matrices and investigate the so-called dissipative quantum Fisher information (DQFI) within that framework. Specifically, I demonstrate how the metric defined in Liouville space differs from its counterpart in Hilbert space. I establish a map between the Hilbert space QFI and the Liouville dissipative quantum Fisher information for qubit and qudit systems, expressed via the quantum state’s purity. Furthermore, I discuss the physical meaning of the DQFI by studying its behavior under completely positive trace-preserving (CPTP) maps. The present results demonstrate that the Lie algebraic approach provides a computationally efficient framework for the QFI evaluation. This approach allows to avoid the explicit solution of quantum dynamics, and remains well-defined in cases when conventional approaches like WeiNorman expansion exhibit singularities.
Quantum Fisher information (QFI) plays an important role in quantum metrology, placing the ultimate limit to how precise we can estimate some unknown parameter and thus quantifying how much information we can extract. We observe that both the wave and particle properties within a Mach–Zehnder interferometer can naturally be quantified by QFI. Firstly, the particle property can be quantified by how well one can estimate the a priori probability of the path taken by the particle within the interferometer. Secondly, as the interference pattern is always related to some phase difference, the wave property can be quantified by how well one can estimate the phase parameter of the original state. With QFI as the unified figure of merit for both properties, we propose a more general and stronger wave-particle duality relation than the original one derived by Englert.
The quantum Fisher information (QFI), as a function of quantum states, measures the amount of information that a quantum state carries about an unknown parameter.The (entanglement-assisted) QFI of a quantum channel is defined to be the maximum QFI of the output state assuming an entangled input state over a single probe and an ancilla.In quantum metrology, people are interested in calculating the QFI of N identical copies of a quantum channel when N → ∞, which is called the asymptotic QFI.Over the years, researchers found various types of upper bounds of the asymptotic QFI, but they were proven achievable only in several specific situations.It was known that the asymptotic QFI of an arbitrary quantum channel grows either linearly or quadratically with N .Here we show that a simple criterion can determine whether the scaling is linear or quadratic.In both cases, the asymptotic QFI and a quantum error correction protocol to achieve it are computable via a semidefinite program.When the scaling is quadratic, the Heisenberg limit, a feature of noiseless quantum channels, is recovered.When the scaling is linear, we show that the asymptotic QFI is still in general larger than N times the single-channel QFI and, furthermore, that sequential estimation strategies provide no advantage over parallel ones.