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arXiv:1604.04600 · Electronic Journal of Statistics

Estimation of low rank density matrices: Bounds in Schatten norms and other distances

Dong Xia, Vladimir I. Koltchinskii

Published Jan 1, 2016• 16 citations
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Abstract

Let $\mathcal{S}_{m}$ be the set of all $m\times m$ density matrices (Hermitian positively semi-definite matrices of unit trace). Consider a problem of estimation of an unknown density matrix $\rho\in\mathcal{S}_{m}$ based on outcomes of $n$ measurements of observables $X_{1},\dots,X_{n}\in\mathbb{H}_{m}$ ($\mathbb{H}_{m}$ being the space of $m\times m$ Hermitian matrices) for a quantum system identically prepared $n$ times in state $\rho.$ Outcomes $Y_{1},\dots,Y_{n}$ of such measurements could be described by a trace regression model in which $\mathbb{E}_{\rho}(Y_{j}|X_{j})={\rm tr}(\rho X_{j}),j=1,\dots,n.$ The design variables $X_{1},\dots,X_{n}$ are often sampled at random from the uniform distribution in an orthonormal basis $\{E_{1},\dots,E_{m^{2}}\}$ of $\mathbb{H}_{m}$ (such as Pauli basis). The goal is to estimate the unknown density matrix $\rho$ based on the data $(X_{1},Y_{1}),\dots,(X_{n},Y_{n}).$ Let \[\hat{Z}:=\frac{m^{2}}{n}\sum_{j=1}^{n}Y_{j}X_{j}\] and let $\check{\rho}$ be the projection of $\hat{Z}$ onto the convex set $\mathcal{S}_{m}$ of density matrices. It is shown that for estimator $\check{\rho}$ the minimax lower bounds in classes of low rank density matrices (established earlier) are attained up logarithmic factors for all Schatten $p$-norm distances, $p\in[1,\infty]$ and for Bures version of quantum Hellinger distance. Moreover, for a slightly modified version of estimator $\check{\rho}$ the same property holds also for quantum relative entropy (Kullback-Leibler) distance between density matrices.

DOI
10.1214/16-ejs1192

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Let Sm\mathcal{S}_{m}Sm​ be the set of all m×mm\times mm×m density matrices (Hermitian positively semi-definite matrices of unit trace). Consider a problem of estimation of an unknown density matrix ρ∈Sm\rho\in\mathcal{S}_{m}ρ∈Sm​ based on outcomes of nnn measurements of observables X1,…,Xn∈HmX_{1},\dots,X_{n}\in\mathbb{H}_{m}X1​,…,Xn​∈Hm​ (Hm\mathbb{H}_{m}Hm​ being the space of m×mm\times mm×m Hermitian matrices) for a quantum system identically prepared nnn times in state ρ.\rho.ρ. Outcomes Y1,…,YnY_{1},\dots,Y_{n}Y1​,…,Yn​ of such measurements could be described by a trace regression model in which Eρ(Yj∣Xj)=tr(ρXj),j=1,…,n.\mathbb{E}_{\rho}(Y_{j}|X_{j})={\rm tr}(\rho X_{j}),j=1,\dots,n.Eρ​(Yj​∣Xj​)=tr(ρXj​),j=1,…,n. The design variables X1,…,XnX_{1},\dots,X_{n}X1​,…,Xn​ are often sampled at random from the uniform distribution in an orthonormal basis {E1,…,Em2}\{E_{1},\dots,E_{m^{2}}\}{E1​,…,Em2​} of Hm\mathbb{H}_{m}Hm​ (such as Pauli basis). The goal is to estimate the unknown density matrix ρ\rhoρ based on the data (X1,Y1),…,(Xn,Yn).(X_{1},Y_{1}),\dots,(X_{n},Y_{n}).(X1​,Y1​),…,(Xn​,Yn​). Let [\hat{Z}:=\frac{m^{2}}{n}\sum_{j=1}^{n}Y_{j}X_{j}] and let ρˇ\check{\rho}ρˇ​ be the projection of Z^\hat{Z}Z^ onto the convex set Sm\mathcal{S}_{m}Sm​ of density matrices. It is shown that for estimator ρˇ\check{\rho}ρˇ​ the minimax lower bounds in classes of low rank density matrices (established earlier) are attained up logarithmic factors for all Schatten ppp-norm distances, p∈[1,∞]p\in[1,\infty]p∈[1,∞] and for Bures version of quantum Hellinger distance. Moreover, for a slightly modified version of estimator ρˇ\check{\rho}ρˇ​ the same property holds also for quantum relative entropy (Kullback-Leibler) distance between density matrices.
The density matrices are positively semi-definite Hermitian matrices of unit trace that describe the state of a quantum system. The goal of the paper is to develop minimax lower bounds on error rates of estimation of low rank density matrices in trace regression models used in quantum state tomography (in particular, in the case of Pauli measurements) with explicit dependence of the bounds on the rank and other complexity parameters. Such bounds are established for several statistically relevant distances, including quantum versions of Kullback-Leibler divergence (relative entropy distance) and of Hellinger distance (so called Bures distance), and Schatten ppp-norm distances. Sharp upper bounds and oracle inequalities for least squares estimator with von Neumann entropy penalization are obtained showing that minimax lower bounds are attained (up to logarithmic factors) for these distances.
Density matrices are positively semi-definite Hermitian matrices with unit trace that describe the states of quantum systems. Many quantum systems of physical interest can be represented as high-dimensional low rank density matrices. A popular problem in quantum state tomography (QST) is to estimate the unknown low rank density matrix of a quantum system by conducting Pauli measurements. Our main contribution is twofold. First, we establish the minimax lower bounds in Schatten ppp-norms with 1≤p≤+∞1\leq p\leq+\infty1≤p≤+∞ for low rank density matrices estimation by Pauli measurements. In our previous paper [14], these minimax lower bounds are proved under the trace regression model with Gaussian noise and the noise is assumed to have common variance. In this paper, we prove these bounds under the Binomial observation model which meets the actual model in QST. Second, we study the Dantzig estimator (DE) for estimating the unknown low rank density matrix under the Binomial observation model by using Pauli measurements. In our previous papers [14] and [25], we studied the least squares estimator and the projection estimator, where we proved the optimal convergence rates for the least squares estimator in Schatten ppp-norms with 1≤p≤21\leq p\leq21≤p≤2 and, under a stronger condition, the optimal convergence rates for the projection estimator in Schatten ppp-norms with 1≤p≤+∞1\leq p\leq+\infty1≤p≤+∞. In this paper, we show that the results of these two distinct estimators can be simultaneously obtained by the Dantzig estimator. Moreover, better convergence rates in Schatten norm distances can be proved for Dantzig estimator under conditions weaker than those needed in [14] and [25]. When the objective function of DE is replaced by the negative von Neumann entropy, we obtain sharp convergence rate in Kullback-Leibler divergence.
We determine the optimal sample complexity of low-rank quantum state tomography when each measurement may act jointly on at most ttt samples. For sufficiently small ε\varepsilonε, estimating an unknown state on Cd\mathbb{C}^dCd of rank at most rrr to trace norm error ε\varepsilonε with constant success probability requires, and is achievable with, Θ(drε2max{1,rt})Θ\left(\frac{dr}{\varepsilon^2}\mathop{\mathrm{max}}\left\{1,\frac{r}{\sqrt{t}}\right\}\right)Θ(ε2dr​max{1,t​r​}) samples. The lower bound allows the protocol to choose each joint measurement adaptively using all previous classical outcomes; the matching upper bound is nonadaptive. Thus joint measurements on at most ttt samples improve the complexity of algorithms making single-sample measurements by at most a factor t\sqrt{t}t​. Further, measuring order r2r^2r2 samples jointly is necessary and sufficient to attain the unrestricted collective rate. For the lower bound, we vary the support of a state with fixed uniform spectrum and bound the Fisher information trace of every joint measurement on ttt samples. The adaptive Fisher chain rule and the van Trees inequality then give the trace norm lower bound. For the upper bound, we construct and analyze a nonadaptive tomography protocol based on a Gaussian joint measurement. An explicit second moment identity and a conditional Gaussian law outside the state's support give a rank-dependent error analysis, yielding the matching rate.
Given a positive integer k , it is natural to ask for a formula for the distance between a given density matrix (i.e., mixed quantum state) and the set of density matrices of rank at most k . This problem has already been solved when “distance” is measured in the trace or Frobenius norm. We solve it for all other unitary similarity invariant norms. We also present some consequences of our formula. For example, in the trace and Frobenius norms, the density matrix that is farthest from the set of low-rank density matrices is the maximally-mixed state, but this is not true in many other unitary similarity invariant norms.