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arXiv:1610.01692 · Frontiers in Physics

Near-Optimal Variance-Based Uncertainty Relations

Yunlong Xiao, Naihuan Jing, Bing Yu, Shao-Ming Fei, Xianqing Li‐Jost

Published Apr 1, 2022• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Learning physical properties of a quantum system is essential for the developments of quantum technologies. However, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle constrains the potential knowledge one can simultaneously have about a system in quantum theory. Aside from its fundamental significance, the mathematical characterization of this restriction, known as ‘uncertainty relation’, plays important roles in a wide range of applications, stimulating the formation of tighter uncertainty relations. In this work, we investigate the fundamental limitations of variance-based uncertainty relations, and introduce several ‘near optimal’ bounds for incompatible observables. Our results consist of two morphologically distinct phases: lower bounds that illustrate the uncertainties about measurement outcomes, and the upper bound that indicates the potential knowledge we can gain. Combining them together leads to an uncertainty interval, which captures the essence of uncertainties in quantum theory. Finally, we have detailed how to formulate lower bounds for product-form variance-based uncertainty relations by employing entropic uncertainty relations, and hence built a link between different forms of uncertainty relations.

DOI
10.3389/fphy.2022.846330

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Learning physical properties of a quantum system is essential for the developments of quantum technologies. However, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle constrains the potential knowledge one can simultaneously have about a system in quantum theory. Aside from its fundamental significance, the mathematical characterization of this restriction, known as ‘uncertainty relation’, plays important roles in a wide range of applications, stimulating the formation of tighter uncertainty relations. In this work, we investigate the fundamental limitations of variance-based uncertainty relations, and introduce several ‘near optimal’ bounds for incompatible observables. Our results consist of two morphologically distinct phases: lower bounds that illustrate the uncertainties about measurement outcomes, and the upper bound that indicates the potential knowledge we can gain. Combining them together leads to an uncertainty interval, which captures the essence of uncertainties in quantum theory. Finally, we have detailed how to formulate lower bounds for product-form variance-based uncertainty relations by employing entropic uncertainty relations, and hence built a link between different forms of uncertainty relations.
Uncertainty relations play a significant role in drawing a line between classical physics and quantum physics. Since the introduction by Heisenberg, these relations have been considerably explored. However, the effect of quantum entanglement on uncertainty relations was not probed. Berta et al. [Nat. Phys. 6, 659 (2010)] removed this gap by deriving a conditional-entropic uncertainty relation in the presence of quantum entanglement. In the same spirit, using inferred-variance, we formulate uncertainty relations in the presence of entanglement for general two-qubit systems and arbitrary observables. We derive lower bounds for the sum and product inferred-variance uncertainty relations. Strikingly, we can write the lower bounds of these inferred-variance uncertainty relations in terms of measures of entanglement of two-qubit states, as characterized by concurrence, or GGG function. The presence of entanglement in the lower bound of inferred-variance uncertainty relation is quite distinctive. We also explore the violation of local uncertainty relations in this context and an interference experiment. Furthermore, we discuss possible applications of these uncertainty relations.
The entropic way of formulating Heisenberg's uncertainty principle not only plays a fundamental role in applications of quantum information theory but also is essential for manifesting genuine nonclassical features of quantum systems. In this paper we investigate Rényi entropic uncertainty relations (EURs) in the scenario where measurements on individual copies of a quantum system are selected with nonuniform probabilities. In contrast with EURs that characterize an observer's overall lack of information about outcomes with respect to a collection of measurements, we establish state-dependent lower bounds on the weighted sum of entropies over multiple measurements. Conventional EURs thus correspond to the special cases when all weights are equal, and in such cases we show our results are generally stronger than previous ones. Moreover, taking the entropic steering criterion as an example, we numerically verify that our EURs could be advantageous in practical quantum tasks by optimizing the weights assigned to different measurements. Importantly, this optimization does not require quantum resources and is efficiently computable on classical computers. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Abstract The uncertainty relation is a fundamental concept in quantum theory, plays a pivotal role in various quantum information processing tasks. In this study, we explore the additive uncertainty relation pertaining to two or more observables, in terms of their variance, by utilizing the generalized Gell-Mann representation in qudit systems. We find that the tight state-independent lower bound of the variance sum can be characterized as a quadratic programming problem with nonlinear constraints in optimization theory. As illustrative examples, we derive analytical solutions for these quadratic programming problems in lower-dimensional systems, which align with the state-independent lower bounds. Additionally, we introduce a numerical algorithm tailored for solving these quadratic programming instances, highlighting its efficiency and accuracy. The advantage of our approach lies in its potential ability to simultaneously achieve the optimal value of the quadratic programming problem with nonlinear constraints but also precisely identify the extremal state where this optimal value is attained. This enables us to establish a tight state-independent lower bound for the sum of variances, and further identify the extremal state at which this lower bound is realized.
Entropic uncertainty relations H(A)+H(B)⩾γH(A)+H(B)\geqslant γH(A)+H(B)⩾γ give a nonzero lower bound γγγ to the sum of the Shannon entropies HHH of the outcome probabilities of incompatible observables AAA and BBB. They are better than the variance-based uncertainty relations because they only depend on the Born statistics of the outcomes and not on the outcomes themselves, and because bounds γγγ typically are state independent. Here we provide a state-independent lower bound γsγ_sγs​ that is better than the textbook Maassen-Uffink bound and, in the limit of the parameter s→2s\to 2s→2, becomes asymptotically tight for all A,BA,BA,B. The bound can be extended to Renyi entropies. After the submission of this paper, we found out that the main results presented here were already on page 6 of https://quantum-journal.org/papers/q-2018-03-30-59/pdf/
As a foundation of quantum physics, uncertainty relations describe ultimate limit for the measurement uncertainty of incompatible observables. Traditionally, uncertainty relations are formulated by mathematical bounds for a specific state. Here we present a method for geometrically characterizing uncertainty relations as an entire area of variances of the observables, ranging over all possible input states. We find that for the pair of position and momentum operators, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle points exactly to the attainable area of the variances of position and momentum. Moreover, for finite-dimensional systems, we prove that the corresponding area is necessarily semialgebraic; in other words, this set can be represented via finite polynomial equations and inequalities, or any finite union of such sets. In particular, we give the analytical characterization of the areas of variances of (a) a pair of one-qubit observables and (b) a pair of projective observables for arbitrary dimension, and give the first experimental observation of such areas in a photonic system.
The uncertainty principle is fundamentally rooted in the algebraic asymmetry between observables. We introduce a new class of uncertainty relations grounded in the resource theory of asymmetry, where incompatibility is quantified by an observable's intrinsic, state-independent capacity to break the symmetry associated with another. This ``operator asymmetry,'' formalized as the incompatibility norm, leads to a variance-based uncertainty relation for pure states that can be tighter than the standard Robertson bound. Most significantly, this framework resolves a long-standing open problem in quantum information theory: the formulation of a universally valid, product-form uncertainty relation for the Wigner-Yanase skew information. We demonstrate the practical power of our framework by deriving tighter quantum speed limits for the dynamics of nearly conserved quantities, which are crucial for understanding non-equilibrium phenomena such as prethermalization and many-body localization. This work provides both a new conceptual lens for understanding quantum uncertainty and a powerful, versatile toolkit for its application.