We study universal uncertainty relations and present a method called joint probability distribution diagram to improve the majorization bounds constructed independently in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 230401 (2013)] and [J. Phys. A. 46, 272002 (2013)]. The results give rise to state independent uncertainty relations satisfied by any nonnegative Schur-concave functions. On the other hand, a remarkable recent result of entropic uncertainty relation is the direct-sum majorization relation. In this paper, we illustrate our bounds by showing how they provide a complement to that in [Phys. Rev. A. 89, 052115 (2014)].
We study universal uncertainty relations and present a method called joint probability distribution diagram to improve the majorization bounds constructed independently in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 230401 (2013)] and [J. Phys. A. 46, 272002 (2013)]. The results give rise to state independent uncertainty relations satisfied by any nonnegative Schur-concave functions. On the other hand, a remarkable recent result of entropic uncertainty relation is the direct-sum majorization relation. In this paper, we illustrate our bounds by showing how they provide a complement to that in [Phys. Rev. A. 89, 052115 (2014)].
We derive an entropic uncertainty relation for generalized positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) measurements via a direct-sum majorization relation using Schur concavity of entropic quantities in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space. Our approach provides a significant improvement of the uncertainty bound compared with previous majorization-based approaches (Friendland, S.; Gheorghiu, V.; Gour, G. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2013, 111, 230401; Rastegin, A.E.; Życzkowski, K. J. Phys. A, 2016, 49, 355301), particularly by extending the direct-sum majorization relation first introduced in (Rudnicki, Ł.; Puchała, Z.; Życzkowski, K. Phys. Rev. A 2014, 89, 052115). We illustrate the usefulness of our uncertainty relations by considering a pair of qubit observables in a two-dimensional system and randomly chosen unsharp observables in a three-dimensional system. We also demonstrate that our bound tends to be stronger than the generalized Maassen–Uffink bound with an increase in the unsharpness effect. Furthermore, we extend our approach to the case of multiple POVM measurements, thus making it possible to establish entropic uncertainty relations involving more than two observables.
We analyze entropic uncertainty relations in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space and derive several strong bounds for the sum of two entropies obtained in projective measurements with respect to any two orthogonal bases. We improve the recent bounds by Coles and Piani [P. Coles and M. Piani, Phys. Rev. A 89, 022112 (2014)], which are known to be stronger than the well-known result of Maassen and Uffink [H. Maassen and J. B. M. Uffink, Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, 1103 (1988)]. Furthermore, we find a bound based on majorization techniques, which also happens to be stronger than the recent results involving the largest singular values of submatrices of the unitary matrix connecting both bases. The first set of bounds gives better results for unitary matrices close to the Fourier matrix, while the second one provides a significant improvement in the opposite sectors. Some results derived admit generalization to arbitrary mixed states, so that corresponding bounds are increased by the von Neumann entropy of the measured state. The majorization approach is finally extended to the case of several measurements.
Uncertainty relations are a distinctive characteristic of quantum theory that impose intrinsic limitations on the precision with which physical properties can be simultaneously determined. The modern work on uncertainty relations employs entropic measures to quantify the lack of knowledge associated with measuring noncommuting observables. However, there is no fundamental reason for using entropies as quantifiers; any functional relation that characterizes the uncertainty of the measurement outcomes defines an uncertainty relation. Starting from a very reasonable assumption of invariance under mere relabeling of the measurement outcomes, we show that Schur-concave functions are the most general uncertainty quantifiers. We then discover a fine-grained uncertainty relation that is given in terms of the majorization order between two probability vectors, significantly extending a majorization-based uncertainty relation first introduced in M. H. Partovi, Phys. Rev. A 84, 052117 (2011). Such a vector-type uncertainty relation generates an infinite family of distinct scalar uncertainty relations via the application of arbitrary uncertainty quantifiers. Our relation is therefore universal and captures the essence of uncertainty in quantum theory.
We study entropic uncertainty relations by using stepwise linear functions and quadratic functions. Two kinds of improved uncertainty lower bounds are constructed: the state-independent one based on the lower bound of Shannon entropy and the tighter state-dependent one based on the majorization techniques. The analytical results for qubit and qutrit systems with two or three measurement settings are explicitly derived, with detailed examples showing that they outperform the existing bounds. The case with the presence of quantum memory is also investigated.
Recently, an entropic uncertainty relation for multiple measurements was proposed by Liu et al. [Phys. Rev. A 91, 042133 (2015)]. However, the lower bound of the relation is not always tight with respect to different measurements. Herein, we improve the lower bound of the entropic uncertainty relation for multiple measurements, referred to as a simply constructed bound (SCB). We verify that the SCB is tighter than Liu et al.'s result for arbitrary mutually unbiased basis measurements, which might play a fundamental and crucial role in practical quantum information processing. Moreover, we optimize the SCB by considering mutual information and the Holevo quantity, and propose an optimized SCB. Notably, the proposed bounds are extrapolations of the behavior of two measurements to a larger collection of measurements. It is believed that our findings would shed light on entropy-based uncertainty relations in the multiple measurement scenario and will be beneficial for security analysis in quantum key distributions.
Recently, an entropic uncertainty relation for multi-measurement has been proposed by Liu et al. in [Phys. Rev. A 91, 042133 (2015)]. However, the lower bound of the relation is not always tight with respect to different measurements. Herein, we improve the lower bound of the entropic uncertainty relation for multi-measurement, termed as simply constructed bound (SCB). We verify that the SCB is tighter than Liu et al.'s result for arbitrary mutually unbiased basis measurements, which might play a fundamental and crucial role in practical quantum information processing. Moreover, we optimize the SCB by considering mutual information and the Holevo quantity, and propose an optimized SCB (OSCB). Notably, the proposed bounds are extrapolations of the behavior of two measurements to a larger collection of measurements. It is believed that our findings would shed light on entropy-based uncertainty relations in the multi-measurement scenario and will be beneficial for security analysis in quantum key distributions.