We study the ability of a quantum channel to generate quantum coherence when it applies to incoherent states. Based on probabilistic averages, we define a measure of such coherence generating power (CGP) for a generic quantum channel, based on the average coherence generated by the quantum channel acting on a uniform ensemble of incoherent states. Explicit analytical formula of the CGP for any unitary channels are presented in terms of subentropy. An upper bound for CGP of unital quantum channels has been also derived. Detailed examples are investigated.
Quantum circuit complexity quantifies the minimal number of gates needed to realize a unitary transformation and plays a central role in quantum computation. In this work, we investigate the complexity of quantum circuits through coherence and imaginarity resources. We establish a lower bound on the circuit cost by the Tsallis relative
α entropy of cohering power, which is shown to be tighter than the one presented by Bu et al.[\textit{Communications in Mathematical Physics} 405, no. 7 (2024):161] under restrictive conditions. As a consequence, we obtain the relationships between the circuit cost and the coherence generating power via probabilistic average in terms of skew information/relative entropy, and present explicit bounds of the circuit cost for typical quantum gates. Moreover, we derive lower bounds on the circuit cost via the imaginaring power of the circuit, induced by the Tsallis relative
α entropy and relative entropy. We demonstrate that imaginarity can yield nontrivial constraints on the circuit cost even when coherence-based lower bounds are zero (e.g., for the
T gate), which implies that imaginarity may provide advantages under certain circumstances compared with coherence. Our results may help better understand the connections between quantum resources and circuit complexity.
We establish a direct connection between the power of a unitary map in d-dimensions (d < ∞) to generate quantum coherence and the geometry of the set Md of maximally abelian subalgebras (of the quantum system full operator algebra). This set can be seen as a topologically non-trivial subset of the Grassmannian over linear operators. The natural distance over the Grassmannian induces a metric structure on Md, which quantifies the lack of commutativity between the pairs of subalgebras. Given a maximally abelian subalgebra, one can define, on physical grounds, an associated measure of quantum coherence. We show that the average quantum coherence generated by a unitary map acting on a uniform ensemble of quantum states in the algebra (the so-called coherence generating power of the map) is proportional to the distance between a pair of maximally abelian subalgebras in Md connected by the unitary transformation itself. By embedding the Grassmannian into a projective space, one can pull-back the standard Fubini-Study metric on Md and define in this way novel geometrical measures of quantum coherence generating power. We also briefly discuss the associated differential metric structures.
Coherence-generating power (CGP) tells how much coherence a quantum process produces on average from incoherent inputs, but an average can hide where that coherence comes from. We introduce the coherence-generating power deviation (CGPD), the standard deviation of the generated Hilbert--Schmidt coherence over the uniform simplex of incoherent states. CGPD turns coherence generation into a landscape: a small value signals robust production across input populations, whereas a large value reveals selective conversion of particular population imbalances. By representing unitary coherence generation as a quadratic response on population space, we obtain exact first and second moments in arbitrary finite dimension. We prove that every nontrivial unitary generator must fluctuate, and we separate this unavoidable isotropic fluctuation from excess anisotropy. The resulting distinction between average strength and input selectivity has direct consequences for benchmarking, reliability guarantees, input-ensemble susceptibility, and four-copy measurement protocols; it also extends naturally to unital quantum channels. Matched quantum-walk and quasiperiodic-transport examples show that topology and localization can leave CGP unchanged while substantially changing CGPD, revealing structure invisible to the mean alone.