Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1803.02360 · Journal of Mathematical Physics

Gaussian optimizers for entropic inequalities in quantum information

Giacomo De Palma, Dario Trevisan, Vittorio Giovannetti, Luigi Ambrosio

Published Aug 1, 2018• 28 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We survey the state of the art for the proof of the quantum Gaussian optimizer conjectures of quantum information theory. These fundamental conjectures state that quantum Gaussian input states are the solution to several optimization problems involving quantum Gaussian channels. These problems are the quantum counterpart of three fundamental results of functional analysis and probability: the Entropy Power Inequality, the sharp Young’s inequality for convolutions, and the theorem “Gaussian kernels have only Gaussian maximizers.” Quantum Gaussian channels play a key role in quantum communication theory: they are the quantum counterpart of Gaussian integral kernels and provide the mathematical model for the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the quantum regime. The quantum Gaussian optimizer conjectures are needed to determine the maximum communication rates over optical fibers and free space. The restriction of the quantum-limited Gaussian attenuator to input states diagonal in the Fock basis coincides with the thinning, which is the analog of the rescaling for positive integer random variables. Quantum Gaussian channels provide then a bridge between functional analysis and discrete probability.

DOI
10.1063/1.5038665

Related papers

Gaussian optimizers and other topics in quantum information

Giacomo De Palma

The main topic of this thesis is the proof of two fundamental entropic inequalities for quantum Gaussian channels. Quantum Gaussian channels model the propagation of electromagnetic waves through optical fibers and free space in the quantum regime, and provide the mathematical model to determine the maximum rates achievable by quantum communication devices for communication and quantum key distribution. The first inequality proven in this thesis is the quantum Entropy Power Inequality, which provides a lower bound to the output entropy of the beam-splitter or of the squeezing in terms of the entropies of the two inputs. The second inequality states that Gaussian states minimize the output entropy of the one-mode quantum Gaussian attenuator among all the input states with a given entropy, and was a longstanding conjecture in quantum communication theory. The generalization of this inequality to the multimode attenuator would determine its triple trade-off region and its capacity region for broadcast communication to two receivers. The thesis contains further results in Gaussian quantum information, quantum statistical mechanics and relativistic quantum information. The most important of these results concerns the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH). The ETH is an assumption in quantum statistical mechanics stating that the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian of a system+bath compound look as thermal states if we can access only the system. We prove that the ETH must hold if the system thermalizes for any initial product state of the system+bath compound with a well-defined temperature.

arXiv:1710.09395•Oct 25, 2017•12 citations

Gaussian States Minimize the Output Entropy of One-Mode Quantum Gaussian Channels

Giacomo De Palma, Dario Trevisan, Vittorio Giovannetti

We prove the long-standing conjecture stating that Gaussian thermal input states minimize the output von Neumann entropy of one-mode phase-covariant quantum Gaussian channels among all the input states with a given entropy. Phase-covariant quantum Gaussian channels model the attenuation and the noise that affect any electromagnetic signal in the quantum regime. Our result is crucial to prove the converse theorems for both the triple trade-off region and the capacity region for broadcast communication of the Gaussian quantum-limited amplifier. Our result extends to the quantum regime the entropy power inequality that plays a key role in classical information theory. Our proof exploits a completely new technique based on the recent determination of the p→q norms of the quantum-limited amplifier [De Palma et al., arXiv:1610.09967]. This technique can be applied to any quantum channel.

arXiv:1610.09970•Physical Review Letters•Apr 21, 2017•31 citations

Gaussian optimizers and the additivity problem in quantum information theory

A S Holevo

We give a survey of the two remarkable analytical problems of quantum information theory. The main part is a detailed report of the recent (partial) solution of the quantum Gaussian optimizers problem which establishes an optimal property of Glauber's coherent states -- a particular instance of pure quantum Gaussian states. We elaborate on the notion of quantum Gaussian channel as a noncommutative generalization of Gaussian kernel to show that the coherent states, and under certain conditions only they, minimize a broad class of the concave functionals of the output of a Gaussian channel. Thus, the output states corresponding to the Gaussian input are "the least chaotic", majorizing all the other outputs. The solution, however, is essentially restricted to the gauge-invariant case where a distinguished complex structure plays a special role. We also comment on the related famous additivity conjecture, which was solved in principle in the negative some five years ago. This refers to the additivity or multiplicativity (with respect to tensor products of channels) of information quantities related to the classical capacity of quantum channel, such as $(1\rightarrow p)$-norms or the minimal von Neumann or Rényi output entropies. A remarkable corollary of the present solution of the quantum Gaussian optimizers problem is that these additivity properties, while not valid in general, do hold in the important and interesting class of the gauge-covariant Gaussian channels.

arXiv:1501.00652•Russian Mathematical Surveys•Apr 30, 2015•51 citations

Information transmission through bosonic gaussian channels

Joachim Schäfer, Nicolas J. Cerf

In this thesis we study the information transmission through Gaussian quantum channels. Gaussian quantum channels model physical communication links, such as free space communication or optical fibers and therefore, may be considered as the most relevant quantum channels. One of the central characteristics of any communication channel is its capacity. In this work we are interested in the classical capacity, which is the maximal number of bits that can be reliably transmitted per channel use. An important lower bound on the classical capacity is given by the Gaussian capacity, which is the maximal transmission rate with the restriction that only Gaussian encodings are allowed: input messages are encoded in so-called Gaussian states for which the mean field amplitudes are Gaussian distributed. We focus in this work mainly on the Gaussian capacity for the following reasons. First, Gaussian encodings are easily accessible experimentally. Second, the difficulty of studying the classical capacity, which arises due to an optimization problem in an infinite dimensional Hilbert space, is greatly reduced when considering only Gaussian input encodings. Third, the Gaussian capacity is conjectured to coincide with the classical capacity, even though this longstanding conjecture is unsolved until today. We start with the investigation of the capacities of the single-mode Gaussian channel. We show that the most general case can be reduced to a simple, fiducial Gaussian channel which depends only on three parameters: its transmissivity (or gain), the added noise variance and the squeezing of the noise. Above a certain input energy threshold, the optimal input variances are given by a quantum water-filling solution, which implies that the optimal modulated output state is a thermal state. This is a quantum extension (or generalization) of the well-known classical water-filling solution for parallel Gaussian channels. Below the energy threshold the solution is given by a transcendental equation and only the less noisy quadrature is modulated. We characterize in detail the dependence of the Gaussian capacity on its channel parameters. In particular, we show that the Gaussian capacity is a non-monotonous function of the noise squeezing and analytically specify the regions where it exhibits one maximum, a maximum and a minimum, a saddle point or no extrema. Then, we investigate the case of n-mode channels with noise correlations (i.e. memory), where we focus in particular on the classical additive noise channel. We consider memory models for which the noise correlations can be unraveled by a passive symplectic transformation. Therefore, we can simplify the problem to the study of the Gaussian capacity in an uncorrelated basis, which corresponds to the Gaussian capacity of n single-mode channels with a common input energy constraint. Above an input energy threshold the solutions is given by a global quantum water-filling solution, which implies that all modulated single-mode output states are thermal states with the same temperature. Below the threshold the channels are divided into three sets: i) those that are excluded from information transmission, ii) those for which only the less noisy quadrature is modulated, and iii) those for which the quantum water-filling solution is satisfied. As an example we consider a Gauss-Markov correlated noise, which in the uncorrelated basis corresponds to a collection of single-mode classical additive noise channels. When rotating the collection of optimal single-mode input states back to the original, correlated basis the optimal multi-mode input state becomes a highly entangled state. We then compare the performance of the optimal input state with a simple coherent state encoding and conclude that one gains up to 10% by using the optimal encoding. Since the preparation of the optimal input state may be very challenging we consider sub-optimal Gaussian-matrix product states (GMPS) as input states as well. GMPS have a known experimental setup and, though being heavily entangled, can be generated sequentially. We demonstrate that for the Markovian correlated noise as well as for a non-Markovian noise model in a wide range of channel parameters, a nearest-neighbor correlated GMPS achieves more than 99.9% of the Gaussian capacity. At last, we introduce a new noise model for which the GMPS is the exact optimal input state. Since GMPS are known to be ground states of quadratic Hamiltonians this suggests a starting point to develop links between optimization problems of quantum communication and many body physics.

•Sep 20, 2013•1 citation

From Qubit Tensorization to Gaussian Optimizers in Bosonic Systems

Salman Beigi, Hami Mehrabi

We develop a method for deriving Gaussian optimality results for bosonic quantum systems from inequalities for qubit systems. Inspired by Gross's derivation of the Gaussian logarithmic Sobolev inequality from an inequality on the two-point space, we use qubits as quantum two-point spaces and lift bosonic Weyl operators to pseudo-Weyl operators on large qubit systems. By controlling weighted norms and relative entropy in the fluctuation limit, we establish two transfer theorems that convert tensorized qubit inequalities into inequalities for bosonic Gaussian channels. As a first application, we prove that the sharp $2$-logarithmic Sobolev inequality for the bosonic Ornstein--Uhlenbeck semigroup tensorizes without loss in the constant. We also establish a sharp output entropy inequality for tensor powers of a class of qubit channels. This includes a quantum Mrs.~Gerber's lemma determining the minimum output entropy of tensor powers of the qubit depolarizing channel at fixed input entropy. Applying our relative entropy transfer theorem, we obtain multimode constrained minimum output entropy bounds for Gaussian additive-noise channels and thermal attenuators in the heating range.

quant-pharXiv:2610.28902•Oct 22, 2026•0 citations

Majorization Theory Approach to the Gaussian Channel Minimum Entropy Conjecture

Raúl García−Patrón, Carlos Navarrete–Benlloch, Seth Lloyd +2 more

A long-standing open problem in quantum information theory is to find the classical capacity of an optical communication link, modeled as a Gaussian bosonic channel. It has been conjectured that this capacity is achieved by a random coding of coherent states using an isotropic Gaussian distribution in phase space. We show that proving a Gaussian minimum entropy conjecture for a quantum-limited amplifier is actually sufficient to confirm this capacity conjecture, and we provide a strong argument towards this proof by exploiting a connection between quantum entanglement and majorization theory.

arXiv:1111.1986•Physical Review Letters•Mar 16, 2012•73 citations
We survey the state of the art for the proof of the quantum Gaussian optimizer conjectures of quantum information theory. These fundamental conjectures state that quantum Gaussian input states are the solution to several optimization problems involving quantum Gaussian channels. These problems are the quantum counterpart of three fundamental results of functional analysis and probability: the Entropy Power Inequality, the sharp Young’s inequality for convolutions, and the theorem “Gaussian kernels have only Gaussian maximizers.” Quantum Gaussian channels play a key role in quantum communication theory: they are the quantum counterpart of Gaussian integral kernels and provide the mathematical model for the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the quantum regime. The quantum Gaussian optimizer conjectures are needed to determine the maximum communication rates over optical fibers and free space. The restriction of the quantum-limited Gaussian attenuator to input states diagonal in the Fock basis coincides with the thinning, which is the analog of the rescaling for positive integer random variables. Quantum Gaussian channels provide then a bridge between functional analysis and discrete probability.
The main topic of this thesis is the proof of two fundamental entropic inequalities for quantum Gaussian channels. Quantum Gaussian channels model the propagation of electromagnetic waves through optical fibers and free space in the quantum regime, and provide the mathematical model to determine the maximum rates achievable by quantum communication devices for communication and quantum key distribution. The first inequality proven in this thesis is the quantum Entropy Power Inequality, which provides a lower bound to the output entropy of the beam-splitter or of the squeezing in terms of the entropies of the two inputs. The second inequality states that Gaussian states minimize the output entropy of the one-mode quantum Gaussian attenuator among all the input states with a given entropy, and was a longstanding conjecture in quantum communication theory. The generalization of this inequality to the multimode attenuator would determine its triple trade-off region and its capacity region for broadcast communication to two receivers. The thesis contains further results in Gaussian quantum information, quantum statistical mechanics and relativistic quantum information. The most important of these results concerns the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH). The ETH is an assumption in quantum statistical mechanics stating that the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian of a system+bath compound look as thermal states if we can access only the system. We prove that the ETH must hold if the system thermalizes for any initial product state of the system+bath compound with a well-defined temperature.
We prove the long-standing conjecture stating that Gaussian thermal input states minimize the output von Neumann entropy of one-mode phase-covariant quantum Gaussian channels among all the input states with a given entropy. Phase-covariant quantum Gaussian channels model the attenuation and the noise that affect any electromagnetic signal in the quantum regime. Our result is crucial to prove the converse theorems for both the triple trade-off region and the capacity region for broadcast communication of the Gaussian quantum-limited amplifier. Our result extends to the quantum regime the entropy power inequality that plays a key role in classical information theory. Our proof exploits a completely new technique based on the recent determination of the p→q norms of the quantum-limited amplifier [De Palma et al., arXiv:1610.09967]. This technique can be applied to any quantum channel.
We give a survey of the two remarkable analytical problems of quantum information theory. The main part is a detailed report of the recent (partial) solution of the quantum Gaussian optimizers problem which establishes an optimal property of Glauber's coherent states -- a particular instance of pure quantum Gaussian states. We elaborate on the notion of quantum Gaussian channel as a noncommutative generalization of Gaussian kernel to show that the coherent states, and under certain conditions only they, minimize a broad class of the concave functionals of the output of a Gaussian channel. Thus, the output states corresponding to the Gaussian input are "the least chaotic", majorizing all the other outputs. The solution, however, is essentially restricted to the gauge-invariant case where a distinguished complex structure plays a special role. We also comment on the related famous additivity conjecture, which was solved in principle in the negative some five years ago. This refers to the additivity or multiplicativity (with respect to tensor products of channels) of information quantities related to the classical capacity of quantum channel, such as (1→p)(1\rightarrow p)(1→p)-norms or the minimal von Neumann or Rényi output entropies. A remarkable corollary of the present solution of the quantum Gaussian optimizers problem is that these additivity properties, while not valid in general, do hold in the important and interesting class of the gauge-covariant Gaussian channels.
In this thesis we study the information transmission through Gaussian quantum channels. Gaussian quantum channels model physical communication links, such as free space communication or optical fibers and therefore, may be considered as the most relevant quantum channels. One of the central characteristics of any communication channel is its capacity. In this work we are interested in the classical capacity, which is the maximal number of bits that can be reliably transmitted per channel use. An important lower bound on the classical capacity is given by the Gaussian capacity, which is the maximal transmission rate with the restriction that only Gaussian encodings are allowed: input messages are encoded in so-called Gaussian states for which the mean field amplitudes are Gaussian distributed. We focus in this work mainly on the Gaussian capacity for the following reasons. First, Gaussian encodings are easily accessible experimentally. Second, the difficulty of studying the classical capacity, which arises due to an optimization problem in an infinite dimensional Hilbert space, is greatly reduced when considering only Gaussian input encodings. Third, the Gaussian capacity is conjectured to coincide with the classical capacity, even though this longstanding conjecture is unsolved until today. We start with the investigation of the capacities of the single-mode Gaussian channel. We show that the most general case can be reduced to a simple, fiducial Gaussian channel which depends only on three parameters: its transmissivity (or gain), the added noise variance and the squeezing of the noise. Above a certain input energy threshold, the optimal input variances are given by a quantum water-filling solution, which implies that the optimal modulated output state is a thermal state. This is a quantum extension (or generalization) of the well-known classical water-filling solution for parallel Gaussian channels. Below the energy threshold the solution is given by a transcendental equation and only the less noisy quadrature is modulated. We characterize in detail the dependence of the Gaussian capacity on its channel parameters. In particular, we show that the Gaussian capacity is a non-monotonous function of the noise squeezing and analytically specify the regions where it exhibits one maximum, a maximum and a minimum, a saddle point or no extrema. Then, we investigate the case of n-mode channels with noise correlations (i.e. memory), where we focus in particular on the classical additive noise channel. We consider memory models for which the noise correlations can be unraveled by a passive symplectic transformation. Therefore, we can simplify the problem to the study of the Gaussian capacity in an uncorrelated basis, which corresponds to the Gaussian capacity of n single-mode channels with a common input energy constraint. Above an input energy threshold the solutions is given by a global quantum water-filling solution, which implies that all modulated single-mode output states are thermal states with the same temperature. Below the threshold the channels are divided into three sets: i) those that are excluded from information transmission, ii) those for which only the less noisy quadrature is modulated, and iii) those for which the quantum water-filling solution is satisfied. As an example we consider a Gauss-Markov correlated noise, which in the uncorrelated basis corresponds to a collection of single-mode classical additive noise channels. When rotating the collection of optimal single-mode input states back to the original, correlated basis the optimal multi-mode input state becomes a highly entangled state. We then compare the performance of the optimal input state with a simple coherent state encoding and conclude that one gains up to 10% by using the optimal encoding. Since the preparation of the optimal input state may be very challenging we consider sub-optimal Gaussian-matrix product states (GMPS) as input states as well. GMPS have a known experimental setup and, though being heavily entangled, can be generated sequentially. We demonstrate that for the Markovian correlated noise as well as for a non-Markovian noise model in a wide range of channel parameters, a nearest-neighbor correlated GMPS achieves more than 99.9% of the Gaussian capacity. At last, we introduce a new noise model for which the GMPS is the exact optimal input state. Since GMPS are known to be ground states of quadratic Hamiltonians this suggests a starting point to develop links between optimization problems of quantum communication and many body physics.
We develop a method for deriving Gaussian optimality results for bosonic quantum systems from inequalities for qubit systems. Inspired by Gross's derivation of the Gaussian logarithmic Sobolev inequality from an inequality on the two-point space, we use qubits as quantum two-point spaces and lift bosonic Weyl operators to pseudo-Weyl operators on large qubit systems. By controlling weighted norms and relative entropy in the fluctuation limit, we establish two transfer theorems that convert tensorized qubit inequalities into inequalities for bosonic Gaussian channels. As a first application, we prove that the sharp 222-logarithmic Sobolev inequality for the bosonic Ornstein--Uhlenbeck semigroup tensorizes without loss in the constant. We also establish a sharp output entropy inequality for tensor powers of a class of qubit channels. This includes a quantum Mrs.~Gerber's lemma determining the minimum output entropy of tensor powers of the qubit depolarizing channel at fixed input entropy. Applying our relative entropy transfer theorem, we obtain multimode constrained minimum output entropy bounds for Gaussian additive-noise channels and thermal attenuators in the heating range.
A long-standing open problem in quantum information theory is to find the classical capacity of an optical communication link, modeled as a Gaussian bosonic channel. It has been conjectured that this capacity is achieved by a random coding of coherent states using an isotropic Gaussian distribution in phase space. We show that proving a Gaussian minimum entropy conjecture for a quantum-limited amplifier is actually sufficient to confirm this capacity conjecture, and we provide a strong argument towards this proof by exploiting a connection between quantum entanglement and majorization theory.