We propose a resource theory of the quantum invasiveness of general quantum operations, i.e., those defined by quantum channels in Leggett-Garg scenarios. We are able to compare the resource-theoretic framework of quantum invasiveness to the resource theory of coherence. We also show that the Fisher information is a quantifier of quantum invasiveness. This result allows us to establish a direct connection between the concept of quantum invasiveness and quantum metrology, by exploring the utility of the definition of quantum invasiveness in the context of metrological protocols.
We propose a resource theory of the quantum invasiveness of general quantum operations, i.e., those defined by quantum channels in Leggett-Garg scenarios. We are able to compare the resource-theoretic framework of quantum invasiveness to the resource theory of coherence. We also show that the Fisher information is a quantifier of quantum invasiveness. This result allows us to establish a direct connection between the concept of quantum invasiveness and quantum metrology, by exploring the utility of the definition of quantum invasiveness in the context of metrological protocols.
We show that both the classical as well as the quantum definitions of the Fisher information faithfully identify resourceful quantum states in general quantum resource theories, in the sense that they can always distinguish between states with and without a given resource. This shows that all quantum resources confer an advantage in metrology, and establishes the Fisher information as a universal tool to probe the resourcefulness of quantum states. We provide bounds on the extent of this advantage, as well as a simple criterion to test whether different resources are useful for the estimation of unitarily encoded parameters. Finally, we extend the results to show that the Fisher information is also able to identify the dynamical resourcefulness of quantum operations.
We propose a general method to operationally quantify the ``resourcefulness'' of quantum channels via channel discrimination, an important information processing task. A main result is that the maximum success probability of distinguishing a given channel from the set of free channels by free probe states is exactly characterized by the resource generating power, i.e., the maximum amount of resource produced by the action of the channel, given by the trace distance to the set of free states. We apply this framework to the resource theory of quantum coherence, as an informative example. The general results can also be easily applied to other resource theories such as entanglement, magic states, and asymmetry.
Quantum resource theories allow us to quantify a useful quantum phenomenon, to develop new protocols for its detection and determine the exact processes that maximize its use for practical tasks. These theories aim at transforming physical phenomena, such as entanglement and quantum coherence, into useful properties for the execution of concrete tasks related to quantum information. In this thesis, we focus on the resource theories of entanglement, discord-like quantum correlations, and quantum coherence, the most intriguing quantum phenomena exploited so far in quantum information theory. We begin by presenting in detail the theoretical tools of these quantum resources, focusing on the most remarkable techniques and computational problems. In this sense, we discuss several mathematical methods that solve some problems related to their quantifications, and some analytical results for bipartite quantum systems are given. We also examine the intrinsic connections between these quantum resources by extracting the links that unite the corresponding measures. In contrast, the revolution of quantum technology has led to a growing interest in quantum metrology, and quantum entanglement has been employed to overcome the classical limit in several quantum estimation protocols. In this work, we analyze the role of quantum correlations beyond entanglement in improving the accuracy of an unknown parameter. According to our results, correlations can be captured using quantum Fisher information, and quantum discord correlations can be exploited to ensure the accuracy of phase estimation protocols. This thesis includes also the contributions on the dynamics of these quantum resources in various models of open quantum systems. Among our objectives, is to study the effects of the environment on these quantum resources and to obtain techniques to protect them from the effects of intrinsic decoherence.
Quantum physics currently provides our deepest description of nature. To understand precisely how it differs from classical physics is not only of foundational interest, but also important to advance technology: the advent of quantum information has led to the insight that certain quantum phenomena, e.g., entanglement and coherence, are resources which enable us to solve practical tasks that are unsolvable within the realm of classical physics. But how can we quantify quantum resources and how do we decide which resource is relevant for a specific operational advantage in quantum cryptography, quantum computation, or quantum metrology? How can we employ these resources optimally? Addressing these questions is the motivation for the development of quantum resource theories, a mathematically rigorous framework that allows us to investigate a specific quantum phenomenon as a resource. Formally, such theories emerge from restrictions which are imposed in addition to the laws of quantum mechanics. A prominent example is the restriction to local operations and classical communication, which singles out entanglement as a resource. Typically, such theories describe the value of quantum states, i.e., static resources. An important question in such theories concerns their structure as determined by the restriction under consideration, which is analyzed for coherence theory on qubits in this thesis. Only recently, so-called dynamical resource theories that quantify the value of operations were proposed, which are advantageous for several reasons: they include resource theories of states as special cases, allow us to quantify additional quantum properties such as the detection or usage of static resources, which will be a main topic of this thesis, and are more natural from an operational perspective. But are different types of dynamical resources present in quantum operations related? For the case of dynamical coherence and entanglement, it will be shown that there is not only a quantitative, but also a qualitative connection.
We investigate the intrinsic ambiguity in the definition of correlation functions arising from the inevitable invasiveness of quantum measurements. While algebraic correlations defined as expectation values of products of observables are widely used, their relationship to operational ones defined through actual measurement procedures remain unclear. We demonstrate that the differences among various definitions of correlation functions and those among their underlying (quasi-)joint probability distributions are bounded above by a quantitative measure of measurement invasiveness. We further obtain a lower bound on the discrepancy among operational and algebraic (quasi-)joint probability distributions, providing a new form of the uncertainty relation. In addition, we identify an equivalence condition under which operational and algebraic correlations coincide. As an application, we analyze the quantum violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality and clarify the structural origin of the equivalence among different approaches to observing the violation, including sequential projective measurements and weak-measurement. Our results provide an operational foundation for the commonly used algebraic concepts of quantum theory.
One of the fundamental features that separates quantum physics from classical physics is the idea of quantum superposition, also known as coherence. This thesis concentrates on understanding quantum coherence in the mathematical framework of resource theories, viewing it both as a resource to be harnessed and as a way to quantitatively characterise quantum states in contrast to classical states. We first examine the type of coherence resource theory which has emerged recently to cope with general settings where the physical nature of the medium encoding information is not crucial, such as computation. We identify the set of quantum processes in which coherence is neither created nor used, and use these to provide a physically motivated resource theory pictured in terms of interferometry. Using the same concepts, we then find connections between coherence and discord, a type of quantum correlation. In particular, we show how coherence can be used to generate discord, and explore basis-dependent discord as an intermediate quantity. The second part of the thesis applies the resource theory framework to quantify quantum macroscopicity, taken here to mean the extent to which coherence exists in a system on a macroscopic scale. We find the appropriate type of resource theory for this purpose, giving criteria for good measures of macroscopic coherence. We use these criteria to evaluate some previously proposed measures and highlight the role of the quantum Fisher information. Next, we build up measures based on the concept of macroscopic distinguishability and use them to show that macroscopic quantum states are fragile to noise induced by interaction with an environment. Finally, we apply measures based on the Fisher information to a range of experiments involving mechanical degrees of freedom, in order to compare their macroscopicity.