Abstract Employing the lattice theory on majorization, the universal quantum uncertainty relation for any number of observables and general measurement is investigated. It is found that 1) the least bounds of the universal uncertainty relations can only be properly defined in the lattice theory; 2) contrary to variance and entropy, the metric induced by the majorization lattice implies an intrinsic structure of the quantum uncertainty; and 3) the lattice theory correlates the optimization of uncertainty relation with the entanglement transformation under local quantum operation and classical communication. Interestingly, the optimality of the universal uncertainty relation found can be mimicked by the Lorenz curve, initially introduced in economics to measure the wealth concentration degree of a society.
Abstract Employing the lattice theory on majorization, the universal quantum uncertainty relation for any number of observables and general measurement is investigated. It is found that 1) the least bounds of the universal uncertainty relations can only be properly defined in the lattice theory; 2) contrary to variance and entropy, the metric induced by the majorization lattice implies an intrinsic structure of the quantum uncertainty; and 3) the lattice theory correlates the optimization of uncertainty relation with the entanglement transformation under local quantum operation and classical communication. Interestingly, the optimality of the universal uncertainty relation found can be mimicked by the Lorenz curve, initially introduced in economics to measure the wealth concentration degree of a society.
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.
The uncertainty principle and entanglement are two fundamental, but yet not well understood, features of quantum theory. The uncertainty relation reflects the capability limit in acquiring the knowledge of different physical properties of a particle simultaneously, while on the other side, the quantum entanglement renders the entangled quanta lose their independence, including measurements imposed on them. By virtue of the majorization, here we establish a general correlation relation for quantum uncertainty and multipartite entanglement. Within this scheme, the optimization problems for entropy and majorization uncertainty relation are solved. We obtain a diminished uncertainty relation in the presence of multipartite entanglement, where the lower bound is connected with the entanglement class. This result is inspiring, reveals the intrinsic quantitative connection between uncertainty relation and entanglement, and may have a deep impact on quantum measurement in application.
Various theories that aim at unifying gravity with quantum mechanics suggest modifications of the Heisenberg algebra for position and momentum. From the perspective of quantum mechanics, such modifications lead to new uncertainty relations that are thought (but not proven) to imply the existence of a minimal observable length. Here we prove this statement in a framework of sufficient physical and structural assumptions. Moreover, we present a general method that allows us to formulate optimal and state-independent variance-based uncertainty relations. In addition, instead of variances, we make use of entropies as a measure of uncertainty and provide uncertainty relations in terms of min and Shannon entropies. We compute the corresponding entropic minimal lengths and find that the minimal length in terms of min entropy is exactly 1 bit.
Uncertainty principle, which was first introduced by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, forms a fundamental component of quantum mechanics. A graceful aspect of quantum mechanics is that the uncertainty relations between incompatible observables allow for succinct quan- titative formulations of this revolutionary idea: it is impossible to simultaneously measure two complementary variables of a particle in precision. In particular, information theory offers two basic ways to express the Heisenberg’s principle: variance-based uncertainty relations and entropic uncertainty relations. We first investigate the uncertainty relations based on the sum of variances and derive a family of weighted uncertainty relations to provide an optimal lower bound for all situations. Our work indicates that it seems unreasonable to assume a priori that incompatible observables have equal contribution to the variance-based sum form uncertainty relations. We also study the role of mutually exclusive physical states in the recent work and generalize the variance-based uncertainty relations to mutually exclusive uncertainty relations. Next, we develop a new kind of entanglement detection criteria within the framework of marjorization theory and its matrix representation. By virtue of majorization uncertainty bounds, we are able to construct the entanglement criteria which have advantage over the scalar detect- ing algorithms as they are often stronger and tighter. Furthermore, we explore various expression of entropic uncertainty relations, including sum of Shannon entropies, majorization uncer- tainty relations and uncertainty relations in presence of quantum memory. For entropic uncertainty relations without quantum side information, we provide several tighter bounds for multi-measurements, with some of them also valid for Rényi and Tsallis entropies besides the Shannon entropy. We employ majorization theory and actions of the symmetric group to obtain an admixture bound for entropic uncertainty relations with multi-measurements. Comparisons among existing bounds for multi-measurements are also given. However,classical entropic uncertainty relations assume there has only classical side information. For modern uncertainty relations, those who allowed for non-trivial amount of quantum side information, their bounds have been strengthened by our recent result for both two and multi- measurements. Finally, we propose an approach which can extend all uncertainty relations on Shannon entropies to allow for quantum side information and discuss the applications of our entropic framework. Combined with our uniform entanglement frames, it is possible to detect entanglement via entropic uncertainty relations even if there is no quantum side in- formation. With the rising of quantum information theory, uncertainty relations have been established as important tools for a wide range of applications, such as quantum cryptography, quantum key distribution, entanglement detection, quantum metrology, quantum speed limit and so on. It is thus necessary to focus on the study of uncertainty relations.
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.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is formulated for a set of generalized measurements within the framework of majorization theory, resulting in a partial uncertainty order on probability vectors that is stronger than those based on quasientropic measures. The theorem that emerges from this formulation guarantees that the uncertainty of the results of a set of generalized measurements without a common eigenstate has an inviolable lower bound which depends on the measurement set but not the state. A corollary to this theorem yields a parallel formulation of the uncertainty principle for generalized measurements corresponding to the entire class of quasientropic measures. Optimal majorization bounds for two and three mutually unbiased bases in two dimensions are calculated. Similarly, the leading term of the majorization bound for position and momentum measurements is calculated which provides a strong statement of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in direct operational terms. Another theorem provides a majorization condition for the least-uncertain generalized measurement of a given state with interesting physical implications.