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arXiv:1906.06185 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

On the discontinuity of the quantum Fisher information for quantum statistical models with parameter dependent rank

Luigi Seveso, Francesco Albarelli, Marco G. Genoni, Matteo G. A. Paris

Published Nov 20, 2019• 54 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract We address the discontinuities of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) that may arise when the parameter of interest takes values that change the rank of the quantum statistical model. We revisit the classical and the quantum Cramér–Rao theorems, show that they do not hold in these limiting cases, and discuss how this impacts on the relationship between the QFI and the Bures metric. In order to illustrate the metrological implications of our findings, we present two paradigmatic examples, where we discuss in detail the role of the discontinuities. We show that the usual equivalence between the variance of the maximum likelihood estimator and the inverse of the QFI breaks down.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8121/ab599b

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Abstract We address the discontinuities of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) that may arise when the parameter of interest takes values that change the rank of the quantum statistical model. We revisit the classical and the quantum Cramér–Rao theorems, show that they do not hold in these limiting cases, and discuss how this impacts on the relationship between the QFI and the Bures metric. In order to illustrate the metrological implications of our findings, we present two paradigmatic examples, where we discuss in detail the role of the discontinuities. We show that the usual equivalence between the variance of the maximum likelihood estimator and the inverse of the QFI breaks down.
Recently a widely used computation expression for quantum Fisher information was shown to be discontinuous at the parameter points where the rank of the parametric density operator changes. The quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound can be violated on such singular parameter points if one uses this computation expression for quantum Fisher information. We point out that the discontinuity of the computation expression of quantum Fisher information is accompanied with the unboundedness of the symmetric logarithmic derivation operators, based on which the quantum Fisher information is formally defined and the quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound is originally proved. We argue that the limiting version of the quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound still holds when the parametric density operator changes its rank by closing the potential loophole of involving an unbounded SLD operator in the proof of the bound. Moreover, we analyze a typical example of the quantum statistical models with parameter-dependent rank.
Quantum Fisher information matrices (QFIMs) are fundamental to estimation theory: they encode the ultimate limit for the sensitivity with which a set of parameters can be estimated using a given probe. Since the limit invokes the inverse of a QFIM, an immediate question is what to do with singular QFIMs. Moreover, the QFIM may be discontinuous, forcing one away from the paradigm of regular statistical models. These questions of nonregular quantum statistical models are present in both single- and multiparameter estimation. Geometrically, singular QFIMs occur when the curvature of the metric vanishes in one or more directions in the space of probability distributions, while QFIMs have discontinuities when the density matrix has parameter-dependent rank. We present a nuanced discussion of how to deal with each of these scenarios, stressing the physical implications of singular QFIMs and the ensuing ramifications for quantum metrology.
For a given quantum state used in sensing, the quantum Cramér-Rao bound (QCRB) sets a fundamental limit on the precision achievable by an unbiased estimator of an unknown parameter, determined by the inverse of the quantum Fisher information (QFI). The QFI serves as an upper bound on the classical Fisher information (CFI), representing the maximum extractable information about the unknown parameter from measurements on a physical system. Thus, a central goal in quantum parameter estimation is to find a measurement, described by a POVM, that saturates the QFI (achieves maximum CFI), and thereby achieves the QCRB. In the idealization that one uses pure states and unitary encodings for sensing, discontinuities can appear in the CFI but not the QFI. In this article, we demonstrate that these discontinuities are important features, quantifying how much Fisher information is lost in the presence of noise. We refer to this as the Fisher information "fragility". We present a simple framework for understanding how discontinuities increase fragility through Jensen's inequality, and demonstrate how one can use this framework to design more robust POVMs for quantum advantage in metrology.
We show that two quantities in quantum metrology that were thought to be the same, the quantum Fisher information matrix and the Bures metric, are not the same. They differ at points at which the rank of the density matrix changes. The quantum Fisher information matrix is discontinuous at these points. However, these discontinuities are removable in some sense. We show that the expression given by the Bures metric represents the continuous version of the quantum Fisher information matrix. We also derive an explicit formula for the Bures metric for both singular and nonsingular density matrices.
Understanding how thermal fluctuations modify or suppress quantum-enhanced sensing is a central problem in quantum metrology. Closely related questions arise in quantum thermodynamics, particularly regarding the relation between the work induced by a signal and the information acquired by a sensor. Here, we establish general relations among the sensitivity of thermal quantum states, as quantified by different quantum Fisher information metrics, their temperature dependence, and the work induced by a unitary signal. We further show that, at high temperature, all monotone QFI metrics coincide to leading order with a universal quantity that can be expressed as the variance of a simple observable and itself defines a lesser-known QFI metric. This emergent uniqueness is reminiscent of the uniqueness of classical Fisher information in information geometry. In continuous-variable systems, the infinite-temperature limit is finite and generically non-zero for quadratic Gaussian signals, while it diverges for higher-degree signals. Remarkably, for any purely quadratic signal generator, the infinite-temperature QFI is at least twice the zero-temperature SLD QFI or, equivalently, at least eight times the ground-state variance of the generator. Consequently, the Cramér--Rao lower bound on the estimator variance is reduced by at least a factor of two. We illustrate these results using harmonic chains of bosonic modes relevant to trapped-ion platforms and quantum field-theoretic models.
In this paper we reconsider the single-parameter quantum Fisher information (QFI) and compare it with the two-parameter one. We find simple relations connecting the single-parameter QFI (both in the asymmetric and symmetric phase shift cases) to the two-parameter Fisher matrix coefficients. Following some clarifications about the role of an external phase [Phys. Rev. A 85, 011801(R) (2012)], the single-parameter QFI and its overoptimistic predictions have been disregarded in the literature. We show in this paper that both the single- and two-parameter QFI have physical meaning, and their predicted quantum Cram\'er-Rao bounds are often attainable with the appropriate experimental setup. Moreover, we give practical situations of interest in quantum metrology, where the phase sensitivities of a number of input states approach the quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound induced by the single-parameter QFI, outperforming the two-parameter QFI.