One of the fundamental features of quantum mechanics is the superposition principle, a manifestation of which is embodied in quantum coherence. Coherence of a quantum state is invariably defined with respect to a preferred set of pointer states, and there exist quantum coherence measures with respect to deterministically as well as probabilistically distinguishable sets of quantum state vectors. Here we study the resource theory of quantum coherence with respect to an arbitrary set of quantum state vectors, that may not even be probabilistically distinguishable. Geometrically, a probabilistically indistinguishable set of quantum state vectors forms a linearly dependent set. In quantum optics, the coherent states form an ``overcomplete basis'' of linearly dependent states and are useful in dealing with states that can be prepared in optical systems. Also, the resource theory of magic can be looked upon as a resource theory of quantum coherence with respect to a set of basis vectors that are probabilistically indistinguishable. These motivate us to consider a resource theory of coherence with respect to probabilistically indistinguishable pointers. We find the free states of the resource theory, and analyze the corresponding free operations, obtaining a necessary condition for an arbitrary quantum operation to be free. We identify a class of measures of the quantum coherence and, in particular, establish the monotonicity property of the measures. We find a connection of an arbitrary set of quantum state vectors with positive operator-valued measurements with respect to the resource theory being considered, which paves the way for an alternate definition of the free states. We subsequently examine the wave-particle duality in a double-slit setup in which superposition of probabilistically indistinguishable quantum state vectors is possible. Specifically, we report a complementary relation between quantum coherence and path distinguishability in such a setup.
One of the fundamental features of quantum mechanics is the superposition principle, a manifestation of which is embodied in quantum coherence. Coherence of a quantum state is invariably defined with respect to a preferred set of pointer states, and there exist quantum coherence measures with respect to deterministically as well as probabilistically distinguishable sets of quantum state vectors. Here we study the resource theory of quantum coherence with respect to an arbitrary set of quantum state vectors, that may not even be probabilistically distinguishable. Geometrically, a probabilistically indistinguishable set of quantum state vectors forms a linearly dependent set. In quantum optics, the coherent states form an ``overcomplete basis'' of linearly dependent states and are useful in dealing with states that can be prepared in optical systems. Also, the resource theory of magic can be looked upon as a resource theory of quantum coherence with respect to a set of basis vectors that are probabilistically indistinguishable. These motivate us to consider a resource theory of coherence with respect to probabilistically indistinguishable pointers. We find the free states of the resource theory, and analyze the corresponding free operations, obtaining a necessary condition for an arbitrary quantum operation to be free. We identify a class of measures of the quantum coherence and, in particular, establish the monotonicity property of the measures. We find a connection of an arbitrary set of quantum state vectors with positive operator-valued measurements with respect to the resource theory being considered, which paves the way for an alternate definition of the free states. We subsequently examine the wave-particle duality in a double-slit setup in which superposition of probabilistically indistinguishable quantum state vectors is possible. Specifically, we report a complementary relation between quantum coherence and path distinguishability in such a setup.
Abstract We propose the notion of quantum coherence for superpositions over states which are not necessarily mutually orthogonal. This anticipatedly leads to a resource theory of non-orthogonal coherence. We characterize free states and free operations in this theory, and connect the latter with free operations in the resource theory of quantum coherence for orthogonal bases. We show that the concept of non-orthogonal coherence naturally furnishes us with a wave-particle duality in quantum double-slit experiments where the channels beyond the slits are leaky between them. Furthermore, we demonstrate existence of a unique maximally coherent qubit state corresponding to any given purity. In addition, and in contradistinction with the case of orthogonal bases, there appears a non-trivial minimally coherent qubit state for a given purity. We also study the behavior of quantum coherence for some typical configurations of non-orthogonal bases which have no analogs for orthogonal bases. We further investigate the problem of determining the energy cost of creating non-orthogonal coherence, and find that it scales linearly with the non-orthogonal coherence created.
Quantum coherence quantifies the amount of superposition in a quantum system, and is the reason and resource behind several phenomena and technologies. It depends on the natural basis in which the quantum state of the system is expressed, which in turn hinges on the physical set-up being analyzed and utilized. While quantum coherence has hitherto been conceptualized by employing different categories of complete bases, there do exist interesting physical situations, where the natural basis is an incomplete one, an example being an interferometric set-up with the observer controlling only a certain fraction of all the slits. We introduce a quantification of quantum coherence with respect to an arbitrary incomplete basis for general quantum states, and develop the corresponding resource theory, identifying the free states and operations. Moreover, we obtain a complementarity relation between the so-defined quantum coherence and the which-path information in an interferometric set-up with several slits, of which only a section is in control of the observer or is accessible to her. This therefore provides us with another face of the wave-particle duality in quantum systems, demonstrating that the complementarity is functional in more general set-ups than thus far considered.
The superposition principle lies at the heart of many nonclassical properties of quantum mechanics. Motivated by this, we introduce a rigorous resource theory framework for the quantification of superposition of a finite number of linear independent states. This theory is a generalization of resource theories of coherence. We determine the general structure of operations which do not create superposition, find a fundamental connection to unambiguous state discrimination, and propose several quantitative superposition measures. Using this theory, we show that trace decreasing operations can be completed for free which, when specialized to the theory of coherence, resolves an outstanding open question and is used to address the free probabilistic transformation between pure states. Finally, we prove that linearly independent superposition is a necessary and sufficient condition for the faithful creation of entanglement in discrete settings, establishing a strong structural connection between our theory of superposition and entanglement theory.
Wave-particle duality, a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics, encapsulates the complementary relationship between the wave and particle behaviors of quantum systems. In this paper, we treat quantum coherence and classical distinguishability as complementary resources and uncover a novel duality relation, which is explored through quantum state discrimination under incoherent operations, extending beyond typical interference scenarios. We prove that in an ensemble of mutually orthogonal pure states, the sum of ``co-bits,'' quantifying the coherence preserved under incoherent free operations, and classical bits, representing the distinguishability extracted via quantum state discrimination, is bounded. This coherence-distinguishability duality relation exposes an inherent tradeoff between the simultaneous preservation of a system's quantum coherence (wavelike property) and the extraction of its classical distinguishability (particlelike property). Our findings provide a fresh perspective on wave-particle duality through quantum resource theories, offering complementary insights into manipulating quantum and classical resources, with implications for quantum foundations and quantum technologies.
Quantum coherence is a fundamental feature of quantum mechanics and an underlying requirement for most quantum information tasks. In the resource theory of coherence, incoherent states are diagonal with respect to a fixed orthonormal basis; i.e., they can be seen as arising from a von Neumann measurement. Here, we introduce and study a generalization to a resource theory of coherence defined with respect to the most general quantum measurements, i.e., to arbitrary positive-operator-valued measures (POVMs). We establish POVM-based coherence measures and POVM-incoherent operations that coincide for the case of von Neumann measurements with their counterparts in standard coherence theory. We provide a semidefinite program that allows us to characterize interconversion properties of resource states and exemplify our framework by means of the qubit trine POVM, for which we also show analytical results.
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.