Abstract We generalize the Fubini-Study method for pure-state complexity to generic quantum states by taking Bures metric or quantum Fisher information metric (QFIM) on the space of density matrices as the complexity measure. Due to Uhlmann’s theorem, we show that the mixed-state complexity exactly equals the purification complexity measured by the Fubini-Study metric for purified states but without explicitly applying any purification. We also find the purification complexity is non-increasing under any trace-preserving quantum operations. We also study the mixed Gaussian states as an example to explicitly illustrate our conclusions for purification complexity.
Abstract We generalize the Fubini-Study method for pure-state complexity to generic quantum states by taking Bures metric or quantum Fisher information metric (QFIM) on the space of density matrices as the complexity measure. Due to Uhlmann’s theorem, we show that the mixed-state complexity exactly equals the purification complexity measured by the Fubini-Study metric for purified states but without explicitly applying any purification. We also find the purification complexity is non-increasing under any trace-preserving quantum operations. We also study the mixed Gaussian states as an example to explicitly illustrate our conclusions for purification complexity.
Quantum information has produced fresh insights into foundational questions about the AdS/CFT correspondence. One fascinating concept, which has captured increasing attention, is quantum circuit complexity. As a natural generalization for the complexity of pure states, we investigate the circuit complexity of mixed states in this thesis. \n \nFirst of all, we explore the so-called purification complexity which is defined as the lowest value of the circuit complexity, optimized over all possible purifications of a given mixed state. We focus on studying the complexity of Gaussian mixed states in a free scalar field theory using the ‘purification complexity’. We argue that the optimal purifications only contain the essential number of ancillary degrees of freedom necessary in order to purify the mixed state. We also introduce the concept of ‘mode-by-mode purifications’ where each mode in the mixed state is purified separately and examine the extent to which such purifications are optimal. In order to compare with the results from using the various holographic proposals for the complexity of subregions, we explore the purification complexity for thermal states of a free scalar QFT, and for subregions of the vacuum state in two dimensions. We find a number of qualitative similarities between the two in terms of the structure of divergences and the presence of a volume law. We also examine the ‘mutual complexity’ in the various cases studied in this thesis. \n \nIn addition, we propose to generalize the Fubini-Study method for pure-state complexity to generic quantum states including mixed states by taking Bures metric or quantum Fisher information metric on the space of density matrices as the complexity measure. Due to Uhlmann’s theorem, we show that the mixed-state complexity exactly equals the purification complexity measured by the Fubini-Study metric for purified states but without explicitly applying any purifications. We also find that the purification complexity is nonincreasing under any trace-preserving quantum operations. As an illustration, we study the mixed Gaussian states as an example to explicitly show our conclusions for purification complexity.
We investigate the geometric quantum complexity of Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) at finite temperature. Specifically, we use the Bures and Sjöqvist metrics -- generalizations of the Fubini-Study metric for mixed quantum states, as well as the Nielsen geometric complexity approach based on purification of mixed states. Starting from the Bogoliubov Hamiltonian of BEC, which exhibits an SU(1,1) symmetry, we explicitly derive and compare the complexities arising from these three distinct measures. For the Bures and Sjöqvist metrics, analytical and numerical evaluations of the corresponding geodesics are provided, revealing characteristic scaling behaviors with respect to temperature. In the Nielsen complexity approach, we rigorously handle the gauge freedoms associated with mixed state purification and non-uniqueness unitary operations, demonstrating that the resulting complexity aligns precisely with the Bures metric. Our work provides a comparative study of the geometric complexity of finite-temperature Bose-Einstein condensates, revealing its intimate connections to symmetry structures and temperature effects in BEC systems.
The aim of this paper is to derive explicit formulae for the computation of the Riemannian Bures metric g on the manifold of (finite-dimensional) nonsingular density matrices . This Riemannian metric introduced by Uhlmann generalizes the Fubini-Study metric to mixed states and is the infinitesimal version of the Bures distance. Several formulae are known for computing the Bures metric in low dimensions. The formulae presented in this paper allow for computing in finite dimensions without any diagonalization procedures. The first equations we give are, essentially, of the form , where is a matrix of invariants of . A further formula, , is adapted to the local orthogonal decomposition at generic points.
Many central tasks in fundamental physics and quantum information processing are possible only insofar as mixed quantum states can be made purer. In this work, we prove that the linearity and positivity of quantum mechanics impose general restrictions on quantum purification, unveiling a new fundamental principle of quantum information processing. We first establish that no quantum operation can transform a finite number of copies of an unknown quantum state or channel into an exactly pure output that depends non-trivially on the input, thereby ruling out an important form of universal purification in both static and dynamical settings. Building on this, we show that, upon relaxing the requirement of exact purity, one can establish quantitative sample-complexity lower bounds for approximate purification that hold for arbitrary physically allowed strategies, whose scaling matches the performance of purification-related tasks across several different areas of quantum information processing. Moreover, this lower bound leads to a generalized standard quantum limit for learning arbitrary functions of a quantum state, greatly extending earlier results based on quantum Fisher information and revealing a deep connection between purification and quantum learning. Extending this principle to other important settings, we establish, for the first time, an exponential sample-complexity lower bound for approximate pure dilation state preparation and a no-go theorem for approximate bosonic Gaussian state purification with passive Gaussian operations, establishing much more stringent limitations under practical operational constraints.
Standard purification interlaces Hermitian and Riemannian metrics on the space of density operators with metrics and connections on the purifying Hilbert–Schmidt space. We discuss connections and metrics which are well adopted to purification, and present a selected set of relations between them. A connection, as well as a metric on state space, can be obtained from a metric on the purification space. We include a condition, with which this correspondence becomes one to one. Our methods are borrowed from elementary *-representation and fiber space theory. We lift, as an example, solutions of a von Neumann equation, write down holonomy invariants for cyclic ones, and “add noise” to a curve of pure states.
This paper develops a rigorous, self-contained differential-geometric framework for tracking mixed quantum states in open physical systems, providing an analytical structural extension to the pure-state Kâhler geometry of Paper 1. Because open quantum dynamics induced by environment-driven dissipation and decoherence break the global manifold homogeneity, we model the total space of density operators S(H) as a stratified space. We prove that the individual rank-k subsets constitute embedded smooth real manifolds of dimension 2k(N + 1) − k2 − 1, satisfying the algebraic conditions of Whitney Regularity Condition B to guarantee continuous tangent space alignment across interfaces. To assign coordinate-independent connection and metric tensors over this stratified landscape, we formalize the global principal U (n) fiber bundle structure using Uhlmann’s purification theorem. By lifting mixed density operators to pure-state amplitudes W ∈ GL(n, C) on a bipartite workspace, we show that minimizing the ambient flat Hilbert–Schmidt metric along the vertical fibers induces the non-degenerate Bures metric on the base manifold. We derive the exact matrix elements of the corresponding Symmetric Logarithmic Derivative (SLD) fields in an arbitrary non-degenerate eigenbasis, establishing the mixed-state information scaling boundary gQF IM = 4gB. Finally, we characterize the non-Abelian Yang–Mills curvature FU = dAU + AU ∧ AU of the Uhlmann connection, demonstrating how non-commutativity emerges naturally under environmental coupling. By isolating the measure-zero boundary configurations where eigenvalues or matrix rank drop, we generalize our control immersion criterion to identify both rank deficient and eigenvalue-vanishing caustic singularities. This metric-determinant verification pipeline allows researchers to systematically diagnose, map, and structurally bypass trajectory bottlenecks during Lindbladian control path optimization on real-world noisy quantum backends