Quantum channel estimation and discrimination are fundamentally related information processing tasks of interest in quantum information science. In this paper, we analyze these tasks by employing the right logarithmic derivative Fisher information and the geometric Rényi relative entropy, respectively, and we also identify connections between these distinguishability measures. A key result of our paper is that a chain-rule property holds for the right logarithmic derivative Fisher information and the geometric Rényi relative entropy for the interval α∈ (0 , 1) of the Rényi parameter α. In channel estimation, these results imply a condition for the unattainability of Heisenberg scaling, while in channel discrimination, they lead to improved bounds on error rates in the Chernoff and Hoeffding error exponent settings. More generally, we introduce the amortized quantum Fisher information as a conceptual framework for analyzing general sequential protocols that estimate a parameter encoded in a quantum channel. We then use this framework, beyond the aforementioned application, to show that Heisenberg scaling is not possible when a parameter is encoded in a classical–quantum channel. We then identify a number of other conceptual and technical connections between the tasks of estimation and discrimination and the distinguishability measures involved in analyzing each. As part of this work, we present a detailed overview of the geometric Rényi relative entropy of quantum states and channels, as well as its properties, which may be of independent interest.
We use a rectangular pulse to freeze the possibility of estimating the coherent parameters (
θ,ϕ) of a single qubit and the encoded information. It is shown that, as the possibility of estimating the parameters increases, the amount of encoded information decreases. The pulse strength and the detuning between the qubit and the pulse have a different effect on the estimation degree and the encoded information. We show that if the weight parameter,
θ is estimated, the encoded information depends on the initial state settings. Meanwhile, the encoded information doesn't depend on the estimated phase parameter,
ϕ. These results may be useful in the context of quantum cryptography, teleportation and secure communication.
Critical metrology relies on the precise preparation of a system in its ground state near a quantum phase transition point where quantum correlations get very strong. Typically, this increases the quantum Fisher information with respect to changes in system parameters and thus improves the optimally possible measurement precision limited by the Cramér-Rao bound. Hence critical metrology involves encoding information about the unknown parameter in changes of the system's ground state. Conversely, in conventional metrology methods like Ramsey interferometry, the eigenstates of the system remain unchanged, and information about the unknown parameter is encoded in the relative phases that excited system states accumulate during their time evolution. Here we introduce an approach combining these two methodologies into a unified protocol applicable to closed and driven-dissipative systems. We show that the quantum Fisher information in this case exhibits an additional interference term originating from the interplay between eigenstate and relative phase changes. We provide analytical expressions for the quantum and classical Fisher information in such a setup, elucidating as well a straightforward measurement approach that nearly attains the maximum precision permissible under the Cramér-Rao bound. We showcase these results by focusing on the squeezing Hamiltonian, which characterizes the thermodynamic limit of Dicke and Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick Hamiltonians.