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arXiv:2305.00080 · Information

Principle of Information Increase: An Operational Perspective on Information Gain in the Foundations of Quantum Theory

Yang Yu, Philip Goyal

Published May 17, 2024• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A measurement performed on a quantum system is an act of gaining information about its state. However, in the foundations of quantum theory, the concept of information is multiply defined, particularly in the area of quantum reconstruction, and its conceptual foundations remain surprisingly under-explored. In this paper, we investigate the gain of information in quantum measurements from an operational viewpoint in the special case of a two-outcome probabilistic source. We show that the continuous extension of the Shannon entropy naturally admits two distinct measures of information gain, differential information gain and relative information gain, and that these have radically different characteristics. In particular, while differential information gain can increase or decrease as additional data are acquired, relative information gain consistently grows and, moreover, exhibits asymptotic indifference to the data or choice of Bayesian prior. In order to make a principled choice between these measures, we articulate a Principle of Information Increase, which incorporates a proposal due to Summhammer that more data from measurements leads to more knowledge about the system, and also takes into consideration black swan events. This principle favours differential information gain as the more relevant metric and guides the selection of priors for these information measures. Finally, we show that, of the symmetric beta distribution priors, the Jeffreys binomial prior is the prior that ensures maximal robustness of information gain for the particular data sequence obtained in a run of experiments.

DOI
10.3390/info15050287

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A measurement performed on a quantum system is an act of gaining information about its state. However, in the foundations of quantum theory, the concept of information is multiply defined, particularly in the area of quantum reconstruction, and its conceptual foundations remain surprisingly under-explored. In this paper, we investigate the gain of information in quantum measurements from an operational viewpoint in the special case of a two-outcome probabilistic source. We show that the continuous extension of the Shannon entropy naturally admits two distinct measures of information gain, differential information gain and relative information gain, and that these have radically different characteristics. In particular, while differential information gain can increase or decrease as additional data are acquired, relative information gain consistently grows and, moreover, exhibits asymptotic indifference to the data or choice of Bayesian prior. In order to make a principled choice between these measures, we articulate a Principle of Information Increase, which incorporates a proposal due to Summhammer that more data from measurements leads to more knowledge about the system, and also takes into consideration black swan events. This principle favours differential information gain as the more relevant metric and guides the selection of priors for these information measures. Finally, we show that, of the symmetric beta distribution priors, the Jeffreys binomial prior is the prior that ensures maximal robustness of information gain for the particular data sequence obtained in a run of experiments.
We review with a tutorial scope the information theory foundations of quantum statistical physics. Only a small proportion of the variables that characterize a system at the microscopic scale can be controlled, for both practical and theoretical reasons, and a probabilistic description involving the observers is required. The criterion of maximum von Neumann entropy is then used for making reasonable inferences. It means that no spurious information is introduced besides the known data. Its outcomes can be given a direct justification based on the principle of indifference of Laplace. We introduce the concept of relevant entropy associated with some set of relevant variables; it characterizes the information that is missing at the microscopic level when only these variables are known. For equilibrium problems, the relevant variables are the conserved ones, and the Second Law is recovered as a second step of the inference process. For non-equilibrium problems, the increase of the relevant entropy expresses an irretrievable loss of information from the relevant variables towards the irrelevant ones. Two examples illustrate the flexibility of the choice of relevant variables and the multiplicity of the associated entropies: the thermodynamic entropy (satisfying the Clausius–Duhem inequality) and the Boltzmann entropy (satisfying the H-theorem). The identification of entropy with missing information is also supported by the paradox of Maxwell’s demon. Spin-echo experiments show that irreversibility itself is not an absolute concept: use of hidden information may overcome the arrow of time.
The theory of measurements continuous in time in quantum mechanics (quantum continual measurements) has been formulated by using the notions of instrument, positive operator valued measure, etc., by using quantum stochastic differential equations and by using classical stochastic differential equations (SDE's) for vectors in Hilbert spaces or for trace-class operators. In the same times Ozawa made developments in the theory of instruments and introduced the related notions of a posteriori states and of information gain [1]. In this paper we introduce a simple class of SDE's relevant to the theory of continual measurements and we recall how they are related to instruments and a posteriori states and, so, to the general formulation of quantum mechanics. Then we introduce and use the notion of information gain and the other results of the paper [1] inside the theory of continual measurements. [1] M. Ozawa, On information gain by quantum measurements of continuous observables, J. Math. Phys. 27 (1986) 759-763.
This paper investigates the optimization of quantum state measurement using the principles of information entropy. The core idea is to treat quantum state measurement as an information entropy problem, aiming to maximize the information gained from the measurement process. Traditional quantum measurement techniques often rely on probabilistic outcomes, lacking control and inherent optimization. This work proposes a novel approach that leverages information entropy to design and optimize measurement schemes. The theoretical framework centers around quantifying uncertainty associated with quantum states and formulating measurement strategies to minimize this uncertainty, thereby maximizing the information obtained. Specifically, we explore the relationship between measurement outcomes, entropy, and the achievable precision. The proposed methodology offers a pathway to more efficient and accurate quantum state determination, with potential applications in quantum sensing, quantum communication, and fundamental quantum information theory. The key contributions of this research lie in the systematic application of information entropy to guide measurement selection and the development of a quantifiable metric for evaluating the effectiveness of measurement strategies. The final result is a framework that allows for controlled optimization of quantum measurements, moving beyond purely probabilistic approaches.
In 1927, Heisenberg heuristically disclosed the tradeoff between the error in the measurement and the caused disturbance on another complementary observable. In the quantum theory, most of uncertainty relations are proposed to reveal the amount of unavoidable uncertainty in the measuring process. In this paper, we study the error-disturbance relation from the information viewpoint. We ask how much information, rather than how much uncertainty, can be obtained during the two sequential measurements. To achieve optimal information gain, we argue that the strategy for the "intelligent" prior apparatus is to clone the unknown state, and for the posterior one is to perform the swapping operation. We propose the coarse-grained random access code, and therein information causality as a physical principle can be exploited for deriving the upper-bound of information gain. Finally, we conjecture the information gain of measuring the position and momentum of a quantum object in the coarse-grained way.
To maximize average information gain for a classical measurement, all outcomes of an observation must be equally likely.The condition of equally likely outcomes may be enforced in quantum theory by ensuring that the system's state is maximally different, or complementary, to the measured observable.This requires the ability to perform unitary operations on the state, conditioned on the results of prior measurements.We consider the case of measurement of a component of angular momentum for a qudit (a D-dimensional system, with D ¼ 2J þ 1, where J is the total angular momentum).For weak or continuous-in-time (i.e., repeated weak) measurements, we show that the complementarity condition ensures an average improvement in the rate of purification of only 2. However, we show that, by choosing the locally optimal control protocol of this type, one can attain the best possible scaling, OðD 2 Þ, for the average improvement.For this protocol, the acquisition of information is nearly deterministic.Finally, we contrast these results with those for complementarity-based protocols in a register of qubits.
In a classical measurement the Shannon information is a natural measure of our ignorance about properties of a system. There, observation removes that ignorance in revealing properties of the system which can be considered to preexist prior to and independent of observation. Because of the completely different root of a quantum measurement as compared to a classical measurement, conceptual difficulties arise when we try to define the information gain in a quantum measurement using the notion of Shannon information. The reason is that, in contrast to classical measurements, quantum measurements, with very few exceptions, cannot be claimed to reveal a property of the individual quantum system existing before the measurement is performed.