Recent work on quantum reference frames (QRFs) has demonstrated that superposition and entanglement are properties that change under QRF transformations. Given their utility in quantum information processing, it is important to understand how a mere change of perspective can produce or reduce these resources. Here we prove the existence of a QRF invariant which can be decomposed such that it captures the trade-off between entanglement and subsystem coherence: we demonstrate the invariance of the sum of entanglement and subsystem coherence for two pairs of resource quantifiers. Moreover, we find a weaker trade-off that holds for any possible pair of measures. Finally, we discuss the implications of this interplay for violations of Bell's inequalities, clarifying that for any choice of QRF, there is a quantum resource responsible for the violation. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the quantum information theoretic aspects of QRFs, offering a foundation for future exploration in both quantum theory and quantum gravity.
Recent work on quantum reference frames (QRFs) has demonstrated that superposition and entanglement are properties that change under QRF transformations. Given their utility in quantum information processing, it is important to understand how a mere change of perspective can produce or reduce these resources. Here we prove the existence of a QRF invariant which can be decomposed such that it captures the trade-off between entanglement and subsystem coherence: we demonstrate the invariance of the sum of entanglement and subsystem coherence for two pairs of resource quantifiers. Moreover, we find a weaker trade-off that holds for any possible pair of measures. Finally, we discuss the implications of this interplay for violations of Bell's inequalities, clarifying that for any choice of QRF, there is a quantum resource responsible for the violation. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the quantum information theoretic aspects of QRFs, offering a foundation for future exploration in both quantum theory and quantum gravity.
Given the recent interest in perspectival quantum reference frames (QRFs), we ask how quantum properties in the perspectival picture relate to their global (non-perspectival) counterparts. Such a connection could allow established quantum information to be understood from the perspective of QRFs. Specifically, we find sufficient conditions under which global entanglement decomposes into a combination of perspectival entanglement and coherence -- a phenomenon that we call entanglement transference. We apply this result to non-inertial QRFs, revisiting the problem of acceleration-induced entanglement degradation. We find that entanglement degradation in the perspectival picture can be offset by an increase in coherence resources. This novel insight into (relativistic) quantum resource transformations suggests that QRFs may play a useful role in understanding more general quantum resource and quantum information phenomena.
The perspective-neutral formulation of quantum reference frames (QRFs) treats observers as quantum systems and describes physics relationally from within the composite system. While frame-change maps and frame-invariant resource sums are theoretically understood, their impact on circuit-based quantum information processing has largely remained unexplored. We formulate QRF transformations as circuit compilation rules and, for systems with finite Abelian symmetry described by the regular representation, derive a gate-level dictionary that maps local operations in one frame to their images in another. This yields a group-theoretic classification of gates where symmetry-commuting operators remain local, up to frame-dependent phases, while generic gates are promoted to controlled entangling operations in which the original frame acts as a control register. The resulting frame-dependence entangling-gate count defines a relational circuit complexity where the cost of a computation depends on the internal reference frame of the observer. We instantiate the framework in a three-qubit model and show that the QRF unitary acts as a lossless converter between a purity-based local coherence and concurrence, preserving their invariant sum and giving a concrete realization of the relativity of entanglement. We implement the corresponding circuits on an IBM Quantum superconducting platform, using full state tomography to reconstruct the redistribution of resources between internal frames. The hardware data reproduce the predicted conversion of local coherence into entanglement, and the observed deviations from exact conservation quantify the effect of realistic device noise on relational quantum protocols.
In quantum information theory, standard notions typically presuppose a fixed partition of the world into subsystems, encoded in a tensor product structure of the Hilbert space. Yet, in some scenarios, the subsystem structure is not uniquely fixed. A case in point is the description of subsystems relative to different quantum reference frames (QRFs), where the tensor product structure, although fixed in a specific QRF, changes across different QRFs. Such a relativity of subsystems underlies many interesting features of QRFs, such as the relativity of entanglement, entropy, and coherence. It also raises a broader question: how do we compare the information across different subsystem perspectives, especially when the corresponding subsystem algebras overlap? Here, we propose a notion of quantum mutual information across different QRF perspectives, which captures the correlations between subsystems relative to different frames of reference. To do so, we focus on an algebraic definition of subsystems. Studying in detail the union and overlap between subsystem algebras relative to different QRFs, we find that the usual definition of mutual information in terms of the chain law overcounts the information associated to the overlap. Based on this insight, we propose a modified chain law and show that the resulting notion of mutual information satisfies subadditivity and connects naturally to other measures found in the literature [1]. Our investigations not only provide a way to quantify the relation between different QRF perspectives from an information-theoretic point of view but also sheds light on some important features of quantum information in absence of a fixed tensor product structure.
We generalize the notion of quantum reference frames (QRFs) to cases where the frame does not necessarily correspond to a tensor factor subsystem, but to a covariant quantum instrument. This unlocks a variety of physical applications: "frames of labeling" for indistinguishable particles, suggesting explanations for the symmetrization postulate and the absence of parastatistics, and yielding a transparent description of the entanglement of bosons and fermions; and relational clocks reproducing the Schrödinger equation exactly even when all subsystems are interacting or when there are frequency superselection sectors. Our work generalizes the perspective-neutral approach to QRFs pioneered by Höhn and co-authors, which we reconstruct from a simple operational scenario. We give a resource-theoretic grounding of this framework, and show how the notion of completely covariant operations explains the relevance of the charge-zero sector and the pure-state transformation behavior across perspectives. This also suggests operational clarifications of some aspects of constraint quantization, e.g. of the meaning of constraint equations such as C∣ψ⟩=0. Some of our results, such as our generalization of relationalization maps to instruments, apply more broadly to other QRF frameworks too, and they contribute to bridging the gap between operational quantum information theory and the internal QRF research program.
Viewing frames of reference as physical systems, subject to the same laws as the systems they describe, is central to the relational approach in physics. Under the assumption that quantum mechanics universally governs all physical entities, this perspective naturally leads to the concept of quantum reference frames (QRFs). We investigate the perspective-dependence of position and momentum uncertainties, correlations, covariance matrices, and entanglement within the QRF formalism. We show that the Robertson-Schrödinger uncertainty relations are frame-dependent, and so are correlations and variances, which satisfy various constraints described as inequalities. However, the determinant of the total covariance matrix, linked to the uncertainty volume in phase space, as well as variance-based entanglement criteria, remains invariant under changes of reference frame. Under specific conditions, the purities of subsystems are also invariant for different QRFs, but in general, they are perspective-dependent. These invariants suggest fundamental, robust measures of uncertainty and entanglement that persist despite changes in observational perspective, potentially inspiring dedicated quantum information protocols as well as further foundational studies.
When reference frames are treated quantum mechanically, the subsystem structure of quantum systems is no longer absolute, but depends on the choice of the quantum reference frame (QRF). This raises a basic question: which dynamical properties are preserved across QRFs, and which depend on the physical reference used to define the system? We study this question in the general setting of open quantum systems. At the operational level, after a QRF transformation, the old reference frame and environmental degrees of freedom may be inaccessible and must therefore be traced out. This motivates the definition of reduced quantum-reference-frame channels: maps that connect the joint description in one frame to the accessible subsystem in another. We characterize their symmetry-constrained structure and define a regime in which a reduced entropy-coherence conservation law holds. We also identify when the induced reduced action on the open system admits a classical interpretation as random frame misalignment, and when it instead reflects quantum reduced-frame effects. We then apply the framework to pure-dephasing dynamics and derive a necessary and sufficient compatibility condition for population preservation. When the frame symmetry commutes with the open system's free Hamiltonian, coherences acquire a multiplicative frame factor, so that locally inferred decoherence rates split into environmental and reference-induced contributions. Ramsey interferometry gives this split a direct operational meaning. Finally, a gravity-motivated dephasing model illustrates how degradation of a phase reference can mimic signatures usually attributed to intrinsic decoherence mechanisms.