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arXiv:2408.00826 · Physical Review Letters

Krylov Complexity of Purification

Rathindra Nath Das, Takato Mori

Published Dec 15, 2025• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In quantum systems, purification can map mixed states into pure states and a nonunitary evolution into a unitary one by enlarging the Hilbert space. We establish a connection between the complexities of mixed quantum states and their purification, proposing new inequalities among these complexities. By examining single qubits, two-qubit Werner states, eight-dimensional Gaussian random unitary ensembles, and infinite-dimensional systems, we demonstrate how these relationships manifest across a broad class of systems. We find that the spread complexity of purification of a vacuum state evolving into a thermal state equals the average number of Rindler particles. This complexity is also shown to adhere to the Lloyd-like bound, indicating a further relation to the quantum speed limit. Finally, using mutual Krylov complexity, we observe subadditivity of the Krylov complexities, which contrasts with known results from holographic volume complexity. We put forward Krylov mutual complexity as a diagnosis of a potential gravity dual of Krylov complexities.

DOI
10.1103/qgcx-wxpd

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In quantum systems, purification can map mixed states into pure states and a nonunitary evolution into a unitary one by enlarging the Hilbert space. We establish a connection between the complexities of mixed quantum states and their purification, proposing new inequalities among these complexities. By examining single qubits, two-qubit Werner states, eight-dimensional Gaussian random unitary ensembles, and infinite-dimensional systems, we demonstrate how these relationships manifest across a broad class of systems. We find that the spread complexity of purification of a vacuum state evolving into a thermal state equals the average number of Rindler particles. This complexity is also shown to adhere to the Lloyd-like bound, indicating a further relation to the quantum speed limit. Finally, using mutual Krylov complexity, we observe subadditivity of the Krylov complexities, which contrasts with known results from holographic volume complexity. We put forward Krylov mutual complexity as a diagnosis of a potential gravity dual of Krylov complexities.
Abstract We study the complexity of Gaussian mixed states in a free scalar field theory using the ‘purification complexity’. The latter is defined as the lowest value of the circuit complexity, optimized over all possible purifications of a given mixed state. 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. We explore the purification complexity for thermal states of a free scalar QFT in any number of dimensions, and for subregions of the vacuum state in two dimensions. We compare our results to those found using the various holographic proposals for the complexity of subregions. 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 paper.
A bstract Quantifying complexity in quantum systems has witnessed a surge of interest in recent years, with Krylov-based measures such as Krylov complexity ( C K ) and Spread complexity ( C S ) gaining prominence. In this study, we investigate their interplay by considering the complexity of states represented by density matrix operators . After setting up the problem, we analyze a handful of analytical and numerical examples spanning generic two-dimensional Hilbert spaces, qubit states, quantum harmonic oscillators, and random matrix theories, uncovering insightful relationships. For generic pure states, our analysis reveals two key findings: (I) a correspondence between moment-generating functions (of Lanczos coefficients) and survival amplitudes, and (II) an early-time equivalence between C K and 2 C S . Furthermore, for maximally entangled pure states, we find that the moment-generating function of C K becomes the Spectral Form Factor and, at late-times, C K is simply related to NC S for N ≥ 2 within the N -dimensional Hilbert space. Notably, we confirm that C K = 2 C S holds across all times when N = 2. Through the lens of random matrix theories, we also discuss deviations between complexities at intermediate times and highlight subtleties in the averaging approach at the level of the survival amplitude.
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.
A recently developed notion, known as spread complexity, captures how a quantum state spreads in Krylov space under unitary evolution. Related Krylov-space approaches are increasingly being investigated for applications in quantum control, simulation, and metrology, as well as are being considered for implementation in near-term quantum platforms. However, its connection to fundamental quantum resources such as entanglement and quantum coherence remains unclear. We show that the dynamics of entanglement is constrained by the extent of spreading in Krylov space. For multipartite systems, we relate state delocalization in the Krylov basis, quantified by the inverse participation ratio, to geometric measures of multipartite quantum correlations. Furthermore, we derive analytical relations between the quantum coherence of the initial state in the energy eigenbasis and spread complexity for qubit and qutrit systems. Our results make progress towards understanding the subtle interplay between the dynamical spreading in Krylov space and fundamental quantum resources.
We present a general framework in which both Krylov state and operator complexities can be put on the same footing. In our formalism, the Krylov complexity is defined in terms of the density matrix of the associated state which, for the operator complexity, lives on a doubled Hilbert space obtained through the channel-state map. This unified definition of complexity in terms of the density matrices enables us to extend the notion of Krylov complexity, to subregion or mixed state complexities and also naturally to the Krylov mutual complexity. We show that this framework also encompasses nicely the holographic notions of complexity.
Finding pure states in an enlarged Hilbert space that encode the mixed state of a quantum field theory as a partial trace is necessarily a challenging task. Nevertheless, such purifications play the key role in characterizing quantum information-theoretic properties of mixed states via entanglement and complexity of purifications. In this article, we analyze these quantities for two intervals in the vacuum of free bosonic and Ising conformal field theories using the most general Gaussian purifications. We provide a comprehensive comparison with existing results and identify universal properties. We further discuss important subtleties in our setup: the massless limit of the free bosonic theory and the corresponding behavior of the mutual information, as well as the Hilbert space structure under the Jordan-Wigner mapping in the spin chain model of the Ising conformal field theory.