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arXiv:2410.12670 · International Journal of Quantum Information

Quantifying quantum coherence and the deviation from the total probability formula

Antoine Soulas

Published Feb 21, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

We propose a novel approach to quantify quantum coherence which, contrary to the previous ones, does not rely on resource theory but rather on ontological considerations. In this framework, coherence is understood as the ability of a quantum system’s statistics to deviate from the total probability formula. After motivating the importance of the total probability formula in quantum foundations, we propose a new set of axioms that a measure of coherence should satisfy, and show that it defines a class of measures different from the main previous proposal. Finally, we prove a general result about the dependence of the [Formula: see text]-coherence norm on the basis of interest, and show that it is well approximated by the square root of the purity in most bases.

DOI
10.1142/s0219749925500054

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We propose a novel approach to quantify quantum coherence which, contrary to the previous ones, does not rely on resource theory but rather on ontological considerations. In this framework, coherence is understood as the ability of a quantum system’s statistics to deviate from the total probability formula. After motivating the importance of the total probability formula in quantum foundations, we propose a new set of axioms that a measure of coherence should satisfy, and show that it defines a class of measures different from the main previous proposal. Finally, we prove a general result about the dependence of the [Formula: see text]-coherence norm on the basis of interest, and show that it is well approximated by the square root of the purity in most bases.
Quantum coherence is a key resource in quantum information processing scenarios, and quantifying coherence is an important task for both quantum foundation and quantum technology. However, until now, all most of coherence measures are basis-dependent that does not accord with physical reality, since the physical properties of the physical system should not be changed with the different choice of coordinate systems. Here, we propose an \textit{intrinsic basis-independent quantum coherence measure} which satisfies all conditions for quantifying coherence. This measurement not only reveals physical essence of quantum coherence of the quantum state itself clearly, but also simplifies the measurement procedure by avoiding the optimization procedure of distance measure.
Quantum coherence is a key resource in quantum information processing scenarios, and quantifying coherence is an important task for both quantum foundation and quantum technology. However, until now, all most of coherence measures are basis-dependent that does not accord with physical reality, since the physical properties of the physical system should not be changed with the different choice of coordinate systems. Here, we propose an \textit{intrinsic basis-independent quantum coherence measure} which satisfies all conditions for quantifying coherence. This measurement not only reveals physical essence of quantum coherence of the quantum state itself clearly, but also simplifies the measurement procedure by avoiding the optimization procedure of distance measure.
Various measures have been suggested recently for quantifying the coherence of a quantum state with respect to a given basis. We first use two of these, the l1{l}_{1}l1​-norm and relative entropy measures, to investigate tradeoffs between the coherences of mutually unbiased bases. Results include relations between coherence, uncertainty, and purity; tight general bounds restricting the coherences of mutually unbiased bases; and an exact complementarity relation for qubit coherences. We further define the average coherence of a quantum state. For the l1{l}_{1}l1​-norm measure this is related to a natural ``coherence radius'' for the state and leads to a conjecture for an l2{l}_{2}l2​-norm measure of coherence. For relative entropy the average coherence is determined by the difference between the von Neumann entropy and the quantum subentropy of the state and leads to upper bounds for the latter quantity. Finally, we point out that the relative entropy of coherence is a special case of G-asymmetry, which immediately yields several operational interpretations in contexts as diverse as frame alignment, quantum communication, and metrology, and suggests generalizing the property of quantum coherence to arbitrary groups of physical transformations.
Quantum coherence is an essential ingredient in quantum information processing and plays a central role in emergent fields such as nanoscale thermodynamics and quantum biology. However, our understanding and quantitative characterization of coherence as an operational resource are still very limited. Here we show that any degree of coherence with respect to some reference basis can be converted to entanglement via incoherent operations. This finding allows us to define a novel general class of measures of coherence for a quantum system of arbitrary dimension, in terms of the maximum bipartite entanglement that can be generated via incoherent operations applied to the system and an incoherent ancilla. The resulting measures are proven to be valid coherence monotones satisfying all the requirements dictated by the resource theory of quantum coherence. We demonstrate the usefulness of our approach by proving that the fidelity-based geometric measure of coherence is a full convex coherence monotone, and deriving a closed formula for it on arbitrary single-qubit states. Our work provides a clear quantitative and operational connection between coherence and entanglement, two landmark manifestations of quantum theory and both key enablers for quantum technologies.
One of the fundamental features that separates quantum physics from classical physics is the idea of quantum superposition, also known as coherence. This thesis concentrates on understanding quantum coherence in the mathematical framework of resource theories, viewing it both as a resource to be harnessed and as a way to quantitatively characterise quantum states in contrast to classical states. We first examine the type of coherence resource theory which has emerged recently to cope with general settings where the physical nature of the medium encoding information is not crucial, such as computation. We identify the set of quantum processes in which coherence is neither created nor used, and use these to provide a physically motivated resource theory pictured in terms of interferometry. Using the same concepts, we then find connections between coherence and discord, a type of quantum correlation. In particular, we show how coherence can be used to generate discord, and explore basis-dependent discord as an intermediate quantity. The second part of the thesis applies the resource theory framework to quantify quantum macroscopicity, taken here to mean the extent to which coherence exists in a system on a macroscopic scale. We find the appropriate type of resource theory for this purpose, giving criteria for good measures of macroscopic coherence. We use these criteria to evaluate some previously proposed measures and highlight the role of the quantum Fisher information. Next, we build up measures based on the concept of macroscopic distinguishability and use them to show that macroscopic quantum states are fragile to noise induced by interaction with an environment. Finally, we apply measures based on the Fisher information to a range of experiments involving mechanical degrees of freedom, in order to compare their macroscopicity.
Abstract The peculiar uncertainty or randomness of quantum measurements stems from quantum coherence, whose information‐theoretic characterization is currently under investigation. The resource theory of coherence investigates interpretations of coherence measures and the interplay with other quantum properties, such as quantum correlations and intrinsic randomness. Coherence can be viewed as a resource for generating intrinsic randomness by measuring a state in the computational basis. It is observed in a previous work that the coherence of formation, which measures the asymptotic coherence dilution rate, indeed quantifies the uncertainty of a correlated party (classical system) about the system measurement outcome. In this work, the result is re‐derived from a quantum point of view, and then the intrinsic randomness is connected to the relative entropy of coherence, another important coherence measure that quantifies the asymptotic distillable coherence. Even though there do not exist bound coherent states, these two coherence measures—intrinsic randomness quantified by coherence of formation and by relative entropy of coherence—are different. Interestingly, it is shown that this gap is equal to the quantum discord, a general form of quantum correlations, in the state of the system of interest and the correlated party, after a local measurement on the former system.