arXiv:2507.23760

Universal tradeoff relations between resource cost and irreversibility of channels: General-resource Wigner-Araki-Yanase theorems and beyond

Tajima, Hiroyasu, Koji Yamaguchi, Ryuji Takagi, Yui Kuramochi

Published Jul 31, 2025• 0 citations

Abstract

Quantum technologies offer exceptional -- sometimes almost magical -- speed and performance, yet every quantum process costs physical resources. Designing next-generation quantum devices, therefore, depends on solving the following question: which resources, and in what amount, are required to implement a desired quantum process? Casting the problem in the language of quantum resource theories, we prove a universal cost-irreversibility tradeoff: the lower the irreversibility of a quantum process, the greater the required resource cost for its realization. The trade-off law holds for a broad range of resources -- energy, magic, asymmetry, coherence, athermality, and others -- yielding lower bounds on resource cost of any quantum channel. Its broad scope positions this result as a foundation for deriving the following key results: (1) we show a universal relation between the energetic cost and the irreversibility for arbitrary channels, encompassing the energy-error tradeoff for any measurement or unitary gate; (2) we extend the energy-error tradeoff to free energy and work costs; (3) we extend the Wigner-Araki-Yanase theorem, which is the universal limitation on measurements under conservation laws, to a wide class of resource theories: the probability of failure in distinguishing resourceful states via a measurement is inversely proportional to its resource cost; (4) we prove that infinitely many resource-non-increasing operations in fact require an infinite implementation cost. These findings reveal a universal relationship between quantumness and irreversibility, providing a first step toward a general theory that explains when -- and how -- quantumness can suppress irreversibility.

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2507.23760

Related papers

Universal trade-off structure between symmetry, irreversibility, and quantum coherence in quantum processes

Tajima, Hiroyasu, Ryuji Takagi, Yui Kuramochi

Symmetry, irreversibility, and quantum coherence are foundational concepts in physics. Here, we present a universal tradeoff relation between these three concepts. This particularly reveals that (1) under a global symmetry, any attempt to change the local conserved charge causes inevitable irreversibility, and (2) such irreversibility can be mitigated by quantum coherence. Our tradeoff relation follows solely from the unitarity and global symmetry of the total dynamics, allowing for general applicability. For non-equilibrium physics, it relates the coherence cost and the entropy production -- representing thermodynamic irreversibility -- in arbitrary quantum processes. It also provides fundamental limitations on the capability of a number of quantum information processing tasks -- such as gate and measurement implementation and error correction -- that involve symmetry restrictions. Furthermore, it predicts how many bits of classical information thrown into a black hole become unreadable under energy conservation. Our tradeoff relation is based on quantum uncertainty relation, showcasing intimate connections between fundamental physical principles and ultimate operational capability of quantum processes.

arXiv:2206.11086Jun 22, 20225 citations

The Wigner–Araki–Yanase theorem and the quantum resource theory of asymmetry

Mehdi Ahmadi, David H. Jennings, Terry Rudolph

The Wigner–Araki–Yanase (WAY) theorem establishes an important constraint that conservation laws impose on quantum mechanical measurements. We formulate the WAY theorem in the broader context of resource theories, where one is constrained to a subset of quantum mechanical operations described by a symmetry group. Establishing connections with the theory of quantum state discrimination we obtain optimal unitaries describing the measurement of arbitrary observables, explain how prior information can permit perfect measurements that circumvent the WAY constraint, and provide a framework that establishes a natural ordering on measurement apparatuses through a decomposition into asymmetry and charge subsystems.

arXiv:1209.0921New Journal of PhysicsJan 28, 201393 citations

Fundamental Energy Requirement of Reversible Quantum Operations

Giulio Chiribella, Yuxiang Yang, Renato Renner

Landauer’s principle asserts that any computation has an unavoidable energy cost that grows proportionally to its degree of logical irreversibility. But even a logically reversible operation, when run on a physical processor that operates on different energy levels, requires energy. Here we quantify this energy requirement, providing upper and lower bounds that coincide up to a constant factor. We derive these bounds from a general quantum resource-theoretic argument, which implies that the initial resource requirement for implementing a unitary operation within an error ε grows like 1/√ε times the amount of resource generated by the operation. Applying these results to quantum circuits, we find that their energy requirement can, by an appropriate design, be made independent of their time complexity.

Apr 1, 202129 citations

Fundamental Energy Requirement of Reversible Quantum Operations

Giulio Chiribella, Yuxiang Yang, Renato Renner

Landauer's principle asserts that any computation has an unavoidable energy cost that grows proportionally to its degree of logical irreversibility.But even a logically reversible operation, when run on a physical processor that operates on different energy levels, requires energy.Here we quantify this energy requirement, providing upper and lower bounds that coincide up to a constant factor.We derive these bounds from a general quantum resource-theoretic argument, which implies that the initial resource requirement for implementing a unitary operation within an error ϵ grows like 1= ffiffi ffi ϵ p times the amount of resource generated by the operation.Applying these results to quantum circuits, we find that their energy requirement can, by an appropriate design, be made independent of their time complexity.

arXiv:1908.10884Physical Review XApr 15, 202141 citations

The resource theory of asymmetry and some of its applications

Mehdi Ahmadi

A useful and unifying concept in quantum information theory is the idea of a consumable "resource". The basic idea behind quantum resource theories is that whenever we face restrictions on the set of operations we can perform, some states (resource states) enable us to perform particular tasks that otherwise would have been impossible. In this thesis we first review a resource theory that recently has gained a lot of attention, namely the resource theory of asymmetry in which one is restricted to symmetric operations and therefore asymmetric states are the resource states. The asymmetry properties of a state relative to some symmetry group specify how and to what extent the given symmetry is broken by the state. In the remainder of the thesis we explain how the ideas developed in this resource theory are related to three different areas in quantum theory: theory of quantum reference frames, the Wigner-Araki-Yanase(WAY) theorem and the conditional probability interpretation of time in quantum mechanics. Theory of quantum reference frames treats reference frames like any other physical system within the formalism of quantum theory, which causes the measurements to be an approximation of the measurements against their classical counterparts. We consider the dynamics of a quantum directional reference frame undergoing repeated interactions. These interactions induce a back-action on the reference which is the central focus of our study. The effect of a precise sequence of measurement outcomes on the reference frame is studied by looking at both the case that the measurement record is averaged over and the case wherein it is retained. We find, in particular, that there is interesting dynamics in the latter situation, which cannot be revealed by considering the average case. We then consider in detail how a sequence of rotationally invariant unitary interactions affects the reference frame, a situation, which leads to quite different dynamics than the case of repeated measurements. Different strategies for correcting reference frame drift is considered given that we have access to a set of particles with polarization opposite to the direction of drift. In particular, we find that, by implementing a suitably chosen unitary interaction after every two measurements, we can eliminate the rotational drift of the reference frame. The WAY theorem establishes an important constraint that conservation laws impose on quantum mechanical measurements. We formulate the WAY theorem in the broader context of resource theories, where one is constrained to a subset of quantum mechanical operations described by a symmetry group. Establishing connections with the theory of quantum state discrimination we obtain optimal unitaries describing the measurement of arbitrary observables, explain how prior information can permit perfect measurements that circumvent the WAY constraint, and provide a framework that establishes a natural ordering on measurement apparatuses through a decomposition into asymmetry and charge subsystems. Finally we review two di erent schemes in the conditional probability interpretation (CPI) of time in quantum mechanics. In these schemes parameter time "t" as it appears in Schrodinder equation is considered to be unobservable, yet one can use an extension of conditional probabilities in order to study dynamics of a system relative to another system, namely the quantum clock. We phrase CPI as a quantum communication protocol which enables us to use the machinery developed in the resource theory of asymmetry. This provides us with a deeper understanding of the decoherence effect caused due to the inaccessibility of the parameter time "t" and that how this effect can be suppressed by choosing an optimal initial state for the quantum clock.

Oct 1, 20122 citations

Error and Disturbance as Irreversibility with Applications: Unified Definition, Wigner--Araki--Yanase Theorem and Out-of-Time-Order Correlator

Haruki Emori, Hiroyasu Tajima

Defining an error of measurement has long been a foundational problem in science: even in classical experiments, data are statistical and admit no single universally optimal definition of error. In quantum mechanics, the challenge deepens: observed entities often lack preexisting definite values, and the act of measurement unavoidably disturbs the system of interest. Consequently, both error and disturbance must be quantified, and various definitions have been proposed to date. However, a unified perspective for understanding the differences and similarities among these diverse definitions of error and disturbance, and an operational framework for distinguishing between them, remain elusive. In this Letter, we propose a novel framework for defining error and disturbance using irreversibility. Our framework converts the error and disturbance of a quantum measurement of a system under consideration into the irreversibility of an ancillary qubit system, using a quantum comb composed of loss and recovery processes. The mechanism enables us to make the operational distinction that error uses the classical outputs, while disturbance uses the quantum outputs of the measurement in the recovery process. Furthermore, our framework yields several key consequences: (i) it encompasses existing definitions, (ii) it establishes a universal constraint on error and disturbance defined by any measure of an arbitrary quantum process under a conservation law, and (iii) it reveals an operational connection between irreversibility and the out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC), a metric of quantum chaos. It also provides a constraint on the OTOC under a conservation law and a method for its experimental evaluation, which is demonstrated on a quantum processor.

arXiv:2309.14172Sep 25, 20230 citations