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arXiv:2511.01686

Quantum Large Deviations

T. C. Dorlas

Published Nov 3, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

We reconsider the quantum analogue of Varadhans Theorem proved by Petz, Raggio and Verbeure. They proved this theorem using standard techniques in quantum statistical mechanics of lattice systems to arrive at a variational formula over states on an operator algebra, which can subsequently be reduced to a variational formula in terms of a single real variable. In this paper a new proof is given using a quantum version of the large deviation analysis together with the Trotter product formula. The proof is subsequently extended to the general case of q non-commuting variables resulting in a variational formula for general mean-field quantum spin systems as first derived by Raggio and Werner.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2511.01686

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We reconsider the quantum analogue of Varadhans Theorem proved by Petz, Raggio and Verbeure. They proved this theorem using standard techniques in quantum statistical mechanics of lattice systems to arrive at a variational formula over states on an operator algebra, which can subsequently be reduced to a variational formula in terms of a single real variable. In this paper a new proof is given using a quantum version of the large deviation analysis together with the Trotter product formula. The proof is subsequently extended to the general case of q non-commuting variables resulting in a variational formula for general mean-field quantum spin systems as first derived by Raggio and Werner.
We prove a large deviation principle for the expectation of macroscopic observables in quantum (and classical) Gibbs states. Our proof is based on Ruelle-Lanford functions and direct subadditivity arguments, as in the classical case, instead of relying on Gärtner-Ellis theorem, and cluster expansion or transfer operators as done in the quantum case. In this approach we recover, expand, and unify quantum (and classical) large deviation results for lattice Gibbs states. In the companion paper \cite{OR} we discuss the characterization of rate functions in terms of relative entropies.
In this work, we consider general exchangeable quantum mean-field Hamiltonian such as the prominent quantum Curie-Weiss model under the influence of a random external field. Despite being arguably the simplest class of disordered quantum systems, the random external field breaks the symmetry of the mean-field Hamiltonian and hence standard quantum de Finetti type or semiclassical arguments are not directly applicable. We introduce a novel strategy in this context, which can be seen as non-commutative large deviation analysis, allowing us to characterize the limiting free energy in terms of a simple and explicit variational formula. The proposed method is general enough to be used for other classes of mean-field models such as multi species Hamiltonians.
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Motivated by recent developments on large deviations in states of the spin chain, we reconsider the work of Petz, Raggio and Verbeure in 1989 on the variational expression of free energy density in the presence of a mean field type perturbation. We extend their results from the product state case to the Gibbs state case in the setting of translation-invariant interactions of finite range. In the special case of a locally faithful quantum Markov state, we clarify the relation between two different kinds of free energy densities (or pressure functions).
Motivated by recent developments on large deviations in states of the spin chain, we reconsider the work of Petz, Raggio and Verbeure in 1989 on the variational expression of free energy density in the presence of a mean field type perturbation. We extend their results from the product state case to the Gibbs state case in the setting of translation-invariant interactions of finite range. In the special case of a locally faithful quantum Markov state, we clarify the relation between two different kinds of free energy densities (or pressure functions).
We describe a general procedure to give effective continuous descriptions of quantum lattice systems in terms of quantum fields. There are two key novelties of our method: firstly, it is framed in the hamiltonian setting and applies equally to distinguishable quantum spins, bosons, and fermions and, secondly, it works for arbitrary variational tensor network states and can easily produce computable non-gaussian quantum field states. Our construction extends the mean-field fluctuation formalism of Hepp and Lieb (developed later by Verbeure and coworkers) to identify emergent continuous large-scale degrees of freedom - the continuous degrees of freedom are not identified beforehand. We apply the construction to to tensor network states, including, matrix product states and projected entangled-pair states, where we recover their recently introduced continuous counterparts, and also for tree tensor networks and the multi-scale entanglement renormalisation ansatz. Finally, extending the continuum limit to include dynamics we obtain a strict light cone for the propagation of information.