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arXiv:2512.03505

Complex Wigner entropy and Fisher control of negativity in an oval quantum billiard

Kyu-Won Park, Jongin Jeong

quant-phSubmitted Dec 3, 2025• Announced Dec 4, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

We develop a complex-entropy framework for Wigner negativity and apply it to avoided crossings in an oval quantum billiard. For a real Wigner function the Gibbs--Shannon functional becomes complex; its imaginary part, proportional to the Wigner-negative volume, serves as an entropy-like measure of phase-space nonclassicality. A sign-resolved decomposition separates the total negative weight from its phase-space distribution and defines a negative-channel Fisher information that quantifies how sensitively the negative lobe reshapes as a control parameter is varied. This structure yields a Cauchy--Schwarz bound that limits how rapidly the imaginary entropy, and hence the Wigner negativity, can change with the parameter. In the oval billiard, avoided crossings display enhanced negativity and an amplified negative-channel Fisher response, providing a clear phase-space signature of mode hybridization. The construction is generic and extends to other wave-chaotic and mesoscopic systems with phase-space representations.

Comments
7 pages, 4 figures

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We develop a complex-entropy framework for Wigner negativity and apply it to avoided crossings in an oval quantum billiard. For a real Wigner function the Gibbs--Shannon functional becomes complex; its imaginary part, proportional to the Wigner-negative volume, serves as an entropy-like measure of phase-space nonclassicality. A sign-resolved decomposition separates the total negative weight from its phase-space distribution and defines a negative-channel Fisher information that quantifies how sensitively the negative lobe reshapes as a control parameter is varied. This structure yields a Cauchy--Schwarz bound that limits how rapidly the imaginary entropy, and hence the Wigner negativity, can change with the parameter. In the oval billiard, avoided crossings display enhanced negativity and an amplified negative-channel Fisher response, providing a clear phase-space signature of mode hybridization. The construction is generic and extends to other wave-chaotic and mesoscopic systems with phase-space representations.
Abstract The Wigner function is a phase-space quasiprobability distribution whose negative regions provide a direct local signature of nonclassicality. To identify where phase-sensitive structure concentrates, we define local positive and negative Wigner-weight maps and use the integrated Wigner negativity as a compact scalar diagnostic of nonclassical phase-space structure. A decomposition of the density operator reveals that off-diagonal coherences between hybridizing components generate oscillatory sign-alternating patterns, with the negative contribution maximized when component weights are comparable. Non-Gaussian chaotic eigenmodes exhibit a baseline negativity that is further amplified by such hybridization. We demonstrate the robustness of these diagnostics across two billiard geometries and suggest that the same sign-resolved analysis can be applied to other wave-chaotic platforms, where it may aid mode engineering and coherence control.
The Wigner function is a phase space quasi-probability distribution whose negative regions provide a direct, local signature of nonclassicality. To identify where phase-sensitive structure concentrates, we introduce local positive- and negative Wigner-mass maps and adopt the integrated Wigner negativity as a compact scalar measure of nonclassical phase space structure. A decomposition of the density operator reveals that off-diagonal coherences between hybridizing components generate oscillatory, sign-alternating patterns, with the negative contribution maximized when component weights are comparable. Non-Gaussian chaotic eigenmodes exhibit a baseline negativity that is further amplified by such hybridization. We validate these diagnostics across two billiard geometries and argue that the framework is transferable to other wave-chaotic platforms, where it can aid mode engineering and coherence control.
Abstract It is common knowledge that the Wigner function of a quantum state may admit negative values, so that it cannot be viewed as a genuine probability density. Here, we examine the difficulty in finding an entropy-like functional in phase space that extends to negative Wigner functions and then advocate the merits of defining a complex-valued entropy associated with any Wigner function. This quantity, which we call thecomplex Wigner entropy, is defined via the analytic continuation of Shannon’s differential entropy of the Wigner function in the complex plane. We show that the complex Wigner entropy enjoys interesting properties, especially its real and imaginary parts are both invariant under Gaussian unitaries (displacements, rotations, and squeezing in phase space). Its real part is physically relevant when considering the evolution of the Wigner function under a Gaussian convolution, while its imaginary part is simply proportional to the negative volume of the Wigner function. Finally, we define the complex-valued Fisher information of any Wigner function, which is linked (via an extended de Bruijn’s identity) to the time derivative of the complex Wigner entropy when the state undergoes Gaussian additive noise. Overall, it is anticipated that the complex plane yields a proper framework for analyzing the entropic properties of quasiprobability distributions in phase space.
Abstract We develop a phase-space description of tunneling in the quasi-exact sextic double well VQES(x)=12 (x6+2x4−2(2λ+1) x2)V^{\textrm{QES}}(x) = \tfrac{1}{2}\,(x^6 + 2x^4 - 2(2\lambda +1)\,x^{2})VQES(x)=21​(x6+2x4−2(2λ+1)x2) V QES ( x ) = 1 2 ( x 6 + 2 x 4 - 2 ( 2 λ + 1 ) x 2 ) based on the Wigner quasiprobability. From high-accuracy wavefunctions, we introduce the complex Shannon entropy SWS_WSW​ S W of the Wigner function W ( x , p ), whose imaginary part isolates coherence and negativity, and the entropy S∣W∣S_{|W|}S∣W∣​ S | W | of its modulus, a strictly real indicator of phase-space spreading. Together with the mutual information IWI_WIW​ I W , these measures yield sharp signatures of the transition into the double-well regime ( λ>−12\lambda >-\frac{1}{2}λ>−21​ λ > - 1 2 ) and the emergence of tunneling-induced parity doublets. High-precision spectral data are supported by a smooth Gaussian-process interpolant anchored in asymptotic scaling, ensuring analytic control of level behavior. The resulting phase-space framework provides a compact and sensitive characterization of nonclassical structure beyond probability-density approaches.
Positive Wigner functions can have less Shannon entropy than the vacuum, even arbitrarily close to the vacuum state. We construct physical counterexamples and identify the competition that controls their entropy: the relative entropy to the vacuum phase-space density can exceed twice the mean photon number. A two-level family exhibits a finite window in which coherence lowers entropy while preserving global Wigner positivity. A complementary construction repairs a remote negative tail with an exponentially small thermal admixture; an explicit mixing weight of 2×10−212\times10^{-21}2×10−21 preserves a rigorously established entropy decrease. Optimisation over all one-mode Wigner-nonnegative states gives the sharp low-energy scale Eγ/[ln⁡(1/E)]βE^γ/[\ln(1/E)]^βEγ/[ln(1/E)]β, with γ≃0.7412γ\simeq0.7412γ≃0.7412 and β≃0.5861β\simeq0.5861β≃0.5861. Because γ<1γ<1γ<1, tensor products can have vanishing total energy and trace distance from vacuum while their entropy deficit diverges. We derive the exact half-transmission threshold for universal Shannon-entropy recovery and connect it to companion results showing residual non-Gaussian structure. The counterexamples reveal distinct controls on entropy: coherence sets the local descent, mode number amplifies it, and loss restores the vacuum bound.
Phase-space versions of quantum mechanics -- from Wigner's original distribution to modern discrete-qudit constructions -- represent some states with negative quasi-probabilities. Conventional Shannon and Rényi entropies become complex-valued in this setting and lose their operational meaning. Building on the axiomatic treatments of Rényi (1961) and Daróczy (1963), we develop a conservative extension that applies to signed finite phase spaces and identify a single admissible entropy family, which we call signed Rényi ααα-entropy (for a free parameter α≥0α\ge 0α≥0). The obvious signed Shannon candidate is ruled out because it violates extensivity. We prove four results that bolster the usefulness of the new measure. (i) It serves as a witness of the presence of cancellation, detecting the coexistence of positive and negative weight in a signed measure. (ii) For α>1α> 1α>1, it is Schur-concave, delivering the intuitive property that mixing increases entropy (iii) The same parametric family obeys a quantum H-theorem, namely, that under de-phasing dynamics entropy cannot decrease. (iv) The 222-entropy is conserved under discrete Moyal-bracket dynamics, mirroring conservation of von Neumann entropy under unitary evolution on Hilbert space. We also comment on interpreting the Rényi order parameter as an inverse temperature. Overall, we believe that our investigation provides good evidence that our axiomatically derived signed Rényi entropy may be a useful addition to existing entropy measures employed in quantum information, foundations, and thermodynamics.