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arXiv:2604.06604 · Communications in Theoretical Physics

Quantifying magic via quantum $(α,β)$ Jensen-Shannon divergence

Linmao Wang, Zhaoqi Wu

quant-phSubmitted Apr 8, 2026• Announced Apr 9, 2026• 1 citation
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Abstract

Magic states play an important role in fault-tolerant quantum computation, and so the quantification of magic for quantum states is of great significance. In this work, we propose two new magic quantifiers by introducing two versions of quantum $(α,β)$ Jensen-Shannon divergence based on the quantum $(α,β)$ entropy and the quantum $(α,β)$-relative entropy, respectively. We derive many desirable properties for our magic quantifiers, and find that they are efficiently computable in low-dimensional Hilbert spaces. We also show that the initial nonstabilizerness in the input state can boost the magic generating power for our magic quantifiers with appropriate parameter ranges for a certain class of quantum gates. Our magic quantifiers may provide new tools for addressing some specific problems in magic resource theory.

Journal reference
Commun. Theor. Phys. 78 (2026) 055103
DOI
10.1088/1572-9494/ae418d
Comments
29 pages, 3 figures

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Quantifying magic via quantum (α,β)(α,β)(α,β) Jensen-Shannon divergence
Magic states play an important role in fault-tolerant quantum computation, and so the quantification of magic for quantum states is of great significance. In this work, we propose two new magic quantifiers by introducing two versions of quantum (α,β)(α,β)(α,β) Jensen-Shannon divergence based on the quantum (α,β)(α,β)(α,β) entropy and the quantum (α,β)(α,β)(α,β)-relative entropy, respectively. We derive many desirable properties for our magic quantifiers, and find that they are efficiently computable in low-dimensional Hilbert spaces. We also show that the initial nonstabilizerness in the input state can boost the magic generating power for our magic quantifiers with appropriate parameter ranges for a certain class of quantum gates. Our magic quantifiers may provide new tools for addressing some specific problems in magic resource theory.
Abstract Magic is a precious resource necessary for achieving universal fault-tolerant quantum computation. Therefore, it is of vital importance to study the detection and quantification of the magic resource encompassed in quantum states and quantum gates both theoretically and experimentally. In this work, we adopt the quantum Jensen–Shannon divergence to quantify the magic resource of quantum states and quantum gates. On the one hand, we determine the magic resource of a pure state as the minimal and average distance between this state and the set of pure stabilizer states via the quantum Jensen–Shannon divergence, respectively, and extend them to the general mixed states through the method of convex roof construction. We investigate the basic properties of these two magic quantifiers and utilize them to evaluate the magic resource for some typical qubit and qutrit states. By comparing the magic quantifier via the quantum Jensen–Shannon divergence with the min-relative entropy of magic and the stabilizer α-Rényi entropies, we find that the min-relative entropy of magic provides both an upper bound and a lower bound for the magic quantifier via the quantum Jensen-Shannon divergence, and the stabilizer α-Rényi entropies provide a series of lower bounds for the magic quantifier via the quantum Jensen–Shannon divergence. On the other hand, based on the magic quantifier via the quantum Jensen–Shannon divergence for quantum states, we further propose two quantifiers for the magic-resource-generating power of quantum gates and demonstrate that the T-gate is the optimal diagonal unitary gate in creating magic resource for both qubit and qutrit systems in the sense of Clifford equivalence.
According to the celebrated Gottesman-Knill theorem, magic resource (nonstabilizerness) is necessary to drive universal quantum computation. Thus characterization and quantification of magic resource for quantum states and quantum channels are significant issues. In this work, we propose a method to construct quantifiers of magic resource for quantum channels from those for quantum states by employing the channel-state duality to convert quantum channels to the corresponding Choi states. We focus on a specific quantifier of magic resource based on characteristic functions (Fourier transforms) of quantum states. This quantifier is well defined for all dimensions and easy to calculate, as opposed to those defined via discrete Wigner functions. It satisfies some desirable properties and provides an upper bound to the mana (a kind of logarithmic negativity of discrete Wigner functions) of quantum channels. Using this quantity, we evaluate the amount of magic resource for some typical quantum channels and compare them with some existing quantifiers of generating-power of magic resource. For the dephasing channels in prime dimensional systems, our quantifier of magic resource essentially characterizes the average generating power of magic resource, while, for general channels, they are quite different and some challenging issues arise.
Unraveling the secrets of how much nonstabilizerness a quantum dynamic can generate is crucial for harnessing the power of magic states, the essential resources for achieving quantum advantage and realizing fault-tolerant quantum computation. In this work, we introduce the amortized ααα-stabilizer Rényi entropy, a magic monotone for unitary operations that quantifies the nonstabilizerness generation capability of quantum dynamics. Amortization is key in quantifying the magic of quantum dynamics, as we reveal that nonstabilizerness generation can be enhanced by prior nonstabilizerness in input states when considering the ααα-stabilizer Rényi entropy, while this is not the case for robustness of magic or stabilizer extent. We demonstrate the versatility of the amortized ααα-stabilizer Rényi entropy in investigating the nonstabilizerness resources of quantum dynamics of computational and fundamental interest. In particular, we establish improved lower bounds on the TTT-count of quantum Fourier transforms and the quantum evolutions of one-dimensional Heisenberg Hamiltonians, showcasing the power of this tool in studying quantum advantages and the corresponding cost in fault-tolerant quantum computation.
Magic-state distillation (or nonstabilizer state manipulation) is a crucial component in the leading approaches to realizing scalable, fault-tolerant, and universal quantum computation. Related to nonstabilizer state manipulation is the resource theory of nonstabilizer states, for which one of the goals is to characterize and quantify nonstabilizerness of a quantum state. In this Letter, we introduce the family of thauma measures to quantify the amount of nonstabilizerness in a quantum state, and we exploit this family of measures to address several open questions in the resource theory of nonstabilizer states. As a first application, we establish the hypothesis testing thauma as an efficiently computable benchmark for the one-shot distillable nonstabilizerness, which in turn leads to a variety of bounds on the rate at which nonstabilizerness can be distilled, as well as on the overhead of magic-state distillation. We then prove that the max-thauma can be used as an efficiently computable tool in benchmarking the efficiency of magic-state distillation, and that it can outperform previous approaches based on mana. Finally, we use the min-thauma to bound a quantity known in the literature as the "regularized relative entropy of magic." As a consequence of this bound, we find that two classes of states with maximal mana, a previously established nonstabilizerness measure, cannot be interconverted in the asymptotic regime at a rate equal to one. This result resolves a basic question in the resource theory of nonstabilizer states and reveals a difference between the resource theory of nonstabilizer states and other resource theories such as entanglement and coherence.
In most stabilizer-based quantum computing schemes, so-called magic states are a necessary resource for implementing non-transversal quantum gates. With the resource theory of magic, it is possible to analyze and quantify the generation of the non-stabilizer states. The relative entropy is a measure used in various resource theories. For single qubits, we characterize magic states and their closest stabilizer states by applying analytical results known from the relative entropy of entanglement and show that the magic states and their closest stabilizer states are arranged symmetrically around the states at the centers of the faces of the stabilizer octahedron. For tensor products of single-qubit states, we prove analytically that the relative entropy of magic is nonadditive in almost all cases.
Magic (nonstabilizerness) is a necessary but "expensive" kind of "fuel" to drive universal fault-tolerant quantum computation.To properly study and characterize the origin of quantum "complexity" in computation as well as physics, it is crucial to develop a rigorous understanding of the quantification of magic.Previous studies of magic mostly focused on small systems and largely relied on the discrete Wigner formalism (which is only well behaved in odd prime power dimensions).Here we present an initiatory study of the magic of genuinely many-body quantum states that may be strongly entangled, with focus on the important case of many qubits, at a quantitative level.We first address the basic question of how "magical" a many-body state can be, and show that the maximum magic of an n-qubit state is essentially n, simultaneously for a range of "good" magic measures.As a corollary, the resource theory of magic has asymptotic golden currency states.We then show that, in fact, almost all n-qubit pure states have magic of nearly n.In the quest for explicit, scalable cases of highly entangled states whose magic can be understood, we connect the magic of hypergraph states with the second-order nonlinearity of their underlying Boolean functions.Next, we go on and investigate many-body magic in practical and physical contexts.We first consider a variant of measurement-based quantum computation where the client is restricted to Pauli measurements, in which magic is a necessary feature of the initial "resource" state.We show that n-qubit states with nearly n magic, or indeed almost all states, cannot supply nontrivial speedups over classical computers.We then present an example of analyzing the magic of "natural" condensed matter systems of physical interest.We apply the Boolean function techniques to derive explicit bounds on the magic of certain representative two-dimensional symmetry-protected topological states, and comment on possible further connections between magic and the quantum complexity of phases of matter.