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arXiv:2605.01832

Tight Entropic Uncertainty Relations

Alberto Riccardi, Lorenzo Maccone

quant-phSubmitted May 3, 2026• Announced May 5, 2026• 0 citations
v1 · May 3, 2026v2 · Jul 2, 2026
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Abstract

Entropic uncertainty relations $H(A)+H(B)\geqslant γ$ give a nonzero lower bound $γ$ to the sum of the Shannon entropies $H$ of the outcome probabilities of incompatible observables $A$ and $B$. They are better than the variance-based uncertainty relations because they only depend on the Born statistics of the outcomes and not on the outcomes themselves, and because bounds $γ$ typically are state independent. Here we provide a state-independent lower bound $γ_s$ that is better than the textbook Maassen-Uffink bound and, in the limit of the parameter $s\to 2$, becomes asymptotically tight for all $A,B$. The bound can be extended to Renyi entropies.

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Entropic uncertainty relations H(A)+H(B)⩾γH(A)+H(B)\geqslant γH(A)+H(B)⩾γ give a nonzero lower bound γγγ to the sum of the Shannon entropies HHH of the outcome probabilities of incompatible observables AAA and BBB. They are better than the variance-based uncertainty relations because they only depend on the Born statistics of the outcomes and not on the outcomes themselves, and because bounds γγγ typically are state independent. Here we provide a state-independent lower bound γsγ_sγs​ that is better than the textbook Maassen-Uffink bound and, in the limit of the parameter s→2s\to 2s→2, becomes asymptotically tight for all A,BA,BA,B. The bound can be extended to Renyi entropies.
We analyze entropic uncertainty relations for two orthogonal measurements on a N-dimensional Hilbert space, performed in two generic bases. It is assumed that the unitary matrix U relating both bases is distributed according to the Haar measure on the unitary group. We provide lower bounds on the average Shannon entropy of probability distributions related to both measurements. The bounds are stronger than those obtained with use of the entropic uncertainty relation by Maassen and Uffink, and they are optimal up to additive constants. We also analyze the case of a large number of measurements and obtain strong entropic uncertainty relations, which hold with high probability with respect to the random choice of bases. The lower bounds we obtain are optimal up to additive constants and allow us to prove a conjecture by Wehner and Winter on the asymptotic behavior of constants in entropic uncertainty relations as the dimension tends to infinity. As a tool we develop estimates on the maximum operator norm of a submatrix of a fixed size of a random unitary matrix distributed according to the Haar measure, which are of independent interest.
Uncertainty principle, which was first introduced by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, forms a fundamental component of quantum mechanics. A graceful aspect of quantum mechanics is that the uncertainty relations between incompatible observables allow for succinct quan- titative formulations of this revolutionary idea: it is impossible to simultaneously measure two complementary variables of a particle in precision. In particular, information theory offers two basic ways to express the Heisenberg’s principle: variance-based uncertainty relations and entropic uncertainty relations. We first investigate the uncertainty relations based on the sum of variances and derive a family of weighted uncertainty relations to provide an optimal lower bound for all situations. Our work indicates that it seems unreasonable to assume a priori that incompatible observables have equal contribution to the variance-based sum form uncertainty relations. We also study the role of mutually exclusive physical states in the recent work and generalize the variance-based uncertainty relations to mutually exclusive uncertainty relations. Next, we develop a new kind of entanglement detection criteria within the framework of marjorization theory and its matrix representation. By virtue of majorization uncertainty bounds, we are able to construct the entanglement criteria which have advantage over the scalar detect- ing algorithms as they are often stronger and tighter. Furthermore, we explore various expression of entropic uncertainty relations, including sum of Shannon entropies, majorization uncer- tainty relations and uncertainty relations in presence of quantum memory. For entropic uncertainty relations without quantum side information, we provide several tighter bounds for multi-measurements, with some of them also valid for Rényi and Tsallis entropies besides the Shannon entropy. We employ majorization theory and actions of the symmetric group to obtain an admixture bound for entropic uncertainty relations with multi-measurements. Comparisons among existing bounds for multi-measurements are also given. However,classical entropic uncertainty relations assume there has only classical side information. For modern uncertainty relations, those who allowed for non-trivial amount of quantum side information, their bounds have been strengthened by our recent result for both two and multi- measurements. Finally, we propose an approach which can extend all uncertainty relations on Shannon entropies to allow for quantum side information and discuss the applications of our entropic framework. Combined with our uniform entanglement frames, it is possible to detect entanglement via entropic uncertainty relations even if there is no quantum side in- formation. With the rising of quantum information theory, uncertainty relations have been established as important tools for a wide range of applications, such as quantum cryptography, quantum key distribution, entanglement detection, quantum metrology, quantum speed limit and so on. It is thus necessary to focus on the study of uncertainty relations.
Uncertainty relations occupy a fundamental position in quantum mechanics. We propose stronger variance-based uncertainty relations for the product and sum of variances of two incompatible observables in a finite dimensional Hilbert space. It is shown that the new uncertainty relations provide near-optimal state-dependent bounds, which can be useful for quantum metrology, entanglement detection etc. in quantum information theory. It is further shown that the uncertainty relations are related to the spreads of the distribution of measurement outcomes caused by incompatible observables. Intuitively, this means that the ability of learning the distribution has both the upper and lower bounds. Combination of these bounds provides naturally an uncertainty interval which captures the essence of uncertainty in quantum theory. Finally, we explain how to employ entropic uncertainty relations to derive lower bounds for the product of variances of incompatible observables.
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The entropic uncertainty principle in the form proven by Maassen and Uffink yields a fundamental inequality that is prominently used in many places all over the field of quantum information theory. In this work, we provide a family of versatile generalizations of this relation. Our proof methods build on a deep connection between entropic uncertainties and interpolation inequalities for the doubly stochastic map that links probability distributions in two measurements bases. In contrast to the original relation, our generalization also incorporates the von Neumann entropy of the underlying quantum state. These results can be directly used to bound the extractable randomness of a source independent QRNG in the presence of fully quantum attacks, to certify entanglement between trusted parties, or to bound the entanglement of a system with an untrusted environment.
The entropic uncertainty principle in the form proven by Maassen and Uffink yields a fundamental inequality that is prominently used in many places all over the field of quantum information theory. In this paper, we provide a family of versatile generalizations of this relation. Our proof methods build on a deep connection between entropic uncertainties and interpolation inequalities for the doubly stochastic map that links probability distributions in two measurement bases. In contrast to the original relation, our generalization also incorporates the von Neumann entropy of the underlying quantum state. These results can be directly used to bound the extractable randomness of a source-independent quantum random number generator in the presence of fully quantum attacks, to certify entanglement between trusted parties, or to bound the entanglement of a system with an untrusted environment. Published by the American Physical Society 2024