Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2605.02203

Operational interpretation of the reverse sandwiched Renyi divergences in composite quantum hypothesis testing

Masahito Hayashi, Kun Fang

quant-phSubmitted May 4, 2026• Announced May 5, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Jun 4, 2026 (v2)
v1 · May 4, 2026v2 · Jun 4, 2026
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study the Hoeffding regime of composite quantum hypothesis testing, in which each hypothesis is specified by a sequence of sets of quantum states. We establish quantum Hoeffding bounds under a set of structural assumptions, orthogonal to those of our previous framework. A notable consequence is the direct operational interpretation of the reverse sandwiched Renyi divergence for $α\in (0,1)$: for the task of discriminating a thermal equilibrium state from a probe state subject to unknown dephasing in the energy eigenbasis, with free Hamiltonian evolution as a special case, the optimal Hoeffding exponent is given exactly by this divergence evaluated on a single copy of the system. The same task in the Stein regime is governed by the reverse quantum relative entropy, providing its operational interpretation as well. This behavior contrasts both with the simple independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) setting, where the Petz Renyi divergence and the Umegaki relative entropy govern the Hoeffding and Stein exponents, respectively, and with many composite settings, where only regularized many-copy formulas are available. This finding reveals that passing from simple to composite hypotheses can fundamentally change which quantum divergence determines the operational limits of discrimination, and suggests a new avenue for seeking operational interpretations of quantum divergences by lifting simple hypotheses to richer composite scenarios.

Related papers

Conditioning on Subalgebras - Entropy Duality and Generalized Quantum Stein's Lemma in von Neumann Algebras

Bjarne Bergh, Li Gao, Mizanur Rahaman

We establish duality relations for conditional entropies relative to subalgebras of arbitrary von Neumann algebras, including the Umegaki relative entropy as well as the sandwiched- and Petz-Rényi divergences. Even in finite dimensions, these results extend the familiar dualities for conditional entropies from tensor-product subsystems to general subalgebras, while also lifting the framework to the fully infinite-dimensional setting. As an application, we establish an infinite-dimensional extension of quantum Stein's lemma when the alternative hypothesis is the state space of a finite-index subalgebra, which gives an operational interpretation of the relative entropy to a subalgebra as the optimal asymptotic error exponent in composite quantum hypothesis testing-the first beyond finite dimensions.

quant-pharXiv:2610.00772•Oct 2, 2026•0 citations

Error Exponents of Quantum State Discrimination With Composite Correlated Hypotheses

Kun Fang, Masahito Hayashi

We study the error exponents in quantum hypothesis testing between two sets of quantum states, extending the analysis beyond the independent and identically distributed case to encompass composite correlated hypotheses. In particular, we introduce and compare two natural extensions of the quantum Hoeffding divergence and anti-divergence to sets of quantum states, establishing their equivalence or quantitative relations. In the error exponent regime, we generalize the quantum Hoeffding bound to stable sequences of convex, compact sets of quantum states, demonstrating that the optimal Type-I error exponent, under an exponential constraint on the Type-II error, is precisely characterized by the regularized quantum Hoeffding divergence between the sets. In the strong converse exponent regime, we establish a general lower bound on the exponent in terms of the regularized quantum Hoeffding anti-divergence, and we prove a matching upper bound when the null hypothesis is a singleton, under additional assumptions. The generality of these results enables applications in various contexts, including (i) refining the generalized quantum Stein’s lemma by [Fang, Fawzi & Fawzi, 2024]; (ii) exhibiting counterexamples to the continuity of the regularized Petz R´enyi divergence and Hoeffding divergence; (iii) obtaining error exponents for adversarial channel discrimination and resource detection problems.

arXiv:2508.12901•IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT)•Apr 16, 2026•1 citation

On Composite Quantum Hypothesis Testing

Mario Berta, Fernando G. S. L. Brandão, Christoph Hirche

Abstract We extend quantum Stein’s lemma in asymmetric quantum hypothesis testing to composite null and alternative hypotheses. As our main result, we show that the asymptotic error exponent for testing convex combinations of quantum states $$\rho ^{\otimes n}$$ ρ ⊗ n against convex combinations of quantum states $$\sigma ^{\otimes n}$$ σ ⊗ n can be written as a regularized quantum relative entropy formula. We prove that in general such a regularization is needed but also discuss various settings where our formula as well as extensions thereof become single-letter. This includes an operational interpretation of the relative entropy of coherence in terms of hypothesis testing. For our proof, we start from the composite Stein’s lemma for classical probability distributions and lift the result to the non-commutative setting by using elementary properties of quantum entropy. Finally, our findings also imply an improved recoverability lower bound on the conditional quantum mutual information in terms of the regularized quantum relative entropy—featuring an explicit and universal recovery map.

arXiv:1709.07268•Communications in Mathematical Physics•Jun 10, 2021•34 citations

Doubly minimized Petz and sandwiched Renyi mutual information: Operational interpretation from binary quantum state discrimination

Laura Burri

The doubly minimized Petz Renyi mutual information of order $α$ is defined as the minimum of the Petz divergence of order $α$ of a given bipartite quantum state relative to all product states. The doubly minimized sandwiched Renyi mutual information is defined analogously, with the Petz divergence replaced by the sandwiched divergence. In this work, we study certain binary quantum state discrimination problems related to correlation detection. We show that the corresponding direct exponent is determined by the doubly minimized Petz Renyi mutual information of order $α\in (1/2,1)$, and that the strong converse exponent is determined by the doubly minimized sandwiched Renyi mutual information of order $α\in (1,\infty)$. This provides an operational interpretation of these types of Renyi mutual information and generalizes previous results for classical probability distributions to the quantum setting. For completeness, we also study the corresponding moderate deviation regime both below and above the threshold, and determine the Stein exponent and the second-order asymptotics.

arXiv:2406.03213•Jun 5, 2024•0 citations

Doubly minimized Petz & sandwiched Rényi mutual information: Operational interpretation from binary quantum state discrimination

Laura Burri

The doubly minimized Petz Rényi mutual information of order α is defined as the minimum of the Petz divergence of order α of a given bipartite quantum state relative to all product states. The doubly minimized sandwiched Rényi mutual information is defined analogously, with the Petz divergence replaced by the sandwiched divergence. In this work, we study certain binary quantum state discrimination problems related to correlation detection. We show that the corresponding direct exponent is determined by the doubly minimized Petz Rényi mutual information of order α ∈ (1/2, 1), and that the strong converse exponent is determined by the doubly minimized sandwiched Rényi mutual information of order α ∈ (1, ∞). This provides an operational interpretation of these types of Rényi mutual information and generalizes previous results for classical probability distributions to the quantum setting. For completeness, we also study the corresponding moderate deviation regime both below and above the threshold, and determine the Stein exponent and the second-order asymptotics.

•May 30, 2026•0 citations

Doubly Minimized Petz and Sandwiched Rényi Mutual Information: Operational Interpretation From Binary Quantum State Discrimination

Laura Burri

The doubly minimized Petz Rényi mutual information of order α is defined as the minimum of the Petz divergence of order α of a given bipartite quantum state relative to all product states. The doubly minimized sandwiched Rényi mutual information is defined analogously, with the Petz divergence replaced by the sandwiched divergence. In this work, we study certain binary quantum state discrimination problems related to correlation detection. We show that the corresponding direct exponent is determined by the doubly minimized Petz Rényi mutual information of order α ∈ (1/2, 1), and that the strong converse exponent is determined by the doubly minimized sandwiched Rényi mutual information of order α ∈ (1,∞). This provides an operational interpretation of these types of Rényi mutual information and generalizes previous results for classical probability distributions to the quantum setting. For completeness, we also study the corresponding moderate deviation regime both below and above the threshold, and determine the Stein exponent and the second-order asymptotics.

IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•May 20, 2026•0 citations
We study the Hoeffding regime of composite quantum hypothesis testing, in which each hypothesis is specified by a sequence of sets of quantum states. We establish quantum Hoeffding bounds under a set of structural assumptions, orthogonal to those of our previous framework. A notable consequence is the direct operational interpretation of the reverse sandwiched Renyi divergence for α∈(0,1)α\in (0,1)α∈(0,1): for the task of discriminating a thermal equilibrium state from a probe state subject to unknown dephasing in the energy eigenbasis, with free Hamiltonian evolution as a special case, the optimal Hoeffding exponent is given exactly by this divergence evaluated on a single copy of the system. The same task in the Stein regime is governed by the reverse quantum relative entropy, providing its operational interpretation as well. This behavior contrasts both with the simple independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) setting, where the Petz Renyi divergence and the Umegaki relative entropy govern the Hoeffding and Stein exponents, respectively, and with many composite settings, where only regularized many-copy formulas are available. This finding reveals that passing from simple to composite hypotheses can fundamentally change which quantum divergence determines the operational limits of discrimination, and suggests a new avenue for seeking operational interpretations of quantum divergences by lifting simple hypotheses to richer composite scenarios.
We establish duality relations for conditional entropies relative to subalgebras of arbitrary von Neumann algebras, including the Umegaki relative entropy as well as the sandwiched- and Petz-Rényi divergences. Even in finite dimensions, these results extend the familiar dualities for conditional entropies from tensor-product subsystems to general subalgebras, while also lifting the framework to the fully infinite-dimensional setting. As an application, we establish an infinite-dimensional extension of quantum Stein's lemma when the alternative hypothesis is the state space of a finite-index subalgebra, which gives an operational interpretation of the relative entropy to a subalgebra as the optimal asymptotic error exponent in composite quantum hypothesis testing-the first beyond finite dimensions.
We study the error exponents in quantum hypothesis testing between two sets of quantum states, extending the analysis beyond the independent and identically distributed case to encompass composite correlated hypotheses. In particular, we introduce and compare two natural extensions of the quantum Hoeffding divergence and anti-divergence to sets of quantum states, establishing their equivalence or quantitative relations. In the error exponent regime, we generalize the quantum Hoeffding bound to stable sequences of convex, compact sets of quantum states, demonstrating that the optimal Type-I error exponent, under an exponential constraint on the Type-II error, is precisely characterized by the regularized quantum Hoeffding divergence between the sets. In the strong converse exponent regime, we establish a general lower bound on the exponent in terms of the regularized quantum Hoeffding anti-divergence, and we prove a matching upper bound when the null hypothesis is a singleton, under additional assumptions. The generality of these results enables applications in various contexts, including (i) refining the generalized quantum Stein’s lemma by [Fang, Fawzi & Fawzi, 2024]; (ii) exhibiting counterexamples to the continuity of the regularized Petz R´enyi divergence and Hoeffding divergence; (iii) obtaining error exponents for adversarial channel discrimination and resource detection problems.
Abstract We extend quantum Stein’s lemma in asymmetric quantum hypothesis testing to composite null and alternative hypotheses. As our main result, we show that the asymptotic error exponent for testing convex combinations of quantum states ρ⊗n\rho ^{\otimes n}ρ⊗n ρ ⊗ n against convex combinations of quantum states σ⊗n\sigma ^{\otimes n}σ⊗n σ ⊗ n can be written as a regularized quantum relative entropy formula. We prove that in general such a regularization is needed but also discuss various settings where our formula as well as extensions thereof become single-letter. This includes an operational interpretation of the relative entropy of coherence in terms of hypothesis testing. For our proof, we start from the composite Stein’s lemma for classical probability distributions and lift the result to the non-commutative setting by using elementary properties of quantum entropy. Finally, our findings also imply an improved recoverability lower bound on the conditional quantum mutual information in terms of the regularized quantum relative entropy—featuring an explicit and universal recovery map.
The doubly minimized Petz Renyi mutual information of order ααα is defined as the minimum of the Petz divergence of order ααα of a given bipartite quantum state relative to all product states. The doubly minimized sandwiched Renyi mutual information is defined analogously, with the Petz divergence replaced by the sandwiched divergence. In this work, we study certain binary quantum state discrimination problems related to correlation detection. We show that the corresponding direct exponent is determined by the doubly minimized Petz Renyi mutual information of order α∈(1/2,1)α\in (1/2,1)α∈(1/2,1), and that the strong converse exponent is determined by the doubly minimized sandwiched Renyi mutual information of order α∈(1,∞)α\in (1,\infty)α∈(1,∞). This provides an operational interpretation of these types of Renyi mutual information and generalizes previous results for classical probability distributions to the quantum setting. For completeness, we also study the corresponding moderate deviation regime both below and above the threshold, and determine the Stein exponent and the second-order asymptotics.
The doubly minimized Petz Rényi mutual information of order α is defined as the minimum of the Petz divergence of order α of a given bipartite quantum state relative to all product states. The doubly minimized sandwiched Rényi mutual information is defined analogously, with the Petz divergence replaced by the sandwiched divergence. In this work, we study certain binary quantum state discrimination problems related to correlation detection. We show that the corresponding direct exponent is determined by the doubly minimized Petz Rényi mutual information of order α ∈ (1/2, 1), and that the strong converse exponent is determined by the doubly minimized sandwiched Rényi mutual information of order α ∈ (1, ∞). This provides an operational interpretation of these types of Rényi mutual information and generalizes previous results for classical probability distributions to the quantum setting. For completeness, we also study the corresponding moderate deviation regime both below and above the threshold, and determine the Stein exponent and the second-order asymptotics.
The doubly minimized Petz Rényi mutual information of order α is defined as the minimum of the Petz divergence of order α of a given bipartite quantum state relative to all product states. The doubly minimized sandwiched Rényi mutual information is defined analogously, with the Petz divergence replaced by the sandwiched divergence. In this work, we study certain binary quantum state discrimination problems related to correlation detection. We show that the corresponding direct exponent is determined by the doubly minimized Petz Rényi mutual information of order α ∈ (1/2, 1), and that the strong converse exponent is determined by the doubly minimized sandwiched Rényi mutual information of order α ∈ (1,∞). This provides an operational interpretation of these types of Rényi mutual information and generalizes previous results for classical probability distributions to the quantum setting. For completeness, we also study the corresponding moderate deviation regime both below and above the threshold, and determine the Stein exponent and the second-order asymptotics.