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arXiv:2605.10375

Operational time-reversal symmetry for unital qubit channels

Ouyang Ting, James Fullwood, Zhen Wu

quant-phSubmitted May 11, 2026• Announced May 12, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

The Bayesian inverse of a quantum channel $\mathcal{E}$ is a channel $\mathcal{F}$ in the reverse direction of $\mathcal{E}$ that yields time-symmetric correlations for sequential measurements performed on open quantum systems. Such an operational form of time-reversal symmetry for open quantum systems is quite remarkable, as the dynamics of open quantum systems are inherently irreversible due to system-environment interactions. Similar to the Petz map, a Bayesian inverse $\mathcal{F}$ is defined with respect to a fiducial reference state $ρ$ for the channel $\mathcal{E}$. However, Bayesian inverses do not always exist, and it is often a non-trivial task to determine the set of states $ρ$ for which a Bayesian inverse of $\mathcal{E}$ exists. In this work, we solve the general problem of quantum Bayesian inversion for unital channels acting on a single qubit. Our analysis is streamlined by demonstrating that finding a Bayesian inverse for a unital qubit channel may be reduced to finding a Bayesian inverse of a Pauli channel, which is simply a mixture of unitary channels associated with the Pauli matrices. As such, we provide a complete description of when operational time-reversal symmetry is attainable for sequential measurements of a single qubit in the presence of unital noise.

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7 pages, 2 figures. Comments welcome!

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The Bayesian inverse of a quantum channel E\mathcal{E}E is a channel F\mathcal{F}F in the reverse direction of E\mathcal{E}E that yields time-symmetric correlations for sequential measurements performed on open quantum systems. Such an operational form of time-reversal symmetry for open quantum systems is quite remarkable, as the dynamics of open quantum systems are inherently irreversible due to system-environment interactions. Similar to the Petz map, a Bayesian inverse F\mathcal{F}F is defined with respect to a fiducial reference state ρρρ for the channel E\mathcal{E}E. However, Bayesian inverses do not always exist, and it is often a non-trivial task to determine the set of states ρρρ for which a Bayesian inverse of E\mathcal{E}E exists. In this work, we solve the general problem of quantum Bayesian inversion for unital channels acting on a single qubit. Our analysis is streamlined by demonstrating that finding a Bayesian inverse for a unital qubit channel may be reduced to finding a Bayesian inverse of a Pauli channel, which is simply a mixture of unitary channels associated with the Pauli matrices. As such, we provide a complete description of when operational time-reversal symmetry is attainable for sequential measurements of a single qubit in the presence of unital noise.
Abstract The statistics of sequential measurements of two non‐commuting observables typically depends on the order in which they are measured. However, if a system evolves unitarily between sequential measurements of dichotomic observables (i.e., observables whose measurement outcomes are labeled by ), then the expectation value of the product of the sequential measurements is in fact independent of the order of the measurements, provided that one uses the inverse unitary for the opposite order. In this work, a quantum Bayes' rule is used to show that the aforementioned time symmetry for sequential measurements of dichotomic observables extends to open quantum systems that evolve according to a general quantum channel between measurements. Such results are quite striking in light of the standard view that open quantum systems—which may lose information to their environment—are not reversible in any operational sense. An example of such time‐symmetric correlations is given for the amplitude‐damping channel, where it is observed that the symmetry is realized by a reverse channel that is a combination of the Petz recovery map together with a dephasing channel.
We propose a category-theoretic definition of retrodiction and use it to exhibit a time-reversal symmetry for all quantum channels. We do this by introducing retrodiction families and functors, which capture many intuitive properties that retrodiction should satisfy and are general enough to encompass both classical and quantum theories alike. Classical Bayesian inversion and all rotated and averaged Petz recovery maps define retrodiction families in our sense. However, averaged rotated Petz recovery maps, including the universal recovery map of Junge-Renner-Sutter-Wilde-Winter, do not define retrodiction functors, since they fail to satisfy some compositionality properties. Among all the examples we found of retrodiction families, the original Petz recovery map is the only one that defines a retrodiction functor. In addition, retrodiction functors exhibit an inferential time-reversal symmetry consistent with the standard formulation of quantum theory. The existence of such a retrodiction functor seems to be in stark contrast to the many no-go results on time-reversal symmetry for quantum channels. One of the main reasons is because such works defined time-reversal symmetry on the category of quantum channels alone, whereas we define it on the category of quantum channels and quantum states. This fact further illustrates the importance of a prior in time-reversal symmetry.
Bayes' rule is central to classical statistical inference: given a prior and a stochastic model, it determines the corresponding retrodictive conditional probabilities. In quantum theory, however, the question of whether an equally general rule of retrodiction exists and, if so, whether it is uniquely determined remains nontrivial. Here we prove that a retrodiction assignment defined for all priors and channels, which takes each predicted output state back to its prior, must coincide with the Petz transpose map if it is involutive, respects sequential and parallel composition, and agrees with unitary inversion. The theorem holds for channels between finite-dimensional full matrix algebras, with the input and output spaces restricted to the supports of the corresponding reference states. In particular, affinity under probabilistic mixtures and the characteristic square-root dependence on the reference states follow from these requirements rather than being postulated. Without involutivity, the remaining requirements characterize a family of doubly rotated Petz maps. Our result thus explains why the Petz transpose map arises in seemingly different areas of quantum theory: it is the unique quantum analogue of Bayes' rule compatible with these consistency requirements.
Reversibility lies at the heart of physics and information theory, linking entropy, efficiency and information recovery. Yet, definitions of a “reverse process” have been context-specific, relying on physical assumptions rather than a general framework. This thesis develops a universal recipe for reverse processes using Bayesian inference, formalized through Bayes’ rule and the Petz recovery map. We first show how these tools recover conventional notions of reversal while yielding new insights, and justify the Petz transpose as the quantum analog of Bayes’ rule via quasiprobability representations. We then compare Bayesian reversibility with dilation-based approaches, proving their equivalence through the role of correlations. This motivates the notion of tabletop time-reversible processes, special cases where correlations can be neglected with respect to reversal. Beyond the core results, we apply these methods to fluctuation relations, quantum thermal operations, and the Loschmidt paradox, and reflect on implications for the philosophy of time. In sum, Bayesian inference provides a regime-independent foundation for defining and analyzing (ir)reversibility across physics and information theory.
Time-reversal symmetry and its violation (T-violation) are fundamental across diverse physics domains, from particle physics to fluctuation theorems and reciprocity. While time-reversal symmetry for isolated systems is simply determined by the Hamiltonian, quantifying the magnitude of T-violation, especially in noisy quantum processes, has been a subject of ongoing debate. Here, we propose an operationally meaningful framework to quantify the intrinsic T-violation of quantum channels. We integrate operationally defined time-reversal transformations into dynamical resource theory to formulate T-violation as a resource. T-violation decomposes into two distinct components: kinematic T-violation originating from antiunitary motion-reversal, and nonunitality driven purely by thermodynamics. This decomposition resolves the longstanding confusion between broken time-reversal symmetry and non-invertibility. Finally, we analyze the resulting resource theory of kinematic T-violation, showing that it is neither quality-like nor quantity-like, and proving the existence of a universal golden unit even within classical channels.
Abstract We introduce a fully quantum notion of entropy production based on the non-commutative extension of the classical log-ratio between forward and reverse processes. Given a pair of quantum objects associated with the forward and reverse descriptions, we define a Hermitian entropy-production operator whose expectation value is non-negative and equal to the Belavkin–Staszewski relative entropy. The operator satisfies exact integral and detailed fluctuation theorems without requiring commutativity. We then specialize this construction to the case in which the forward process is described by a single quantum channel and the reverse process is defined inferentially, through Bayesian retrodiction relative to a prior state, with the Petz transpose map as the Bayesian inverse. In this setting, the relevant quantities can be evaluated explicitly, leading to a number of natural structural and physical properties. The framework recovers the classical formula in the commutative limit, yields explicit expressions for the average entropy production, and clarifies where the fully quantum case departs from standard thermodynamic expectations.