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arXiv:2607.05195

Integral representations of $f$-divergences for general von Neumann algebras

Ricardo Correa da Silva, Markus B. Fröb, Gandalf Lechner, Leonardo Sangaletti

math.OAmath-phquant-phSubmitted Jul 6, 2026• Announced Jul 7, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We define and analyze hockeystick divergences and $f$-divergences for normal positive functionals on general von Neumann algebras, generalizing and unifying previous work in classical probability and finite-dimensional von Neumann algebras. All the main properties of these state distinguishability measures (including in particular monotonicity, convexity, semicontinuity, bounds, state discrimination, data processing inequality) are derived from properties of the Jordan decomposition of selfadjoint normal functionals. This is done by representing the $f$-divergences as integrals over hockeystick divergences, and their significance in quantum hypothesis testing is reviewed. The $f_0$-divergence given by the information function $f_0(t) = t \ln t$ is shown to coincide with Araki's relative entropy, extending results of Frenkel to general von Neumann algebras.

Comments
55 pages, comments welcome. See also the concurrent independent work by Koßmann, Schwonnek, Liu, and Cheng, which is being released simultaneously

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Integral representations of fff-divergences for general von Neumann algebras
We define and analyze hockeystick divergences and fff-divergences for normal positive functionals on general von Neumann algebras, generalizing and unifying previous work in classical probability and finite-dimensional von Neumann algebras. All the main properties of these state distinguishability measures (including in particular monotonicity, convexity, semicontinuity, bounds, state discrimination, data processing inequality) are derived from properties of the Jordan decomposition of selfadjoint normal functionals. This is done by representing the fff-divergences as integrals over hockeystick divergences, and their significance in quantum hypothesis testing is reviewed. The f0f_0f0​-divergence given by the information function f0(t)=tln⁡tf_0(t) = t \ln tf0​(t)=tlnt is shown to coincide with Araki's relative entropy, extending results of Frenkel to general von Neumann algebras.
We prove an integral representation of the ααα-zzz Rényi divergences for normal states on arbitrary von Neumann algebras. Along each ray z=cαz=cαz=cα, the divergence is a positive average of relative entropies evaluated in a canonical family of escort states. For orders ααα above one, we require the divergence to be finite, whereas for orders below one support inclusion suffices. An explicit boundary correction removes the lower-order support assumption. The proof uses a compatible weighted Haagerup LpL^pLp scale and applies outside the data-processing region. For faithful density matrices, we express the derivative of the escort relative entropy with respect to the Rényi order in terms of a nonnegative fluctuation quantity. Differences of order-one derivatives of the divergence give quantum Fisher information and Wigner-Yanase skew information. For faithful bipartite density matrices, we also express optimized conditional ααα-zzz entropies at orders above one as averages of ordinary conditional entropies. Further applications concern coherent-state divergences in quantum field theory and the optimizing order for the strong converse exponent in hypothesis-testing.
In this paper we give a systematic and unified treatment and extensions of various results on a new notion of quantum fff-divergences defined from quantum hockey stick divergences, the theory of which has been developed recently in \cite{BHT_fdiv,HircheTomamichel_integral,LiuHircheCheng2025}. In particular, we consider non-normalized states and hockey stick fff-divergences defined from more general notions of quantum hockey stick divergences, as well as a somewhat more general form of the integral representation defined in terms of an additional real parameter. We also consider the extension of the theory to general von Neumann algebras, and extend various results from \cite{HircheTomamichel_integral,LiuHircheCheng2025} to this setting. Our main results here are the representation of the hockey stick fff-divergences in terms of Neyman-Pearson error probabilities, which was given in the finite-dimensional case in \cite{LiuHircheCheng2025}, an extension of Jen\v cová's result \cite{Jencova2023} on the detection of reversibility of a quantum channel on a pair of states in terms of the hockey stick divergences, and an extension of a result in \cite{HircheTomamichel_integral} showing that the regularized hockey stick Rényi ααα-divergences coincide with the Petz-type Rényi divergences for α∈(0,1)α\in(0,1)α∈(0,1) and with the sandwiched Rényi divergences for α>1α>1α>1. Moreover, we give some partial results on the characterization of when different notions of quantum fff-divergences give the same value on a pair of quantum states.
We prove a generalized quantum Stein lemma for i.i.d. normal states against convex, tensor-stable families on arbitrary von Neumann algebras. Assuming the existence of an alternative state with finite relative entropy from the null state, we show that, at every type-I error tolerance ε∈(0,1)\varepsilon\in (0,1)ε∈(0,1), the worst case type-II error exponent is achieved with the regularized relative entropy with a strong converse. The proof combines the integral representation of relative entropy by hockey-stick divergences, a modular testing bound, and convex minimax argument.
We prove recovery theorems for ααα-zzz Rényi divergences under normal unital positive maps between von Neumann algebras. Previous results in this setting required 2-positivity, while recent finite dimensional work showed that this assumption can be relaxed to mere positivity. Our proof uses sufficiency for JW*-subalgebras and LpL^pLp-spaces over them to characterize equality in the data processing inequality. As a further application of our methods, we solve a problem discussed by Haagerup and Stormer: Every conditional expectation of a von Neumann algebra onto a JW*-subalgebra factors through a conditional expectation onto the generated von Neumann subalgebra.
Quantum fff-divergences via Nussbaum-Szkoła Distributions in Semifinite von Neumann Algebras
In this article, we prove that the quantum fff-divergence between two normal states on a semifinite von~Neumann algebra is equal to the classical fff-divergence between two corresponding classical states, which are called Nussbaum-Szkoła distributions. This result has been proved by the second named author and T.C.~John for normal states on the von~Neumann algebra B(H)\mathbb{B}(\mathscr{H})B(H) of all bounded operators on a Hilbert space H\mathscr{H}H. We extend their result for normal states on any semifinite von~Neumann algebra, not only B(H)\mathbb{B}(\mathscr{H})B(H).
Integral representations of quantum relative entropy, and of the directional second and higher order derivatives of von Neumann entropy, are established, and used to give simple proofs of fundamental, known data processing inequalities: the Holevo bound on the quantity of information transmitted by a quantum communication channel, and, much more generally, the monotonicity of quantum relative entropy under trace-preserving positive linear maps – complete positivity of the map need not be assumed. The latter result was first proved by Müller-Hermes and Reeb, based on work of Beigi. For a simple application of such monotonicities, we consider any `divergence' that is non-increasing under quantum measurements, such as the concavity of von Neumann entropy, or various known quantum divergences. An elegant argument due to Hiai, Ohya, and Tsukada is used to show that the infimum of such a `divergence' on pairs of quantum states with prescribed trace distance is the same as the corresponding infimum on pairs of binary classical states. Applications of the new integral formulae to the general probabilistic model of information theory, and a related integral formula for the classical Rényi divergence, are also discussed.