Extracting total correlations from a quantum system usually requires reconstructing its state, whereas many experiments access only a few measurement settings. A possible shortcut is to add the mutual informations obtained from complementary measurements; in dimensions above two, however, this procedure can count the same classical correlation twice. We establish that qubits are protected from such overcounting. For every two-qubit state, the correlations observed in two complementary local bases are bounded by the premeasurement quantum mutual information. The proof traces this protection to binary-entropy curvature on the Bloch ball and combines a qubit information-exclusion tradeoff with data processing under local dephasing. Consequently, two correlation tables give a tomography-free lower bound on total correlation. A score above one bit also certifies a quantitative one-way entanglement-distillation rate; when applied to the Choi state of a qubit channel, the same data lower bound its quantum capacity. The theorem therefore identifies both an operational use of complementarity and the trusted two-dimensional setting in which its correlation accounting is valid.
Extracting total correlations from a quantum system usually requires reconstructing its state, whereas many experiments access only a few measurement settings. A possible shortcut is to add the mutual informations obtained from complementary measurements; in dimensions above two, however, this procedure can count the same classical correlation twice. We establish that qubits are protected from such overcounting. For every two-qubit state, the correlations observed in two complementary local bases are bounded by the premeasurement quantum mutual information. The proof traces this protection to binary-entropy curvature on the Bloch ball and combines a qubit information-exclusion tradeoff with data processing under local dephasing. Consequently, two correlation tables give a tomography-free lower bound on total correlation. A score above one bit also certifies a quantitative one-way entanglement-distillation rate; when applied to the Choi state of a qubit channel, the same data lower bound its quantum capacity. The theorem therefore identifies both an operational use of complementarity and the trusted two-dimensional setting in which its correlation accounting is valid.
The complementary quantum correlations (CQC) relation bounds the sum of two classical mutual informations, obtained from local mutually unbiased measurements, by the quantum mutual information of the premeasurement state. We refute it. Separable rank-two counterexamples exist in every local dimension pair m×n with m,n≥3, with closed-form excess at least 1/(8m2n2) nats, and in every qubit--qudit pair 2×n with n≥3 except n=3,5; every covered pair also admits full-rank separable counterexamples. We then analyse the two residual qubit--qudit dimensions. A dimension-free entropy envelope replaces the natural quadratic majorant and lowers the requirement for closing the equal-prior orthogonal two-ray family from a triangular-discrimination bound S≤8/3 to S≤3.8265583…; the associated gate matrix has trace exactly two, so its spectral test collapses to a single eigenvalue-free scalar; and the exact identity X=1−4Var(c) turns the prime-Fourier full-spark barrier into a variance bound. A 128-bit interval cover then closes that family at 2×3 with gap at least 0.012021 nats, and at 2×5 an exact saturator attaining S=(14+25)/5 refutes three competing routes. We also give a state-dependent corrected inequality that is universal, and show it is incomparable with CQC already at 2×2. Finally we quantify why the original searches had essentially no power to find these states: the violating set is a sliver against the low-rank boundary, the witness lies 7.3 standard deviations below the Hilbert--Schmidt mean, the bases must be aligned to about nine degrees (∼10−21 of frames), and extrapolating the sample minimum demands 1010 to 1018 samples against the 107 ever run.
Quantum entanglement is one of the essential resources in quantum information processing. It is of importance to verify whether a quantum state is entangled. At present, a typical quantum certification focused on the classical correlations has attracted widespread attention. Here, we experimentally investigate the relation between quantum entanglement and the classical complementary correlations based on the mutual information, Pearson correlation coefficient and mutual predictability of two-qubit states. Our experimental results show the classical correlations for complementary properties have strong resolution capability to verify entanglement for two qubit pure states and Werner states. We find that the resolution capability has great performance improvement when the eigenstates of the measurement observables constitute a complete set of mutually unbiased bases. For Werner states in particular, the classical complementary correlations based on the Pearson correlation coefficient and mutual predictability can provide the ultimate bounds to certify entanglement.
Entanglement and state distinguishability have long been central topics in quantum foundations. While each has developed into a rich subject in its own right, they can be connected through measurements in complementary bases. This connection provides insights into quantum and classical correlations and underlies many information-processing tasks, most notably quantum error correction (QEC). However, it has remained largely open whether the connection between entanglement and distinguishability extends to general measurements without assuming complementarity. We answer this question in the affirmative: the key is irreducibility induced by measurements, a much more relaxed condition than complementarity. Specifically, for POVMs satisfying an irreducibility condition, we establish a quantitative relation between the infidelity of one-sided local transformation into a maximally entangled state and the failure probability in state discrimination. We then characterize when both errors can vanish simultaneously. Our results have direct applications to entanglement distillation and QEC. Their errors can be certified by estimating classical input-output correlations from experimentally accessible local measurements, without requiring complementarity. The results also extend to quantum measurement theory. We derive novel trade-off relations that bridge two historically distinct approaches: information gain--irreversibility and observable noise--disturbance. Our connection between entanglement and distinguishability via irreducibility thus offers a common framework for entanglement distillation, QEC, and measurement trade-offs.
Mutually unbiased measurements are commonly expected to expose independent facets of a quantum state: a correlation that is classical in one basis should disappear in a complementary basis. In higher dimensions, however, this intuition becomes particularly subtle because correlations recovered in different settings need not represent different information. To expose this loophole, we propose a two-branch classical null test: before the setting is chosen, a shared bit selects one of two orthogonal product preparations, producing a rank-two classical--classical state, and the candidate protocol then runs unchanged. Different settings can read the same bit through different outcome patterns. This two-branch classical architecture disproves the complementary-quantum correlation (CQC) conjecture in every dimension d≥3. A distinct rank-two classical--classical state disproves its complete-basis extension (ECQC) at d=7, with an overrun that grows without bound along prime dimensions. Its qutrit CQC instance also gives classical false positives for a proposed quantum-correlation measure and a proposed one-sided semi-device-independent steering criterion, and refutes a conditional-probability conjecture. The failures identify the missing requirement: information read in different settings must be nonredundant. In experiments and applications, the same low-overhead architecture can serve as a calibration test before a multibasis score is assigned quantum meaning.
We consider the classical correlations that two observers can extract by measurements on a bipartite quantum state and we discuss how they are related to the quantum mutual information of the state. We show with several examples how complementarity gives rise to a gap between the quantum and the classical correlations and we relate our quantitative finding to the so-called classical correlation locked in a quantum state. We derive upper bounds for the sum of classical correlation obtained by measurements in different mutually unbiased bases and we show that the complementarity gap is also present in the deterministic quantum computation with one quantum bit.
Observables in quantum mechanics are generally complementary, that is, they reveal mutually incompatible pieces of information about a given system. This property is not only a fundamental tenet of the quantum formalism, but also a key component in quantum cryptographic protocols. As such it has fuelled much research into finding sets of highly complementary observables. In its strongest form -- the one we consider in this work -- the information between complementary observables is not merely incompatible but mutually exclusive: maximal information about one observable implies no information about the other, and vice versa. Maximal sets of non-degenerate complementary observables are known to exist in systems of prime power dimension such as n-qubit systems. Here, we study complementarity of degenerate observables, specifically we prove that observables associated with the n-qubit Pauli group also exhibit complementarity under this restriction: first, we obtain a criterion for two such observables to be complementary and, second, we relate maximal sets of complementary observables with informational pure state complementarity equalities, further studied in two companion papers. Equivalently, these results can be formulated in terms of maximal complementary sets of (not necessarily maximal) Abelian subgroups of the Pauli group linking with (possibly coarse-grained) mutually unbiased bases. Finally, we prove that these complementarity sets entail strong entropic uncertainty relations.