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arXiv:2608.12248

Isospectral majorization and isoperimetric inequalities for coherent states on the Bloch sphere

Luis Daniel Abreu

quant-phmath-phmath.CAmath.FASubmitted Aug 12, 2026• Announced Aug 13, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Let $\mathcal{P}_{N}$ be the $(N+1)$-dimensional Hilbert space of analytic polynomials of degree at most $N$. This is the natural environment to define $SU(2)$ (Bloch) coherent states. Let $Q_{ρ}$ be the Husimi function of a density operator $ρ$ on $% \mathcal{P}_{N}$. We prove an isospectral version of Lieb-Solovej inequality: if $ρ^{\downarrow }$ is obtained by placing the eigenvalues of $ρ$ in decreasing order along the monomial basis, then \begin{equation*} \int_{\mathbb{C}}Φ(Q_{ρ}(z))\,dm(z)\leq \int_{\mathbb{C}}Φ(Q_{ρ^{\downarrow }}(z))\,dm(z) \end{equation*}% for every convex function $Φ$ on $[0,1]$. Applying the corresponding reversed inequality to the concave function $Φ(t)=-t\log t$ gives the Wehrl entropy. In the process it is show that the output state of $ρ$ under Lieb-Solovej's channel is majorized by the output of the state $ρ^{\downarrow }$. As an application, among all measurable subsets of the sphere having a fixed area, spherical caps maximize every partial sum of the eigenvalues of Toeplitz operators with symbol $1_Ω$. Equivalently, caps maximize all Ky Fan norms, leading to the sharp inequalities, previously known for $r=1$: \begin{equation*} \sum_{j=1}^{r}λ_{j}(Ω) \leq r-\sum_{k=0}^{r-1}(r-k)\binom{N+1}{k} m(Ω)^{k}\bigl(1-m(Ω)\bigr)^{N+1-k}. \end{equation*} This implies isoperimetric inequalities for all Schatten sums of $T_Ω$, obtained without using the spherical isoperimetric inequality.

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As an application, among all measurable subsets of the sphere having a fixed area, spherical caps maximize every partial sum of the eigenvalues of Toeplitz operators with symbol 1Ω1_Ω1Ω​. Equivalently, caps maximize all Ky Fan norms, leading to the sharp inequalities, previously known for r=1r=1r=1: \begin{equation*} \sum_{j=1}^{r}λ_{j}(Ω) \leq r-\sum_{k=0}^{r-1}(r-k)\binom{N+1}{k} m(Ω)^{k}\bigl(1-m(Ω)\bigr)^{N+1-k}. \end{equation*} This implies isoperimetric inequalities for all Schatten sums of TΩT_ΩTΩ​, obtained without using the spherical isoperimetric inequality.
The Wehrl entropy is the entropy of the probability distribution in phase space corresponding to the Husimi function in terms of coherent states. We explain the significance of the Wehrl entropy in quantum information theory, and present the theory behind the Lieb conjecture, which states that, in finite dimensions, the minimum Wehrl entropy occurs for Bloch coherent states. This was proven by Lieb and Solovej in 2012. We present the theory behind coherent states, with a particular emphasis on Bloch coherent states, and give a geometrical representation of quantum states as points on a sphere. Using this representation, we identify spherical arrangements of 2–9 points that maximize the Wehrl entropy locally. We conjecture that these maxima are in fact global. Furthermore, we investigate how the maximally entangled symmetric states are related to the states corresponding to maximal Wehrl entropy.
We consider the problem of the stability (with sharp exponent) of the Lieb--Solovej inequality for symmetric SU(N)SU(N)SU(N) coherent states, which was obtained only recently by the authors. Here, we propose an elementary proof of this result, based on reformulating the Wehrl-type entropy as a function defined on the unit sphere in Cd\mathbb{C}^dCd, for some suitable ddd, and on some explicit (and somewhat surprising) computations.
Wehrl used Glauber coherent states to define a map from quantum density matrices to classical phase space densities and conjectured that for Glauber coherent states the mininimum classical entropy would occur for density matrices equal to projectors onto coherent states. This was proved by Lieb in 1978 who also extended the conjecture to Bloch SU(2) spin-coherent states for every angular momentum J. This conjecture is proved here. We also recall our 1991 extension of the Wehrl map to a quantum channel from J to K=J+12,J+1,..., with K=∞ corresponding to the Wehrl map to classical densities. These channels were later recognized as the optimal quantum cloning channels. For each J and J<K⩽∞ we show that the minimal output entropy for the channels occurs for a J coherent state. We also show that coherent states both Glauber and Bloch minimize any concave functional, not just entropy.
We propose to quantify the entanglement of pure states of $N\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}N$ bipartite quantum systems by defining its Husimi distribution with respect to $\mathrm{SU}(N)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{SU}(N)$ coherent states. The Wehrl entropy is minimal if and only if the analyzed pure state is separable. The excess of the Wehrl entropy is shown to be equal to the subentropy of the mixed state obtained by partial trace of the bipartite pure state. This quantity, as well as the generalized (R\'enyi) subentropies, are proved to be Schur concave, so they are entanglement monotones and may be used as alternative measures of entanglement.
We represent a two-qubit density matrix in the basis of Pauli matrix tensor products, with the coefficients constituting a Bloch matrix, analogous to the single qubit Bloch vector. We find the quantum state positivity requirements on the Bloch matrix components, leading to three important inequalities, allowing us to parametrize and visualize the two-qubit state space. Applying the singular value decomposition naturally separates the degrees of freedom to local and nonlocal, and simplifies the positivity inequalities. It also allows us to geometrically represent a state as two entangled Bloch spheres with superimposed correlation axes. It is shown that unitary transformations, local or nonlocal, have simple interpretations as axis rotations or mixing of certain degrees of freedom. The nonlocal unitary invariants of the state are then derived in terms of local unitary invariants. The positive partial transpose criterion for entanglement is generalized, and interpreted as a reflection, or a change of a single sign. The formalism is used to characterize maximally entangled states, and generalize two qubit isotropic and Werner states.