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arXiv:2609.06632

Anomaly fluctuation theorem for quantum coherence dynamics

Kun Zhang, Hai-Long Shi, Xiao-Hui Wang, Wen-Li Yang

quant-phSubmitted Sep 6, 2026• Announced Sep 8, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Quantum coherence is a central resource in quantum information science, yet general frameworks and constraints governing its dynamics remain limited. Although quantum coherence lacks a general monotonicity law, we establish an exact integral fluctuation theorem (FT) for coherence dynamics, formulated in terms of Kirkwood-Dirac (KD) quasiprobability trajectories and valid for arbitrary initial states and dynamics. This integral FT deviates from the standard unit-valued form, and the complex deviation, termed the anomaly, quantifies a weighted overlap between the residual final-state coherence and the coherence generated from the dephased input. The real part of the anomaly yields bounds on coherence change, while its imaginary part constrains the second-order moment of the stochastic coherence change weighted by the imaginary parts of the KD quasiprobabilities. Our results establish general statistical constraints on coherence dynamics, demonstrating the utility and broad applicability of FTs for studying quantum-resource dynamics.

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7 pages, 3 figures

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Quantum coherence is a central resource in quantum information science, yet general frameworks and constraints governing its dynamics remain limited. Although quantum coherence lacks a general monotonicity law, we establish an exact integral fluctuation theorem (FT) for coherence dynamics, formulated in terms of Kirkwood-Dirac (KD) quasiprobability trajectories and valid for arbitrary initial states and dynamics. This integral FT deviates from the standard unit-valued form, and the complex deviation, termed the anomaly, quantifies a weighted overlap between the residual final-state coherence and the coherence generated from the dephased input. The real part of the anomaly yields bounds on coherence change, while its imaginary part constrains the second-order moment of the stochastic coherence change weighted by the imaginary parts of the KD quasiprobabilities. Our results establish general statistical constraints on coherence dynamics, demonstrating the utility and broad applicability of FTs for studying quantum-resource dynamics.
Kirkwood-Dirac (KD) quasiprobability is a quantum analog of phase space probability of classical statistical mechanics, allowing negative or/and nonreal values. It gives an informationally complete representation of a quantum state. Recent works have revealed the important roles played by the KD quasiprobability in the broad fields of quantum science and quantum technology. In the present work, we use the KD quasiprobability to access the quantum coherence in a quantum state. We show that the l1{l}_{1}l1​ norm of the imaginary part of the KD quasiprobability over an incoherent reference basis and a second basis, maximized over all possible choices of the latter, can be used to quantify quantum coherence, satisfying certain desirable properties. It is upper bounded by the quantum uncertainty, i.e., the quantum standard deviation, of the incoherent basis in the state. It gives a lower bound to the l1{l}_{1}l1​ norm quantum coherence, and for a single qubit, they are identical. We discuss the measurement of the KD coherence based on the measurement of the KD quasiprobability and an optimization procedure in hybrid quantum-classical schemes, and suggest statistical interpretations. We also discuss its relevance in the physics of linear response regime.
The question of when the Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability serves as the most appropriate description for quantum measurements has remained unresolved, particularly across different measurement strengths. While known to generate anomalous weak values in the weak measurement regime and to reduce to classical probabilities under projective measurement, the physical mechanism governing its continuous transformation has been lacking. Here we demonstrate that the KD quasiprobability provides a general framework for all measurement regimes by identifying pointer-induced decoherence as the universal mechanism controlling this transition. We show that the decoherence factor F(t) simultaneously quantifies the loss of quantum coherence and interpolates the measurement strength from weak to strong. Within this framework, the KD quasiprobability naturally deforms from its full complex form-governing weak values-to the real, non-negative Wigner formula describing projective measurements, while maintaining informational completeness throughout the transition. Our work resolves the fundamental question of the KD distribution's applicability by establishing it as the universal framework that seamlessly connects all quantum measurement regimes through a physically transparent decoherence pathway.
Quantum fluctuation theorems provide fundamental constraints on entropy production but rely on a trajectory-based description that becomes problematic in the presence of coherence and incompatible measurements. While deviations from standard fluctuation relations in quantum regimes are often attributed to coherence, the precise nonclassical mechanism underlying such effects remains under active discussion. In this work, we investigate contextual interference effects in nonequilibrium thermodynamics using a minimal analytically solvable two-qubit heat-exchange model with a phase-tunable partial-swap interaction. By employing a coherence-preserving Kirkwood–Dirac (KD) quasiprobability formulation of energy exchange, we identify a single correction term, [Formula: see text], that quantifies deviations from the conventional fluctuation-theorem symmetry. We show that this correction originates from interference between incompatible measurement contexts within the degenerate single-excitation subspace and vanishes both in the incoherent limit and at thermal equilibrium. The resulting expression is fully analytic, depends on experimentally tunable parameters, and explicitly connects entropy-current fluctuations to phase-sensitive coherence effects. Our results provide an operationally accessible signature of KD-interference contributions in quantum thermodynamics and demonstrate that coherence, when combined with measurement incompatibility, induces a well-defined correction to fluctuation relations. This establishes a minimal framework linking contextual interference and thermodynamic irreversibility and suggests experimentally feasible routes for probing such effects on current quantum platforms.
Abstract The question of when the Kirkwood-Dirac (KD) quasiprobability serves as the most appropriate description for quantum measurements has remained unresolved, particularly across different measurement strengths. While known to generate anomalous weak values in the weak measurement regime and to reduce to classical probabilities under projective measurement, the physical mechanism governing its continuous transformation has been lacking. Here we demonstrate that the KD quasiprobability provides a general framework for all measurement regimes by identifying pointer-induced decoherence as the universal mechanism controlling this transition. We show that the decoherence factor F ( t ) simultaneously quantifies the loss of quantum coherence and interpolates the measurement strength from weak to strong. Within this framework, the KD quasiprobability naturally deforms from its full complex form—governing weak values—to the real, non-negative Wigner formula describing projective measurements, while maintaining informational completeness throughout the transition. Our work resolves the fundamental question of the KD distribution’s applicability by establishing it as the unified framework that seamlessly connects weak and strong measurement regimes through a physically transparent decoherence pathway.
Abstract Just a few years after the inception of quantum mechanics, there has been a research program using the nonclassical values of some quasiprobability distributions to delineate the nonclassical aspects of quantum phenomena. In particular, in Kirkwood–Dirac (KD) quasiprobability distribution, the distinctive quantum mechanical feature of noncommutativity which underlies many nonclassical phenomena, manifests in the nonreal values and/or the negative values of the real part. Here, we develop a faithful quantifier of quantum coherence based on the KD nonclassicality which captures simultaneously the nonreality and the negativity of the KD quasiprobability. The KD-nonclassicality coherence thus defined, is upper bounded by the uncertainty of the outcomes of measurement described by a rank-1 orthogonal projection-valued measure (PVM) corresponding to the incoherent orthonormal basis which is quantified by the Tsallis 1 2 -entropy. Moreover, they are identical for pure states so that the KD-nonclassicality coherence for pure state admits a simple closed expression in terms of measurement probabilities. We then use the Maassen–Uffink uncertainty relation for min-entropy and max-entropy to obtain a lower bound for the KD-nonclassicality coherence of a pure state in terms of optimal guessing probability in measurement described by a PVM noncommuting with the incoherent orthonormal basis. We also derive a trade-off relation for the KD-nonclassicality coherences of a pure state relative to a pair of noncommuting orthonormal bases with a state-independent lower bound. Finally, we sketch a variational scheme for a direct estimation of the KD-nonclassicality coherence based on weak value measurement and thereby discuss its relation with quantum contextuality.
Fluctuation theorems provide universal constraints on nonequilibrium energy and entropy fluctuations, making them a natural framework to assess how and to what extent quantum resources become thermodynamically relevant. We develop a unified framework for incorporating a generic quantum resource, including athermality, quantum coherence, and entanglement, into fluctuation theorems. We work within the end point measurement scheme, which avoids an initial energy measurement and allows quantum resources in the initial state to affect nonequilibrium energy statistics. We derive a family of quantum fluctuation theorems, including generalized Jarzynski equalities and Crooks type fluctuation relations, in which corrections decompose into resource resolved contributions. For single systems, we introduce the concept of weight of athermality, and combine it with the weight of coherence to isolate distinct thermodynamic effects of these quantum resources. For bipartite systems, we furthermore obtain two families of entanglement-resolved fluctuation theorems using an appended correlation operator and the best separable approximation, respectively. Finally, we introduce the concepts of coherence and entanglement fluctuation distances, as Kullback Leibler divergences, which quantify the thermodynamic relevance of quantum resources in a process-dependent and operational manner.