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arXiv:2609.19046

Coherence-generating power deviation: Fluctuations and input selectivity beyond average coherence generation

Kyoungho Cho, Jeongho Bang

quant-phSubmitted Jul 21, 2026• Announced Jul 22, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Coherence-generating power (CGP) tells how much coherence a quantum process produces on average from incoherent inputs, but an average can hide where that coherence comes from. We introduce the coherence-generating power deviation (CGPD), the standard deviation of the generated Hilbert--Schmidt coherence over the uniform simplex of incoherent states. CGPD turns coherence generation into a landscape: a small value signals robust production across input populations, whereas a large value reveals selective conversion of particular population imbalances. By representing unitary coherence generation as a quadratic response on population space, we obtain exact first and second moments in arbitrary finite dimension. We prove that every nontrivial unitary generator must fluctuate, and we separate this unavoidable isotropic fluctuation from excess anisotropy. The resulting distinction between average strength and input selectivity has direct consequences for benchmarking, reliability guarantees, input-ensemble susceptibility, and four-copy measurement protocols; it also extends naturally to unital quantum channels. Matched quantum-walk and quasiperiodic-transport examples show that topology and localization can leave CGP unchanged while substantially changing CGPD, revealing structure invisible to the mean alone.

Comments
15 pages, 5 figures

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Coherence-generating power (CGP) tells how much coherence a quantum process produces on average from incoherent inputs, but an average can hide where that coherence comes from. We introduce the coherence-generating power deviation (CGPD), the standard deviation of the generated Hilbert--Schmidt coherence over the uniform simplex of incoherent states. CGPD turns coherence generation into a landscape: a small value signals robust production across input populations, whereas a large value reveals selective conversion of particular population imbalances. By representing unitary coherence generation as a quadratic response on population space, we obtain exact first and second moments in arbitrary finite dimension. We prove that every nontrivial unitary generator must fluctuate, and we separate this unavoidable isotropic fluctuation from excess anisotropy. The resulting distinction between average strength and input selectivity has direct consequences for benchmarking, reliability guarantees, input-ensemble susceptibility, and four-copy measurement protocols; it also extends naturally to unital quantum channels. Matched quantum-walk and quasiperiodic-transport examples show that topology and localization can leave CGP unchanged while substantially changing CGPD, revealing structure invisible to the mean alone.
We study the ability of a quantum channel to generate quantum coherence when it applies to incoherent states. Based on probabilistic averages, we define a measure of such coherence generating power (CGP) for a generic quantum channel, based on the average coherence generated by the quantum channel acting on a uniform ensemble of incoherent states. Explicit analytical formula of the CGP for any unitary channels are presented in terms of subentropy. An upper bound for CGP of unital quantum channels has been also derived. Detailed examples are investigated.
Given an orthonormal basis BBB in a ddd-dimensional Hilbert space and a unital quantum operation E\mathcal{E}E acting on it, one can define a nonlinear mapping that associates with E\mathcal{E}E a $d\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}d$ real-valued matrix that we call the coherence matrix of E\mathcal{E}E with respect to BBB. This is the Gram matrix of the coherent part of the basis projections of BBB under E\mathcal{E}E. We show that one can use this coherence matrix to define vast families of measures of the coherence-generating power (CGP) of the operation. These measures have a natural geometrical interpretation as separation of E\mathcal{E}E from the set of incoherent unital operations. The probabilistic approach to CGP discussed in P. Zanardi et al. [Phys. Rev. A 95, 052306 (2017).] can be reformulated and generalized, introducing, alongside the coherence matrix, another $d\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}d$ real-valued matrix, the simplex correlation matrix. This matrix describes the relevant statistical correlations in the input ensemble of incoherent states. Contracting these two matrices, one finds CGP measures associated with the process of preparing the given incoherent ensemble and processing it with the chosen unital operation. Finally, in the unitary case, we discuss how these concepts can be made compatible with an underlying tensor product structure by defining families of CGP measures that are additive.
Given a preferred orthonormal basis BBB in the Hilbert space of a quantum system, we define a measure of the coherence-generating power of a unitary operation with respect to BBB. This measure is the average coherence generated by the operation acting on a uniform ensemble of incoherent states. We give its explicit analytical form in any dimension and provide an operational protocol to directly detect it. We characterize the set of unitaries with maximal coherence-generating power and study the properties of our measure when the unitary is drawn at random from the Haar distribution. For a large state-space dimension a random unitary has, with overwhelming probability, nearly maximal coherence-generating power with respect to any basis. Finally, extensions to general unital quantum operations and the relation to the concept of asymmetry are discussed.
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Quantifying the entangling capability of quantum operations is a fundamental task in quantum information science. Traditionally, this capability is measured by the entangling power (EP), defined as the average entanglement generated when a quantum operation acts uniformly on all possible product states. However, EP alone cannot capture the intricate input-state-dependent nature of entanglement generation. To address this, we define a complementary metric -- entangling power deviation (EPD) -- as the standard deviation of entanglement generated over all product input states, thereby capturing the multifaceted nature of entangling behavior. We develop a general group-theoretical framework that yields closed-form expressions for both EP and EPD. Our analysis shows that any nontrivial entangling operation necessarily exhibits input-state dependence: nonzero EP implies a nonzero EPD. By analyzing representative two-qubit gates, we show that the gates with identical EP can exhibit markedly different EPD values, illustrating that the nature of entanglement generation can significantly differ depending on the gate functionality. Extending our framework to a class of generalized controlled-unitary operations acting on bipartite Hilbert spaces of arbitrary dimensions, we further analyze the interplay between the entangling strength and uniformity, as quantified by EP and EPD. Moreover, we uncover a subtle dimension-parity-dependent behavior in entanglement generation, which EP alone fails to detect. These findings highlight EPD as an indispensable diagnostic tool -- one that, alongside EP, provides a deeper and more complete characterization of the entangling structure.
Given a preferred orthonormal basis BBB in the Hilbert space of a quantum system we define a measure of the coherence generating power of a unitary map with respect to BBB. We give its explicit analytical form and provide an operational protocol to directly detect it. This measure vanishes if and only if the unitary map transforms all the incoherent states into themselves and is non-increasing under pre- or post-processing by incoherent operations. We characterize the set of unitaries with maximal coherence generating power and study the properties of our measure when the unitary is drawn at random from the Haar distribution. For large state-space dimension a random unitary has, with overwhelming probability, nearly maximal coherence generating power with respect to any basis. Finally, extensions to general unital completely positive maps and the relation to the concept of asymmetry are discussed.