Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2609.33815

Quantum data processing equality

Tai-Hsuan Yang

quant-phmath-phSubmitted Sep 27, 2026• Announced Sep 29, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Oct 4, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Sep 27, 2026v2 · Oct 4, 2026
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The quantum data processing inequality asserts that quantum relative entropy is monotonically non-increasing under quantum channels. Here, we promote this fundamental inequality to an exact equality via boundary and surface Poisson integral representations across a complex strip. The relative-entropy loss is resolved into two independent, nonnegative physical mechanisms: an operational Petz recovery component governing state reconstructibility, and a boundary term measuring the mismatch of relative modular dynamics. We further express the loss as the measured relative entropy between the original state and its averaged Petz recovery state plus a nonnegative variational remainder. For the Belavkin--Staszewski (BS) loss, analogous integral representations yield a decomposition into negative log Uhlmann fidelity with an averaged reconstruction plus a nonnegative variational remainder. Furthermore, we establish recovery bounds at any prescribed modular parameter, including the canonical unrotated Petz map, with optimal square-root scaling in the relative entropy loss. The prefactors depend on distinct-eigenvalue counts or logarithmic spectral quantities, improving upon the inverse-power dependence on small eigenvalues in previous bounds.

Comments
25 pages, 1 table, including appendices, improved exposition

Related papers

Monotonicity of quantum relative entropy and recoverability

Mario Berta, Marius Lemm, Mark M. Wilde

The relative entropy is a principal measure of distinguishability in quantum information theory, with its most important property being that it is non-increasing with respect to noisy quantum operations. Here, we establish a remainder term for this inequality that quantifies how well one can recover from a loss of information by employing a rotated Petz recovery map. The main approach for proving this refinement is to combine the methods of [Fawzi and Renner, 2014] with the notion of a relative typical subspace from [Bjelakovic and Siegmund-Schultze, 2003]. Our paper constitutes partial progress towards a remainder term which features just the Petz recovery map (not a rotated Petz map), a conjecture which would have many consequences in quantum information theory. A well known result states that the monotonicity of relative entropy with respect to quantum operations is equivalent to each of the following inequalities: strong subadditivity of entropy, concavity of conditional entropy, joint convexity of relative entropy, and monotonicity of relative entropy with respect to partial trace. We show that this equivalence holds true for refinements of all these inequalities in terms of the Petz recovery map. So either all of these refinements are true or all are false.

Quantum Information and Computation•Nov 1, 2015•21 citations

Recovery map stability for the data processing inequality

Eric A. Carlen, Anna Vershynina

Abstract Let be a finite dimensional von Neumann algebra and a von Neumann subalgebra of it. For states and on , let and be the corresponding states induced on . The data processing inequality implies that where is the relative entropy. Petz proved that there is equality if and only if , where is the Petz recovery map . We prove a quantitative version of Petz’s theorem. In it simplest form, our bound is where is the relative modular operator. Since , this yields a bound that is independent of . We also prove an analogous result with a more complicated constant in which the roles of and are interchanged on the right. Quantum information theoretic inequalities are usually much harder to prove, or differ from, their classical counterparts because classical proofs often rely on conditioning argument that do not carry over to the quantum setting. In particular, quantum conditional expectations rarely preserve expectations—something that always happens in the classical setting. We also prove a simple theorem characterizing states and subalgebras for which conditional expectations do preserve expectation with respect to , illuminating the quantum obstacle to the existence of nicely behaved conditional expectations and the origins the Petz recovery map.

arXiv:1710.02409•Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical•Nov 22, 2019•26 citations

Strengthened monotonicity of relative entropy via pinched Petz recovery map

David Sutter, Marco Tomamichel, Aram W. Harrow

The quantum relative entropy between two states satisfies a monotonicity property, meaning that applying the same quantum channel to both states can never increase their relative entropy. It is known that this inequality is only tight when there is a “recovery map” that exactly reverses the effects of the quantum channel on both states. In this paper we strengthen this inequality by showing that the difference of relative entropies is bounded below by the measured relative entropy between the first state and a recovered state from its processed version. The recovery map is a convex combination of rotated Petz recovery maps and perfectly reverses the quantum channel on the second state. As a special case we reproduce recent lower bounds on the conditional mutual information such as the one proved in [Fawzi and Renner, Commun. Math. Phys., 2015]. Our proof only relies on elementary properties of pinching maps and the operator logarithm.

IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT)•Jul 1, 2016•6 citations

Strengthened Monotonicity of Relative Entropy via Pinched Petz Recovery Map

David Sutter, Marco Tomamichel, Aram W. Harrow

The quantum relative entropy between two states satisfies a monotonicity property meaning that applying the same quantum channel to both states can never increase their relative entropy. It is known that this inequality is only tight when there is a recovery map that exactly reverses the effects of the quantum channel on both states. In this paper, we strengthen this inequality by showing that the difference of relative entropies is bounded below by the measured relative entropy between the first state and a recovered state from its processed version. The recovery map is a convex combination of rotated Petz recovery maps and perfectly reverses the quantum channel on the second state. As a special case, we reproduce recent lower bounds on the conditional mutual information, such as the one proved by Fawzi and Renner. Our proof only relies on the elementary properties of pinching maps and the operator logarithm.

arXiv:1507.00303•IEEE Transactions on Information Theory•Mar 23, 2016•74 citations

Approximate Reversal of Quantum Gaussian Dynamics

Ludovico Lami, Siddhartha Das, Mark M. Wilde

Recently, there has been focus on determining the conditions under which the data processing inequality for quantum relative entropy is satisfied with approximate equality. The solution of the exact equality case is due to Petz, who showed that the quantum relative entropy between two quantum states stays the same after the action of a quantum channel if and only if there is a reversal channel that recovers the original states after the channel acts. Furthermore, this reversal channel can be constructed explicitly and is now called the Petz recovery map. Recent developments have shown that a variation of the Petz recovery map works well for recovery in the case of approximate equality of the data processing inequality. Our main contribution here is a proof that bosonic Gaussian states and channels possess a particular closure property, namely, that the Petz recovery map associated to a bosonic Gaussian state \sigma and a bosonic Gaussian channel N is itself a bosonic Gaussian channel. We furthermore give an explicit construction of the Petz recovery map in this case, in terms of the mean vector and covariance matrix of the state \sigma and the Gaussian specification of the channel N.

Civil War Book Review•Jan 1, 2018•0 citations

Approximate reversal of quantum Gaussian dynamics

Ludovico Lami, Siddhartha Das, Mark M. Wilde

Abstract Recently, there has been focus on determining the conditions under which the data processing inequality for quantum relative entropy is satisfied with approximate equality. The solution of the exact equality case is due to Petz, who showed that the quantum relative entropy between two quantum states stays the same after the action of a quantum channel if and only if there is a reversal channel that recovers the original states after the channel acts. Furthermore, this reversal channel can be constructed explicitly and is now called the Petz recovery map . Recent developments have shown that a variation of the Petz recovery map works well for recovery in the case of approximate equality of the data processing inequality. Our main contribution here is a proof that bosonic Gaussian states and channels possess a particular closure property, namely, that the Petz recovery map associated to a bosonic Gaussian state σ and a bosonic Gaussian channel N is itself a bosonic Gaussian channel. We furthermore give an explicit construction of the Petz recovery map in this case, in terms of the mean vector and covariance matrix of the state σ and the Gaussian specification of the channel N .

arXiv:1702.04737•Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical•Feb 6, 2018•23 citations
The quantum data processing inequality asserts that quantum relative entropy is monotonically non-increasing under quantum channels. Here, we promote this fundamental inequality to an exact equality via boundary and surface Poisson integral representations across a complex strip. The relative-entropy loss is resolved into two independent, nonnegative physical mechanisms: an operational Petz recovery component governing state reconstructibility, and a boundary term measuring the mismatch of relative modular dynamics. We further express the loss as the measured relative entropy between the original state and its averaged Petz recovery state plus a nonnegative variational remainder. For the Belavkin--Staszewski (BS) loss, analogous integral representations yield a decomposition into negative log Uhlmann fidelity with an averaged reconstruction plus a nonnegative variational remainder. Furthermore, we establish recovery bounds at any prescribed modular parameter, including the canonical unrotated Petz map, with optimal square-root scaling in the relative entropy loss. The prefactors depend on distinct-eigenvalue counts or logarithmic spectral quantities, improving upon the inverse-power dependence on small eigenvalues in previous bounds.
The relative entropy is a principal measure of distinguishability in quantum information theory, with its most important property being that it is non-increasing with respect to noisy quantum operations. Here, we establish a remainder term for this inequality that quantifies how well one can recover from a loss of information by employing a rotated Petz recovery map. The main approach for proving this refinement is to combine the methods of [Fawzi and Renner, 2014] with the notion of a relative typical subspace from [Bjelakovic and Siegmund-Schultze, 2003]. Our paper constitutes partial progress towards a remainder term which features just the Petz recovery map (not a rotated Petz map), a conjecture which would have many consequences in quantum information theory. A well known result states that the monotonicity of relative entropy with respect to quantum operations is equivalent to each of the following inequalities: strong subadditivity of entropy, concavity of conditional entropy, joint convexity of relative entropy, and monotonicity of relative entropy with respect to partial trace. We show that this equivalence holds true for refinements of all these inequalities in terms of the Petz recovery map. So either all of these refinements are true or all are false.
Abstract Let be a finite dimensional von Neumann algebra and a von Neumann subalgebra of it. For states and on , let and be the corresponding states induced on . The data processing inequality implies that where is the relative entropy. Petz proved that there is equality if and only if , where is the Petz recovery map . We prove a quantitative version of Petz’s theorem. In it simplest form, our bound is where is the relative modular operator. Since , this yields a bound that is independent of . We also prove an analogous result with a more complicated constant in which the roles of and are interchanged on the right. Quantum information theoretic inequalities are usually much harder to prove, or differ from, their classical counterparts because classical proofs often rely on conditioning argument that do not carry over to the quantum setting. In particular, quantum conditional expectations rarely preserve expectations—something that always happens in the classical setting. We also prove a simple theorem characterizing states and subalgebras for which conditional expectations do preserve expectation with respect to , illuminating the quantum obstacle to the existence of nicely behaved conditional expectations and the origins the Petz recovery map.
The quantum relative entropy between two states satisfies a monotonicity property, meaning that applying the same quantum channel to both states can never increase their relative entropy. It is known that this inequality is only tight when there is a “recovery map” that exactly reverses the effects of the quantum channel on both states. In this paper we strengthen this inequality by showing that the difference of relative entropies is bounded below by the measured relative entropy between the first state and a recovered state from its processed version. The recovery map is a convex combination of rotated Petz recovery maps and perfectly reverses the quantum channel on the second state. As a special case we reproduce recent lower bounds on the conditional mutual information such as the one proved in [Fawzi and Renner, Commun. Math. Phys., 2015]. Our proof only relies on elementary properties of pinching maps and the operator logarithm.
The quantum relative entropy between two states satisfies a monotonicity property meaning that applying the same quantum channel to both states can never increase their relative entropy. It is known that this inequality is only tight when there is a recovery map that exactly reverses the effects of the quantum channel on both states. In this paper, we strengthen this inequality by showing that the difference of relative entropies is bounded below by the measured relative entropy between the first state and a recovered state from its processed version. The recovery map is a convex combination of rotated Petz recovery maps and perfectly reverses the quantum channel on the second state. As a special case, we reproduce recent lower bounds on the conditional mutual information, such as the one proved by Fawzi and Renner. Our proof only relies on the elementary properties of pinching maps and the operator logarithm.
Recently, there has been focus on determining the conditions under which the data processing inequality for quantum relative entropy is satisfied with approximate equality. The solution of the exact equality case is due to Petz, who showed that the quantum relative entropy between two quantum states stays the same after the action of a quantum channel if and only if there is a reversal channel that recovers the original states after the channel acts. Furthermore, this reversal channel can be constructed explicitly and is now called the Petz recovery map. Recent developments have shown that a variation of the Petz recovery map works well for recovery in the case of approximate equality of the data processing inequality. Our main contribution here is a proof that bosonic Gaussian states and channels possess a particular closure property, namely, that the Petz recovery map associated to a bosonic Gaussian state \sigma and a bosonic Gaussian channel N is itself a bosonic Gaussian channel. We furthermore give an explicit construction of the Petz recovery map in this case, in terms of the mean vector and covariance matrix of the state \sigma and the Gaussian specification of the channel N.
Abstract Recently, there has been focus on determining the conditions under which the data processing inequality for quantum relative entropy is satisfied with approximate equality. The solution of the exact equality case is due to Petz, who showed that the quantum relative entropy between two quantum states stays the same after the action of a quantum channel if and only if there is a reversal channel that recovers the original states after the channel acts. Furthermore, this reversal channel can be constructed explicitly and is now called the Petz recovery map . Recent developments have shown that a variation of the Petz recovery map works well for recovery in the case of approximate equality of the data processing inequality. Our main contribution here is a proof that bosonic Gaussian states and channels possess a particular closure property, namely, that the Petz recovery map associated to a bosonic Gaussian state σ and a bosonic Gaussian channel N is itself a bosonic Gaussian channel. We furthermore give an explicit construction of the Petz recovery map in this case, in terms of the mean vector and covariance matrix of the state σ and the Gaussian specification of the channel N .