The search for a simple description of fundamental physical processes is an important part of quantum theory. One example for such an abstraction can be found in the distance lab paradigm: if two separated parties are connected via a classical channel, it is notoriously difficult to characterize all possible operations these parties can perform. This class of operations is widely known as local operations and classical communication (LOCC). Surprisingly, the situation becomes comparably simple if the more general class of separable operations is considered, a finding which has been extensively used in quantum information theory for many years. Here, we propose a related approach for the resource theory of quantum coherence, where two distant parties can only perform measurements which do not create coherence and can communicate their outcomes via a classical channel. We call this class local incoherent operations and classical communication (LICC). While the characterization of this class is also difficult in general, we show that the larger class of separable incoherent operations (SI) has a simple mathematical form, yet still preserving the main features of LICC. We apply these results to the task of assisted coherence distillation, where the aim is to locally extract maximally coherent states. For all pure states and certain mixed states we observe a collapse of all classes: the distillation rate is always the same. It remains open if the distillation rate can be different for general mixed states, and if the intersection of LOCC and SI is equivalent to LICC. We also introduce the task of incoherent teleportation and show that perfect incoherent teleportation of one qubit is possible with one singlet and two bits of classical communication. The approach presented here opens new ways to study the resource theory of coherence in distributed scenarios.
The search for a simple description of fundamental physical processes is an important part of quantum theory. One example for such an abstraction can be found in the distance lab paradigm: if two separated parties are connected via a classical channel, it is notoriously difficult to characterize all possible operations these parties can perform. This class of operations is widely known as local operations and classical communication (LOCC). Surprisingly, the situation becomes comparably simple if the more general class of separable operations is considered, a finding which has been extensively used in quantum information theory for many years. Here, we propose a related approach for the resource theory of quantum coherence, where two distant parties can only perform measurements which do not create coherence and can communicate their outcomes via a classical channel. We call this class local incoherent operations and classical communication (LICC). While the characterization of this class is also difficult in general, we show that the larger class of separable incoherent operations (SI) has a simple mathematical form, yet still preserving the main features of LICC. We apply these results to the task of assisted coherence distillation, where the aim is to locally extract maximally coherent states. For all pure states and certain mixed states we observe a collapse of all classes: the distillation rate is always the same. It remains open if the distillation rate can be different for general mixed states, and if the intersection of LOCC and SI is equivalent to LICC. We also introduce the task of incoherent teleportation and show that perfect incoherent teleportation of one qubit is possible with one singlet and two bits of classical communication. The approach presented here opens new ways to study the resource theory of coherence in distributed scenarios.
Quantum resource theory under different classes of quantum operations advances multiperspective understandings of inherent quantum-mechanical properties, such as quantum coherence and quantum entanglement. We establish hierarchies of different operations for manipulating coherence and entanglement in distributed settings, where at least one of the two spatially separated parties are restricted from generating coherence. In these settings, we introduce new classes of operations and also characterize those maximal, i.e. , the resource-non-generating operations, progressing beyond existing studies on incoherent versions of local operations and classical communication and those of separable operations. The maximal operations admit a semidefinite-programming formulation useful for numerical algorithms, whereas the existing operations not. To establish the hierarchies, we prove a sequence of inclusion relations among the operations by clarifying tasks where separation of the operations appears. We also demonstrate an asymptotically non-surviving separation of the operations in the hierarchy in terms of performance of the task of assisted coherence distillation, where a separation in a one-shot scenario vanishes in the asymptotic limit. Our results serve as fundamental analytical and numerical tools to investigate interplay between coherence and entanglement under different operations in the resource theory.
Quantum coherence has received significant attention in recent years, but the structure of multipartite coherent states is unclear. In this paper, we generalize important results in multipartite entanglement theory to their counterparts in quantum coherence theory. First, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for when two pure multipartite states are equivalent under local incoherent operations assisted by classical communications (LICC), i.e., two states can be deterministically transformed to each other under LICC operations. Next, we investigate and give the conditions in which such a transformation succeeds only stochastically. Different from the entanglement case for two-qubit states, we find that the stochastic LICC (sLICC) equivalence classes are infinite. Moreover, it is possible that there are some classes of states in multipartite entanglement that can convert into each other, whereas they cannot convert into each other in multipartite coherence. In order to show the difference among sLICC classes, we introduce two coherence monotones: accessible coherence and source coherence, following the logistics given in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 150502 (2015)]. These coherence monotones have a straightforward operational interpretation, namely, the accessible coherence characterizes the proficiency of a state to generate other states via quantum incoherent operations, whereas the source coherence characterizes the set of states that can be reached via quantum incoherent operations acting on the given state of interest.
In the task of assisted coherence distillation via the set of operations X, where X is either local incoherent operations and classical communication (LICC), local quantum-incoherent operations and classical communication (LQICC), separable incoherent operations (SI), or separable quantum incoherent operations (SQI), two parties, namely Alice and Bob, share many copies of a bipartite joint state. The aim of the process is to generate the maximal possible coherence on the subsystem of Bob. In this paper, we investigate the assisted coherence distillation of some special mixed states, the states with vanished basis-dependent discord and Werner states. We show that all the four sets of operations are equivalent for assisted coherence distillation, whenever Alice and Bob share one of those mixed quantum states. Moreover, we prove that the assisted coherence distillation of the former can reach the upper bound, namely QI relative entropy, while that of the latter can not. Meanwhile, we also present a sufficient condition such that the assistance of Alice via the set of operations X can not help Bob improve his distillable coherence, and this condition is that the state shared by Alice and Bob has vanished basis-dependent discord.
Quantum coherence and quantum entanglement represent two fundamental features of nonclassical systems that can each be characterized within an operational resource theory. In this Letter, we unify the resource theories of entanglement and coherence by studying their combined behavior in the operational setting of local incoherent operations and classical communication (LIOCC). Specifically, we analyze the coherence and entanglement trade-offs in the tasks of state formation and resource distillation. For pure states we identify the minimum coherence-entanglement resources needed to generate a given state, and we introduce a new LIOCC monotone that completely characterizes a state's optimal rate of bipartite coherence distillation. This result allows us to precisely quantify the difference in operational powers between global incoherent operations, LIOCC, and local incoherent operations without classical communication. Finally, a bipartite mixed state is shown to have distillable entanglement if and only if entanglement can be distilled by LIOCC, and we strengthen the well-known Horodecki criterion for distillability.
In this thesis we study the subset of quantum operations that can be implemented using only local quantum operations and classical communication (LOCC). This restricted paradigm serves as a tool to study not only quantum correlations and other nonlocal quantum effects, but also resource transformations such as channel capacities. \n \nThe mathematical structure of LOCC is complex and difficult to characterize. In the first part of this thesis we provide a precise description of LOCC and related operational classes in terms of quantum instruments. Our formalism captures both finite round protocols as well as those that utilize an unbounded number of communication rounds. This perspective allows us to measure the distance between two LOCC instruments and hence discuss the closure of LOCC in a rigorous way. While the set of LOCC is not topologically closed, we show that the operations that can be implemented using some fixed number rounds of communication constitute a compact subset of all quantum operations. We also exhibit a subset of LOCC measurements that is closed. Additionally we establish the existence of an open ball around the completely depolarizing map consisting entirely of LOCC implementable maps. \n \nIn the second part of this thesis we focus on the task of discriminating states from some known set S by LOCC. Building on the work in the paper "Quantum nonlocality without entanglement", we provide a framework for lower bounding the error probability of any LOCC protocol aiming at discriminating the states from S. We apply our framework to an orthonormal product basis known as the domino states. This gives an alternative and simplified bound quantifying how well these states can be discriminated using LOCC. We generalize this result for similar bases in larger dimensions, as well as the "rotated" domino states, resolving a long-standing open question. These results give new examples of quantitative gaps between the classes of separable and LOCC operations. \n \nIn the last part of this thesis, we ask what differentiates separable from LOCC operations. Both of these classes play a key role in the study of entanglement. Separable operations are known to be strictly more powerful than LOCC ones, but no simple explanation of this phenomenon is known. We show that, in the case of bipartite von Neumann measurements, the ability to interpolate is an operational principle that separates LOCC and separable operations.
Quantum nonlocality admits several operational manifestations, one of which emerges from sets of orthogonal quantum states that cannot be perfectly distinguished by local operations and classical communication (LOCC). Such sets are regarded as nonlocal because their perfect discrimination requires global measurements. In contrast, sets that are perfectly distinguishable by LOCC are generally considered locally accessible and operationally classical. In this work, we investigate the role of incompletability in local state discrimination and introduce the notion of \emph{activation of incompletability}. Specifically, we demonstrate the existence of orthogonal sets that are initially perfectly distinguishable by LOCC and free from local redundancy, but which can be transformed via LOCC into strictly incompletable sets. We prove that activation of incompletability necessarily implies activation of nonlocality, whereas the converse fails in general, thereby establishing a hierarchy between the two activation phenomena. Furthermore, within the framework of local incoherent operations and classical communication (LICC), we show that any set whose incompletability can be activated can nevertheless be extended to a complete orthonormal basis of the Hilbert space, although the resulting completed basis is no longer perfectly distinguishable by LOCC. Our results uncover a fundamental interplay among local distinguishability, incompletability, coherence, and nonlocality, and provide new insight into the structure of locally accessible quantum information.