On Measurable Distinctions between Quantum Ensembles

Michele Dall'Arno, Francesco Buscemi

The accessible information and the informational power quantify the maximum amount of information that can be extracted from a quantum ensemble and by a quantum measurement, respectively. Here, we investigate the tradeoff between the accessible information (informational power, respectively) and the purity of the states of the ensemble (the elements of the measurement, respectively). Under any given lower bound on the purity, 1) we compute the minimum informational power and show that it is attained by the depolarized uniformly-distributed measurement; and 2) we give a lower bound on the accessible information. Under any given upper bound on the purity, 1) we compute the maximum accessible information and show that it is attained by an ensemble of pairwise commuting states with at most two distinct non-null eigenvalues; and 2) we give a lower bound on the maximum informational power. The present results provide, as a corollary, novel sufficient conditions for the tightness of the Jozsa-Robb-Wootters lower bound to the accessible information.

Shunlong Luo, Nan Li, Shuangshuang Fu

Alvin J. K. Chua, Michael J. W. Hall, Craig M. Savage

We apply Hall and Reginatto's theory of interacting classical and quantum ensembles to harmonically coupled particles, with a view to understanding its experimental implications. This hybrid theory has no free parameters and makes distinctive predictions that should allow it to be experimentally distinguished from quantum mechanics. It also bears on the questions of quantum measurement and quantum gravity.

Lev B. Levitin, Tom Toffoli, Zac Walton

Haitao Huang, Qinglin Zhao, Xiaoyu Li

Different measurements of the same environment can preserve the average quantum channel yet change the feedback strength needed to prepare a state ensemble. We establish this distinction for a multiqubit register under complete Pauli monitoring, targeting the uniform ensemble of real-amplitude pure states. With unit detection efficiency, public records, and bounded Hamiltonian feedback, fixed transverse noise requires a minimum peak strength proportional to $ε^{-1}$ at distributional error $ε$. Tangent noise instead admits a construction requiring only $O[\sqrt{\log(1/ε)}]$. At fixed preparation time, we determine the optimum over all allowed feedback policies and derive a geometric lower bound beyond radial symmetry. The separation identifies the measurement realization as part of the control-resource specification for monitored ensemble preparation.