Information arises out of a communication game played between a sender and receiver of signals. For physical systems, the players may be designated as Nature and the scientist. The average information obtained from a quantum system is given by the von Neumann measurement scheme, which represents a generalization of thermodynamic entropy that is in perfect accord with common sense when considering a mixed state. While testing multiple copies of such a state can reveal information about the choice made by the sender, entropy for an unknown pure state is zero. A related puzzle is how the total information in the universe appears to be increasing over time.1 Zero entropy for an unknown pure state is reasonable inasmuch as once that state has been identified, no further information may be gained from examining its copies. But such an idea will not be reasonable if the game between sender and receiver consists of the former choosing one of a certain number of polarization states (say, for a photon) and supplying several copies to the receiver. In this case, measurements made on the copies reveal information regarding the sender’s choices. If the set of choices is infinite, the ‘information’ generated by the source is unbounded. From the point of view of the preparer of the states, information in the pure state is limited by the ‘relationship’ between source and receiver, and by the precision of the receiver’s measurement apparatus. If the sender chose a polarization state with which the apparatus was synchronized, the receiver could readily recognize the state. In recent papers,2, 3 I have been investigating information obtainable from an unknown pure state within the framework of communication between source and receiver. I propose a measure of entropy that covers both pure and mixed states. In general, entropy has two components. One is informational, related to the pure components of the quantum state, which can vary by receiver. The other component is thermodynamic and independent of the receiver. The increase of information over time is a consequence of the interplay between unitary and non-unitary evolution, which makes it possible to transform one type of information into the other. Such complementarity indicates that a fundamental duality is essential for information. For a two-component elementary mixed state, the most information to be obtained from each measurement is one bit. Each further measurement of identically prepared states will also yield one bit. For an unknown pure state, information represents the choice made by the source from an infinity of choices related to the values of probability amplitudes with respect to the basis components of the receiver’s measurement apparatus. For a two-component pure state, each measurement also provides a maximum of one bit of information. If the source has made available an unlimited number of identically prepared states, the receiver can obtain additional information from each measurement until the probability amplitudes have been correctly estimated. Once that has occurred, unlike the case with a mixed state, no further information will be obtained from testing additional copies of this pure state. These ideas have potential application in the field of quantum computing. Estimates by the receiver can be made by adjusting the basis vectors to move closer to the unknown pure state. In the most general case, the information obtainable from such a state in repeated experiments is potentially infinite. But if the observer learns the value of the pure state, the information associated with the states vanishes. This suggests a fundamental divide between objective and subjective information. This approach is consistent with the positivist view that one cannot speak of information associated with a system except in relation to an experimental arrangement together with the protocol for measurement. The experimental arrangement is thus integral to the amount of information that can be obtained. The informational measure I have proposed resolves the puzzle of entropy increase. We can suppose that, in the begin-
Information arises out of a communication game played between a sender and receiver of signals. For physical systems, the players may be designated as Nature and the scientist. The average information obtained from a quantum system is given by the von Neumann measurement scheme, which represents a generalization of thermodynamic entropy that is in perfect accord with common sense when considering a mixed state. While testing multiple copies of such a state can reveal information about the choice made by the sender, entropy for an unknown pure state is zero. A related puzzle is how the total information in the universe appears to be increasing over time.1 Zero entropy for an unknown pure state is reasonable inasmuch as once that state has been identified, no further information may be gained from examining its copies. But such an idea will not be reasonable if the game between sender and receiver consists of the former choosing one of a certain number of polarization states (say, for a photon) and supplying several copies to the receiver. In this case, measurements made on the copies reveal information regarding the sender’s choices. If the set of choices is infinite, the ‘information’ generated by the source is unbounded. From the point of view of the preparer of the states, information in the pure state is limited by the ‘relationship’ between source and receiver, and by the precision of the receiver’s measurement apparatus. If the sender chose a polarization state with which the apparatus was synchronized, the receiver could readily recognize the state. In recent papers,2, 3 I have been investigating information obtainable from an unknown pure state within the framework of communication between source and receiver. I propose a measure of entropy that covers both pure and mixed states. In general, entropy has two components. One is informational, related to the pure components of the quantum state, which can vary by receiver. The other component is thermodynamic and independent of the receiver. The increase of information over time is a consequence of the interplay between unitary and non-unitary evolution, which makes it possible to transform one type of information into the other. Such complementarity indicates that a fundamental duality is essential for information. For a two-component elementary mixed state, the most information to be obtained from each measurement is one bit. Each further measurement of identically prepared states will also yield one bit. For an unknown pure state, information represents the choice made by the source from an infinity of choices related to the values of probability amplitudes with respect to the basis components of the receiver’s measurement apparatus. For a two-component pure state, each measurement also provides a maximum of one bit of information. If the source has made available an unlimited number of identically prepared states, the receiver can obtain additional information from each measurement until the probability amplitudes have been correctly estimated. Once that has occurred, unlike the case with a mixed state, no further information will be obtained from testing additional copies of this pure state. These ideas have potential application in the field of quantum computing. Estimates by the receiver can be made by adjusting the basis vectors to move closer to the unknown pure state. In the most general case, the information obtainable from such a state in repeated experiments is potentially infinite. But if the observer learns the value of the pure state, the information associated with the states vanishes. This suggests a fundamental divide between objective and subjective information. This approach is consistent with the positivist view that one cannot speak of information associated with a system except in relation to an experimental arrangement together with the protocol for measurement. The experimental arrangement is thus integral to the amount of information that can be obtained. The informational measure I have proposed resolves the puzzle of entropy increase. We can suppose that, in the begin-
Information, in its communications sense, is a transactional property. If the received signals communicate choices made by the sender of the signals, then information has been transmitter by the sender to the receiver. Given this reality, the potential information in an unknown pure quantum state should be non-zero. We examine transactional quantum information, which unlike von Neumann entropy, depends on the mutuality of the relationship between the sender and the receiver, associating information with an unknown pure state. The information that can be obtained from a pure state in repeated experiments is potentially infinite.
The astute reader might have formed the impression that quantum in formation science is a rather qualitative discipline because we have not, as yet, explained how to quantify quantum information. There are three good reasons for leaving this important question until the final chapter. Firstly, quantum information theory is technically demanding and to treat it at an earlier stage might have suggested that our subject was more complicated than it is. Secondly, there is the fact that many of the ideas in the field, such as teleportation and quantum circuits, are unfamiliar and it was important to present these as simply as possible. Finally, and most importantly, the theory of quantum information is not yet fully developed. It has not yet reached, in particular, the level of completeness of its classical counterpart. For this reason we can answer only some of the many questions we would like a quantum theory of information to address. Having said this, we can say that however, there are beautiful and useful mathematical results and it seems certain that these will continue to form an important part of the theory as it develops. We noted in the introduction to Chapter 1 that ‘quantum mechanics is a probabilistic theory and so it was inevitable that a quantum information theory would be developed’. A presentation of at least the beginnings of a quantitative theory is the objective of this final chapter. The entropy or information derived from a given probability distribution is, as we have seen, a convenient measure of the uncertainty associated with the distribution. If many of the probabilities are large, so that many of the possible events are comparably likely, then the entropy will be large. If one probability is close to unity, however, then the entropy will be small. It is convenient to introduce entropy in quantum mechanics as a measure of the uncertainty, or lack of knowledge, of the form of the state vector. If we know that our system is in a particular pure state then the associated uncertainty or entropy should be zero. For mixed states, however, it will take a non-zero value.
Consider a source of pure quantum states with density matrix ρ and von Neumann entropy S . It is known that the quantum information of the source may be faithfully compressed to 5 qubits/signal (asymptotically for long sequences) and that this limit is optimal if we demand high fidelity for long strings of signals. The usual method for achieving this compression, based on the typical subspace of the source, requires knowledge of the density matrix. We describe a new “universal” compression scheme which does not even require knowledge of ρ. More precisely, suppose that the source is known to have von Neumann entropy less than some given bound S 0 but is otherwise completely unspecified. Our method will faithfully compress the quantum information of any such source to S 0 qubits/signal. It is known that S is always less than or equal to the Shannon entropy H of the prior distribution of the source. According to Shannon’s theorem, H provides the limit for compression of classical signals, so one may ask the question: what is the physical origin of the extra compression available in the quantum case compared to the classical case (where the prior probabilities are the same)? One may suggest that this effect is a consequence of possible non-orthogonality of signal states. However we demonstrate that it is possible to make each pair of signal states of a source more parallel (keeping the prior probabilities the same) while increasing the von Neumann entropy. This casts doubt on the conventional wisdom that overlap of quantum states is a measure of their (non-)distinguishability. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This work is an application of game theory to quantum information. In a state estimate, we are given observations distributed according to an unknown distribution Pθ (associated with award Q), which Nature chooses at random from the set {Pθ:θ∈Θ} according to a known prior distribution μ on Θ, we produce an estimate M for the unknown distribution Pθ, and in the end, we will suffer a relative entropy cost R(P;M), measuring the quality of this estimate, therefore the whole utility is taken as P⋅Q−R(P;M). In an introduction to strategic game, a sufficient condition for minimax theorem is obtained; An estimate is explored in the frame of game theory, and in the view of convex conjugate, we reach one new approach to quantum relative entropy, correspondingly quantum mutual entropy, and quantum channel capacity, which are more general, in the sense, without Radon-Nikodym (RN) derivatives. Also the monotonicity of quantum relative entropy and the additivity of quantum channel capacity are investigated.
Abstract The fundamentals of the theory of density matrices are reviewed. The density matrix is introduced first in terms of state vectors for pure states over which a probability distribution is given. It is then shown that the applications of the density matrix do not require knowledge of the particular probability distribution over pure states that may have been used for its original determination. It is stressed that density matrices, like state vectors, describe ensembles rather than single systems, as determinism in quantum theory (except for some conservation laws) is of a statistical character only. The entropy of a quantum‐mechanical system is defined as the average per system of the entropy of an ensemble of systems described by the quantum‐mechanical (pure or mixed) state. For pure states this entropy is zero, in agreement with the fact that state vectors constitute the maximal information that can be given about a quantum‐mechanical system. As the entropy should be independent of the particular probability distribution over pure states that may have been used to form the mixed state, it is calculated from statistical considerations about an imaginary ensemble in which the eigenvalues of the density matrix are probabilities over pure states given by the eigenfunctions of the density matrix. The entropy is calculated for a mixture of two nonorthogonal states. The time evolution of the density matrix, in general, is not a unitary transformation, as observable systems are not closed and therefore in the Hamiltonian contain unknown external parameters that are not the same for the entire mixture. Therefore transitions between pure states and mixed states take place. Those from pure to mixed states take place spontaneously and irreversibly under increase of entropy. Transitions from mixed states to pure states can be fabricated; an example is given. As Wigner's thought experiment of mixing coherently the two beams from a Stern‐Gerlach apparatus according to estimates of Bohm should be impossible by loss of coherence in the gradient magnetic field, it is indicated how Wigner's ideas may be realized by using, instead, polarized light beams from birefringent crystals. After a brief review of the quantum theory of measurements and the various arguments usually given for the reducibility of state after the measurement, Wigner's argument against blind use of these arguments is interpreted as a limit of validity of the familiar probability rule of quantum theory, which should not be applied after an unsuccessful measurement. By splitting light beams coherently by glass plates, one can by the same apparatus have measurements both of the relative intensities of two coherent beams, and of interference effects between the two beams. This shows that complementarity applies to the individual systems in the beam, as they reach the glass plate where a choice must be made between two complementary possibilities of future measurement. Finally, by describing Schrödinger's cat by a density matrix and asking about its time dependence, it is shown that, if it were possible to measure the interference effects between living and dead cats used by some people as a justification for writing down a state vector for the cat, then this measurement could be used to revive some dead cats.
In this chapter, we discuss several information measures that are important for quantifying the amount of information and correlations that are present in quantum systems. The first fundamental measure that we introduce is the von Neumann entropy (or simply quantum entropy ). It is the quantum generalization of the Shannon entropy, but it captures both classical and quantum uncertainty in a quantum state.1 The quantum entropy gives meaning to the notion of an information qubit . This notion is different from that of the physical qubit, which is the description of a quantum state of an electron or a photon. The information qubit is the fundamental quantum informational unit of measure, determining how much quantum information is present in a quantum system. The initial definitions here are analogous to the classical definitions of entropy, but we soon discover a radical departure from the intuitive classical notions from the previous chapter: the conditional quantum entropy can be negative for certain quantum states. In the classical world, this negativity simply does not occur, but it takes on a special meaning in quantum information theory. Pure quantum states that are entangled have stronger-than-classical correlations and are examples of states that have negative conditional entropy. The negative of the conditional quantum entropy is so important in quantum information theory that we even have a special name for it: the coherent information. We discover that the coherent information obeys a quantum data-processing inequality, placing it on a firm footing as a particular informational measure of quantum correlations. We then define several other quantum information measures, such as quantum mutual information, that bear similar definitions as in the classical world, but with Shannon entropies replaced with quantum entropies. This replacement may seem to make quantum entropy somewhat trivial on the surface, but a simple calculation reveals that a maximally entangled state on two qubits registers two bits of quantum mutual information (recall that the largest the mutual information can be in the classical world is one bit for the case of two maximally correlated bits). We then discuss several entropy inequalities that play an important role in quantum information processing: the monotonicity of quantum relative entropy, strong subadditivity, the quantum data-processing inequalities, and continuity of quantum entropy.