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Geometric Models for Quantum Statistical Inference

Dorje C. Brody, Lane P. Hughston

Published Apr 30, 1998• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Our purpose here is to draw attention to an interesting relationship that can be shown to hold between (a) information geometry, and (b) quantum geometry. By ‘information geometry’, we mean the natural geometry associated with families of probability distributions. This is a subject that goes back more than half a century to the pioneering work of Rao (1945), who showed that the Fisher information matrix associated with a parametrised family of probability dis tributions gives rise to a natural Riemannian metric on the parameter space. This then allows one to speak in a precise way of the ‘distance’ between two probability distributions, an idea that turns out to be useful in problems of statistical inference. An extensive literature has thus developed, following this line of enquiry, on applications of differential geometry to statistics (see, e.g., Amari (1985), Barndorff-Nielsen et al. (1986), Murray and Rice (1993)). By ‘quantum geometry’, on the other hand, we mean the geometry of the manifold of states associated with a given quantum mechanical system. In particular, we consider the manifold of ‘pure’ states associated with a given complex Hilbert space. This is the space of ‘rays’ through the origin in the Hilbert space, which has the structure of a complex projective space. It is known that the usual rules of quantum mechanics allow one to construct a natural metric on this space, namely the Fubini-Study metric, the specification of which is equivalent to all the familiar structure associated with ordinary quantum mechanics.

DOI
10.1093/oso/9780198500599.003.0018

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Abstract Our purpose here is to draw attention to an interesting relationship that can be shown to hold between (a) information geometry, and (b) quantum geometry. By ‘information geometry’, we mean the natural geometry associated with families of probability distributions. This is a subject that goes back more than half a century to the pioneering work of Rao (1945), who showed that the Fisher information matrix associated with a parametrised family of probability dis tributions gives rise to a natural Riemannian metric on the parameter space. This then allows one to speak in a precise way of the ‘distance’ between two probability distributions, an idea that turns out to be useful in problems of statistical inference. An extensive literature has thus developed, following this line of enquiry, on applications of differential geometry to statistics (see, e.g., Amari (1985), Barndorff-Nielsen et al. (1986), Murray and Rice (1993)). By ‘quantum geometry’, on the other hand, we mean the geometry of the manifold of states associated with a given quantum mechanical system. In particular, we consider the manifold of ‘pure’ states associated with a given complex Hilbert space. This is the space of ‘rays’ through the origin in the Hilbert space, which has the structure of a complex projective space. It is known that the usual rules of quantum mechanics allow one to construct a natural metric on this space, namely the Fubini-Study metric, the specification of which is equivalent to all the familiar structure associated with ordinary quantum mechanics.
A statistical model M is specified by a family of probability distributions, characterised by a set of continuous parameters known as the parameter space. This possesses natural geometrical properties induced by the embedding of the family of probability distributions into the space of all square-integrable functions. More precisely, by consideration of the square-root density function we can regard M as a submanifold of the unit sphere S in a real Hilbert space H. Therefore, H effectively embodies the `state space' of the probability distributions, and the geometry of the given statistical model can be described in terms of the embedding of M in S. The geometry in question is characterised by a natural Riemannian metric (the Fisher-Rao metric), and as a consequence various aspects of classical statistical inference can be formulated in a natural geometric setting. In particular, we focus attention on the variance lower bounds for statistical estimation, and establish generalisations of the classical Cramér-Rao and Bhattacharyya bounds, described in terms of the geometry of the underlying real Hilbert space. The statistical model M can then be specialised to the case of a submanifold of the state space of a quantum mechanical system. This can be pursued by introducing a compatible complex structure on the underlying real Hilbert space, thus allowing the operations of ordinary quantum mechanics to be reinterpreted in the language of real Hilbert space geometry. The application of generalised variance bounds to quantum statistical estimation is shown to lead to higher order corrections to the Heisenberg uncertainty relations.
A statistical model M is a family of probability distributions, characterised by a set of continuous parameters known as the parameter space. This possesses natural geometrical properties induced by the embedding of the family of probability distributions into the space of all square–integrable functions. More precisely, by consideration of the square–root density function we can regard M as a submanifold of the unit sphere S in a real Hilbert space H. Therefore, H embodies the ‘state space’ of the probability distributions, and the geometry of the given statistical model can be described in terms of the embedding of M in S. The geometry in question is characterised by a natural Riemannian metric (the Fisher–Rao metric), thus allowing us to formulate the principles of classical statistical inference in a natural geometric setting. In particular, we focus attention on the variance lower bounds for statistical estimation, and establish generalisations of the classical Cramér–Rao and Bhattacharyya inequalities, described in terms of the geometry of the underlying real Hilbert space. As a comprehensive illustration of the utility of the geometric framework, the statistical model M is then specialised to the case of a submanifold of the state space of a quantum mechanical system. This is pursued by introducing a compatible complex structure on the underlying real Hilbert space, which allows the operations of ordinary quantum mechanics to be reinterpreted in the language of real Hilbert space geometry. The application of generalised variance bounds in the case of quantum statistical estimation leads to a set of higher order corrections to the Heisenberg uncertainty relations for canonically conjugate observables.
A statistical model M is a family of probability distributions, characterised by a set of continuous parameters known as the parameter space. This possesses natural geometrical properties induced by the embedding of the family of probability distributions into the space of all square–integrable functions. More precisely, by consideration of the square–root density function we can regard M as a submanifold of the unit sphere S in a real Hilbert space H. Therefore, H embodies the ‘state space’ of the probability distributions, and the geometry of the given statistical model can be described in terms of the embedding of M in S. The geometry in question is characterised by a natural Riemannian metric (the Fisher–Rao metric), thus allowing us to formulate the principles of classical statistical inference in a natural geometric setting. In particular, we focus attention on the variance lower bounds for statistical estimation, and establish generalisations of the classical Cramér–Rao and Bhattacharyya inequalities, described in terms of the geometry of the underlying real Hilbert space. As a comprehensive illustration of the utility of the geometric framework, the statistical model M is then specialised to the case of a submanifold of the state space of a quantum mechanical system. This is pursued by introducing a compatible complex structure on the underlying real Hilbert space, which allows the operations of ordinary quantum mechanics to be reinterpreted in the language of real Hilbert space geometry. The application of generalised variance bounds in the case of quantum statistical estimation leads to a set of higher order corrections to the Heisenberg uncertainty relations for canonically conjugate observables.
Introduction The aim of information geometry is to introduce a suitable geometrical structure on families of probability distributions or quantum states. For parametrised statistical models, such structure is based on two fundamental notions: the Fisher information and the exponential family with its dual mixed parametrisation, see for example (Amari 1985, Amari and Nagaoka 2000). For the non-parametric situation, the solution was given by Pistone and Sempi (Pistone and Sempi 1995, Pistone and Rogantin 1999), who introduced a Banach manifold structure on the set P of probability distributions, equivalent to a given one. For each µ ∈ ρ, the authors considered the non-parametric exponential family at µ. As it turned out, this provides a C ∞ -atlas on ρ, with the exponential Orlicz spaces Lφ(µ) as the underlying Banach spaces, here φ is the Young function of the form φ(x) = cosh(x) — 1. The present contribution deals with the case of quantum states: we want to introduce a similar manifold structure on the set of faithful normal states of a von Neumann algebra M. Since there is no suitable definition of a non-commutative Orlicz space with respect to a state φ, it is not clear how to choose the Banach space for the manifold. Of course, there is a natural Banach space structure, inherited from the predualM. But, as it was already pointed out in (Streater 2004), this structure is not suitable to define the geometry of states: for example, any neighbourhood of a state φ contains states such that the relative entropy with respect to φ is infinite.
Hilbert spaces, introduced in the early twentieth century as infinite-dimensional generalisations of Euclidean space, provide the rigorous mathematical framework for quantum mechanics and numerous applied disciplines. This paper offers a comprehensive examination of their historical development, axiomatic structure, and multifaceted applications, with particular emphasis on their foundational role in quantum mechanics. We then connect these structures to quantum information geometry, where the (projective) Hilbert space is endowed with natural Riemannian metrics—most notably the Fubini–Study metric for pure states and the Bures metric for mixed states—that quantify statistical distinguishability, parameter estimation precision, and geometric phases. By exploring classical information geometry as a precursor and highlighting quantum extensions, we illustrate how Hilbert-space geometry reveals deep insights into quantum phase transitions, metrology, and quantum technologies. Nuances such as separability, rigged Hilbert spaces for continuous spectra, and infinite-dimensional subtleties are addressed, alongside implications for machine learning via reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHS) and beyond. The analysis underscores the enduring interplay between pure mathematics and quantum physics. Mamun, SM (2026) …………………………………..1 Hilbert Spaces: Foundations, Applications, and Geometric Connections to Quantum Information Theory (Vol-I) Also available on Academia.edu: https://www.academia.edu/attachments/132277960/download_file?s=portfolio
A fundamental starting point in quantum information theory is the consideration of the von Neumann entropy and its generalization to relative quantum entropies. A particular feature of quantum relative entropies is their relation via their Hessian to monotonic Riemannian metrics on the dense set of invertible mixed quantum states (Lesniewski and Ruskai 1999). These metrics are also known as quantum Fisher information metrics and provide a direct link to quantum estimation theory (Helstrom 1969). Quantum Fisher information metrics which are extendable to pure states coincide all with the Fubini Study metric of the projective Hilbert space of complex rays. This theses outlines possible advantages of an inverse approach to quantum information theory, by starting with the Fubini Study metric rather then with the von Neumann entropy. This is done in a first step by associating to the Fubini Study metric a covariant and a contra-variant structure on the punctured Hilbert space as being available in the geometric formulation of quantum mechanics. While the contra-variant structure leads to a quantum version of the Cramér-Rao inequality for general 1-dimensional submanifolds of pure states, the covariant structure provides alternative entanglement monotones by identifying an inner product on the pullback tensor fields on local unitary group orbits of quantum states. It is shown in the case of two qubits that these monotones yield a more efficient estimation of entanglement than standard measures from the literature as those associated with the linearization of the von Neumann entropy.