Quantum theory predicts an inherent joint unpredictability for some pairs of measurements. For example, Heisenberg showed that the more precisely the position of a quantum particle is known, the less precisely its momentum can be known and vice versa. Uncertainty relations (URs) are mathematical expressions quantifying the constraints between the output probability distributions of the given sets of measurements. Typically, URs are expressed in terms of uncertainty quantifiers such as entropies. Based on an information-theoretic approach, we discovered a characterization that unifies all uncertainty quantifiers and thus, generalizes a large class of URs into a single framework. We also prove new URs that are fundamentally different from typical URs in that they are fine-grained; i.e. they set restrictions directly on the output probability distributions without using any particular uncertainty quantifiers. We used Majorization theory and other techniques such as matrix analysis to prove our fine-grained uncertainty relations.
Quantum theory predicts an inherent joint unpredictability for some pairs of measurements. For example, Heisenberg showed that the more precisely the position of a quantum particle is known, the less precisely its momentum can be known and vice versa. Uncertainty relations (URs) are mathematical expressions quantifying the constraints between the output probability distributions of the given sets of measurements. Typically, URs are expressed in terms of uncertainty quantifiers such as entropies. Based on an information-theoretic approach, we discovered a characterization that unifies all uncertainty quantifiers and thus, generalizes a large class of URs into a single framework. We also prove new URs that are fundamentally different from typical URs in that they are fine-grained; i.e. they set restrictions directly on the output probability distributions without using any particular uncertainty quantifiers. We used Majorization theory and other techniques such as matrix analysis to prove our fine-grained uncertainty relations.
Uncertainty relations are a distinctive characteristic of quantum theory that impose intrinsic limitations on the precision with which physical properties can be simultaneously determined. The modern work on uncertainty relations employs entropic measures to quantify the lack of knowledge associated with measuring noncommuting observables. However, there is no fundamental reason for using entropies as quantifiers; any functional relation that characterizes the uncertainty of the measurement outcomes defines an uncertainty relation. Starting from a very reasonable assumption of invariance under mere relabeling of the measurement outcomes, we show that Schur-concave functions are the most general uncertainty quantifiers. We then discover a fine-grained uncertainty relation that is given in terms of the majorization order between two probability vectors, significantly extending a majorization-based uncertainty relation first introduced in M. H. Partovi, Phys. Rev. A 84, 052117 (2011). Such a vector-type uncertainty relation generates an infinite family of distinct scalar uncertainty relations via the application of arbitrary uncertainty quantifiers. Our relation is therefore universal and captures the essence of uncertainty in quantum theory.
The uncertainty principle is one of the features of quantum theory. Fine-grained uncertainty relations (FGURs) are a contemporary interpretation of this principle. Each FGUR is derived from a scenario where multiple measurements of a quantum state are stochastically performed. While state measurements are fundamental, measuring quantum processes, namely, completely positive and trace preserving maps, is also crucial both theoretically and practically. These measurements are mathematically characterized by quantum testers. In this study, we develop FGURs in terms of quantum testers. Because state preparation is a type of quantum process, our framework encompasses the conventional case as a special instance. The generalized FGURs' bounds are typically challenging to compute. Thus, we also provide estimates for these bounds. Specifically, we explore quantum testers involving maximally entangled states in detail. Consequently, some FGURs for quantum testers are derived as explicit forms for specific settings.
Abstract Nonlocality, which is the key feature of quantum theory, has been linked with the uncertainty principle by fine-grained uncertainty relations, by considering combinations of outcomes for different measurements. However, this approach assumes that information about the system to be fine-grained is local, and does not present an explicitly computable bound. Here, we generalize above approach to general quasi-fine-grained uncertainty relations (QFGURs) which applies in the presence of quantum memory and provides conspicuously computable bounds to quantitatively link the uncertainty to entanglement and Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) steering, respectively. Moreover, our QFGURs provide a framework to unify three important forms of uncertainty relations, i.e., universal uncertainty relations, the uncertainty principle in the presence of quantum memory, and fine-grained uncertainty relation. This result gives a direct significance to uncertainty principle, and allows us to determine whether a quantum measurement exhibits typical quantum correlations, meanwhile, it reveals a fundamental connection between basic elements of quantum theory, specifically, uncertainty measures, combined outcomes for different measurements, quantum memory, entanglement and EPR steering.
Historically, the element of uncertainty in quantum mechanics has been expressed through mathematical identities called uncertainty relations, a great many of which continue to be discovered. These relations use diverse measures to quantify uncertainty (and joint uncertainty). In this paper we use operational information-theoretic principles to identify the common essence of all such measures, thereby defining measure-independent notions of uncertainty and joint uncertainty. We find that most existing entropic uncertainty relations use measures of joint uncertainty that yield themselves to a small class of operational interpretations. Our notion relaxes this restriction, revealing previously unexplored joint uncertainty measures. To illustrate the utility of our formalism, we derive an uncertainty relation based on one such new measure. We also use our formalism to gain insight into the conditions under which measure-independent uncertainty relations can be found.
Quantum nonlocality and the uncertainty principle are two fundamental cornerstones of quantum theory, reflecting totally different aspects that distinguish it from classical theory. However, Oppenheim and Wehner introduced fine-grained uncertainty relations (FGURs) to account for the degree of quantum nonlocality. In the simplest Bell scenario, they showed that the quantum nonlocality measured by the maximal violation of some Bell inequality was determined by the FGUR. Along this line of research, we first derive explicit FGURs with general weights about probability distributions of two general projective measurements on local systems. Then we split those joint probabilities of Bell inequalities into a single-party conditional probability and the remaining joint probabilities so that the weighted FGURs can be applied straightforwardly to obtain the maximal violation in various scenarios ranging from bipartite, tripartite, to a complete set of multipartite Bell inequalities. Furthermore, in the bipartite scenario, the exact correlation boundary can be shown to be solely determined by our weighted local FGURs.
Uncertainty principle, which was first introduced by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, forms a fundamental component of quantum mechanics. A graceful aspect of quantum mechanics is that the uncertainty relations between incompatible observables allow for succinct quan- titative formulations of this revolutionary idea: it is impossible to simultaneously measure two complementary variables of a particle in precision. In particular, information theory offers two basic ways to express the Heisenberg’s principle: variance-based uncertainty relations and entropic uncertainty relations. We first investigate the uncertainty relations based on the sum of variances and derive a family of weighted uncertainty relations to provide an optimal lower bound for all situations. Our work indicates that it seems unreasonable to assume a priori that incompatible observables have equal contribution to the variance-based sum form uncertainty relations. We also study the role of mutually exclusive physical states in the recent work and generalize the variance-based uncertainty relations to mutually exclusive uncertainty relations. Next, we develop a new kind of entanglement detection criteria within the framework of marjorization theory and its matrix representation. By virtue of majorization uncertainty bounds, we are able to construct the entanglement criteria which have advantage over the scalar detect- ing algorithms as they are often stronger and tighter. Furthermore, we explore various expression of entropic uncertainty relations, including sum of Shannon entropies, majorization uncer- tainty relations and uncertainty relations in presence of quantum memory. For entropic uncertainty relations without quantum side information, we provide several tighter bounds for multi-measurements, with some of them also valid for Rényi and Tsallis entropies besides the Shannon entropy. We employ majorization theory and actions of the symmetric group to obtain an admixture bound for entropic uncertainty relations with multi-measurements. Comparisons among existing bounds for multi-measurements are also given. However,classical entropic uncertainty relations assume there has only classical side information. For modern uncertainty relations, those who allowed for non-trivial amount of quantum side information, their bounds have been strengthened by our recent result for both two and multi- measurements. Finally, we propose an approach which can extend all uncertainty relations on Shannon entropies to allow for quantum side information and discuss the applications of our entropic framework. Combined with our uniform entanglement frames, it is possible to detect entanglement via entropic uncertainty relations even if there is no quantum side in- formation. With the rising of quantum information theory, uncertainty relations have been established as important tools for a wide range of applications, such as quantum cryptography, quantum key distribution, entanglement detection, quantum metrology, quantum speed limit and so on. It is thus necessary to focus on the study of uncertainty relations.