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Adjusted Subadditivity of Relative Entropy for Non-commuting Conditional Expectations

Nicholas D. LaRacuente

Published Dec 2, 2019• 1 citation
OpenAlex

Abstract

If a set of von Neumann subalgebras has a trivial intersection in finite dimension, then the sum of relative entropies of a given density to its projection in each such algebra is larger than a multiple of its relative entropy to its projection in the trivial intersection. This results in a subadditivity of relative entropy with a dimension and algebra-dependent, multiplicative constant. As a primary application, this inequality lets us derive relative entropy decay estimates in the form of modified logarithmic-Sobolev inequalities for complicated quantum Markov semigroups from those of simpler constituents.

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If a set of von Neumann subalgebras has a trivial intersection in finite dimension, then the sum of relative entropies of a given density to its projection in each such algebra is larger than a multiple of its relative entropy to its projection in the trivial intersection. This results in a subadditivity of relative entropy with a dimension and algebra-dependent, multiplicative constant. As a primary application, this inequality lets us derive relative entropy decay estimates in the form of modified logarithmic-Sobolev inequalities for complicated quantum Markov semigroups from those of simpler constituents.
Abstract In this paper, we derive a new generalisation of the strong subadditivity of the entropy to the setting of general conditional expectations onto arbitrary finite-dimensional von Neumann algebras. This generalisation, referred to as approximate tensorization of the relative entropy, consists in a lower bound for the sum of relative entropies between a given density and its respective projections onto two intersecting von Neumann algebras in terms of the relative entropy between the same density and its projection onto an algebra in the intersection, up to multiplicative and additive constants. In particular, our inequality reduces to the so-called quasi-factorization of the entropy for commuting algebras, which is a key step in modern proofs of the logarithmic Sobolev inequality for classical lattice spin systems. We also provide estimates on the constants in terms of conditions of clustering of correlations in the setting of quantum lattice spin systems. Along the way, we show the equivalence between conditional expectations arising from Petz recovery maps and those of general Davies semigroups.
We propose a conceptually simple method for proving various entropic inequalities by means of spectral estimates. Our approach relies on a two-sided estimate of the relative entropy between two quantum states in terms of certain variance-type quantities. As an application of this estimate, we answer three important problems in quantum information theory and dissipative quantum systems that were left open until now: first, we prove the existence of strictly contractive constants for the strong data processing inequality for quantum channels that satisfy a notion of detailed balance. Second, we prove the existence of the complete modified logarithmic Sobolev constant which controls the exponential entropic convergence of a quantum Markov semigroup towards its equilibrium. Third, we prove a new generalization of the strong subadditivity of the entropy for the relative entropy distance to a von Neumann algebra under a specific gap condition. All the three results obtained are independent of the size of the environment.
Purely multiplicative comparisons of quantum relative entropy are desirable but challenging to prove. We show such comparisons for relative entropies between comparable densities, including the relative entropy of a density with respect to its subalgebraic restriction. These inequalities are asymptotically tight in approaching known, tight inequalities as perturbation size approaches zero. Based on these results, we obtain a kind of inequality known as quasi-factorization or approximate tensorization of relative entropy. Quasi-factorization lower bounds the sum of a density's relative entropies to several subalgebraic restrictions in terms of its relative entropy to their intersection's subalgebraic restriction. As applications, quasi-factorization implies uncertainty-like relations, and with an iteration trick, it yields decay estimates of optimal asymptotic order on mixing processes described by finite, connected, undirected graphs.
Historically at the core of thermodynamics and information theory, entropy's use in quantum information extends to diverse topics including high-energy physics and operator algebras. Entropy can gauge the extent to which a quantum system departs from classicality, including by measuring entanglement and coherence, and in the form of entropic uncertainty relations between incompatible measurements. The theme of this dissertation is the quantum nature of entropy, and how exposure to a noisy environment limits and degrades non-classical features. An especially useful and general form of entropy is the quantum relative entropy, of which special cases include the von Neumann and Shannon entropies, coherent and mutual information, and a broad range of resource-theoretic measures. We use mathematical results on relative entropy to connect and unify features that distinguish quantum from classical information. We present generalizations of the strong subadditivity inequality and uncertainty-like entropy inequalities to subalgebras of operators on quantum systems for which usual independence assumptions fail. We construct new measures of non-classicality that simultaneously quantify entanglement and uncertainty, leading to a new resource theory of operations under which these forms of non-classicalty become interchangeable. Physically, our results deepen our understanding of how quantum entanglement relates to quantum uncertainty. We show how properties of entanglement limit the advantages of quantum superadditivity for information transmission through channels with high but detectable loss. Our method, based on the monogamy and faithfulness of the squashed entanglement, suggests a broader paradigm for bounding non-classical effects in lossy processes. We also propose an experiment to demonstrate superadditivity. Finally, we estimate decay rates in the form of modified logarithmic Sobolev inequalities for a variety of quantum channels, and in many cases we obtain the stronger, tensor-stable form known as a complete logarithmic Sobolev inequality. We compare these with our earlier results that bound relative entropy of the outputs of a particular class of quantum channels.
We introduce the notion of the BKM coercivity constant and show that the positivity of this constant governs the exponential relative entropy decay of the semigroup. Indeed, we prove that the modified log-Sobolev constant is equivalent to the BKM coercivity constant up to a constant depending on the asymptotic conditional expectation. We also discover that the BKM coercivity constants for matrix amplifications are already attained with a qubit auxiliary system, which also coincides with the GNS spectral gap of the generating Lindbladian. As a corollary, we establish a criterion that the complete modified log-Sobolev inequality holds if and only if the GNS gap of the semigroup is strictly positive. All the discussion above applies to quantum Markov semigroups that admit a faithful asymptotic conditional expectation as long-time equilibration, with no detailed balance condition assumed. As an application, we show the finite-dimensional Chen-Kastoryano-Gilyén Gibbs samplers always satisfy the complete modified log-Sobolev inequality.