© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

Terms Privacy Legal Notice

Communications in Theoretical Physics

Complementarity between quantum coherence and mixedness: a majorization approach

Yanet Álvarez, Marcelo Losada, M. Portesi, G. M. Bosyk

Published Mar 30, 2023• 2 citations

Abstract

Abstract Quantum coherence is a relevant resource for various quantum information processing tasks, but it is fragile since it is generally affected by environmental noise. This is reflected in the loss of purity of the system, which in turn limits the amount of quantum coherence of it. As a consequence, a complementarity relation between coherence and mixedness arises. Previous works characterize this complementarity through inequalities between the ℓ 1-norm of coherence and linear entropy, and between the relative entropy of coherence and von Neumann entropy. However, coherence–mixedness complementarity is expected to be a general feature of quantum systems, regardless of the measures used. Here, an alternative approach to coherence–mixedness complementarity, based on majorization theory, is proposed. Vectorial quantifiers of coherence and mixedness, namely the coherence vector and the spectrum, respectively, are used, instead of scalar measures. A majorization relation for the tensor product of both vectorial quantifiers is obtained, capturing general aspects of the trade-off between coherence and mixedness. The optimal bound for qubit systems and numerical bounds for qutrit systems are analyzed. Finally, coherence–mixedness complementarity relations are derived for a family of symmetric, concave and additive functions. These results provide a deeper insight into the relation between quantum coherence and mixedness.

DOI: 10.1088/1572-9494/acc92f

Related papers

Maximally coherent mixed states: Complementarity between maximal coherence and mixedness

Uttam Singh, Manabendra Nath Bera, Himadri Shekhar Dhar +1 more

Quantum coherence is a key element in topical research on quantum resource theories and a primary facilitator for design and implementation of quantum technologies. However, the resourcefulness of quantum coherence is severely restricted by environmental noise, which is indicated by the loss of information in a quantum system, measured in terms of its purity. In this work, we derive the limits imposed by the mixedness of a quantum system on the amount of quantum coherence that it can possess. We obtain an analytical trade-off between the two quantities that upperbound the maximum quantum coherence for fixed mixedness in a system. This gives rise to a class of quantum states, ``maximally coherent mixed states,'' whose coherence cannot be increased further under any purity-preserving operation. For the above class of states, quantum coherence and mixedness satisfy a complementarity relation, which is crucial to understand the interplay between a resource and noise in open quantum systems.

arXiv:1503.06303•Physical Review A•May 22, 2015•148 citations

Coherence-mixedness trade-offs

Qinghua Zhang, Shao-Ming Fei

Abstract Quantum coherence constitutes a foundational characteristic of quantum mechanics and is integral to emerging quantum resource theories. However, quantum coherence is severely restricted by environmental noise in general quantum processing, indicated by the loss of information of a quantum system. Such processing can be described by the trade-offs between the coherence and the mixedness. Based on the l 2 norm coherence, conditional von Neumann entropy and Wigner–Yanase skew information, we derive basis-independent constraints on the attainable quantum coherence imposed by the mixedness of a quantum state, which generalize the prior basis-dependent relations, provide fundamental insights into the latent coherence resources present within arbitrary quantum systems that undergo decoherence and quantify the inherent limits on extractable coherence imposed by environmental noise.

arXiv:2405.14337•Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical•May 13, 2024•8 citations

Complementarity relations for quantum coherence

Shuming Cheng, Michael J. W. Hall

Various measures have been suggested recently for quantifying the coherence of a quantum state with respect to a given basis. We first use two of these, the ${l}_{1}$-norm and relative entropy measures, to investigate tradeoffs between the coherences of mutually unbiased bases. Results include relations between coherence, uncertainty, and purity; tight general bounds restricting the coherences of mutually unbiased bases; and an exact complementarity relation for qubit coherences. We further define the average coherence of a quantum state. For the ${l}_{1}$-norm measure this is related to a natural ``coherence radius'' for the state and leads to a conjecture for an ${l}_{2}$-norm measure of coherence. For relative entropy the average coherence is determined by the difference between the von Neumann entropy and the quantum subentropy of the state and leads to upper bounds for the latter quantity. Finally, we point out that the relative entropy of coherence is a special case of G-asymmetry, which immediately yields several operational interpretations in contexts as diverse as frame alignment, quantum communication, and metrology, and suggests generalizing the property of quantum coherence to arbitrary groups of physical transformations.

arXiv:1508.03240•Physical Review A•Oct 2, 2015•182 citations

Trade-off relations of geometric coherence

Bingyu Hu, Ming‐Jing Zhao

Abstract Quantum coherence is an important quantum resource and it is intimately related to various research fields. The geometric coherence is a coherence measure both operationally and geometrically. We study the trade-off relation of geometric coherence in qubit systems. We first derive an upper bound for the geometric coherence by the purity of quantum states. Based on this, a complementarity relation between the quantum coherence and the mixedness is established. We then derive the quantum uncertainty relations of the geometric coherence on two and three general measurement bases in terms of the incompatibility respectively, which turn out to be state-independent for pure states. These trade-off relations provide the limit to the amount of quantum coherence. As a byproduct, the complementarity relation between the minimum error probability for discriminating a pure-states ensemble and the mixedness of quantum states is established.

arXiv:2310.15476•Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical•Oct 9, 2023•5 citations

Complementary relations between l p norm coherence and mixedness of quantum states

Liu Sun, Yuan-Hong Tao, Shao-Ming Fei

Abstract As an important resource, quantum coherence is one of the fundamental features of the quantum world. It is essential to understand the relationship between the resource and the mixedness of an open quantum system. We present complementary relations between the l p ( 1 ⩽ p < 2 ) norm of coherence and the normalized linear entropy mixedness. We then study the geometry of the complementary relations for Bell-diagonal states, as well as the evolutions of Werner and isotropic states under bit flip, phase flip, bit-phase flip, depolarizing, generalized amplitude damping and amplitude damping channels. Our results include some existing conclusions as special cases.

Laser Physics•Dec 13, 2022•4 citations

Trade-offs between coherence and mixedness and their evolution under quantum noise channels

Xu-Jun Che, Yuan-Hong Tao, Yi-Hao Sheng +2 more

Generally quantum processes tend to mix the pure input states and degrade the original coherence. Such processes display exactly the trade-offs between the coherence and the mixedness. In this paper, we present trade-offs between the coherence measures (l2 norm of coherence, coherence via skew information, geometric measure of coherence) and the mixedness (normalized linear entropy mixedness, geometric measure of mixedness, mixedness via skew information). The evolution of these trade-offs are also investigated under four quantum noise channels: the bit flip, phase flip, depolarizing and amplitude damping channels.

Results in Physics•Jul 29, 2023•9 citations

Abstract Quantum coherence is a relevant resource for various quantum information processing tasks, but it is fragile since it is generally affected by environmental noise. This is reflected in the loss of purity of the system, which in turn limits the amount of quantum coherence of it. As a consequence, a complementarity relation between coherence and mixedness arises. Previous works characterize this complementarity through inequalities between the ℓ 1-norm of coherence and linear entropy, and between the relative entropy of coherence and von Neumann entropy. However, coherence–mixedness complementarity is expected to be a general feature of quantum systems, regardless of the measures used. Here, an alternative approach to coherence–mixedness complementarity, based on majorization theory, is proposed. Vectorial quantifiers of coherence and mixedness, namely the coherence vector and the spectrum, respectively, are used, instead of scalar measures. A majorization relation for the tensor product of both vectorial quantifiers is obtained, capturing general aspects of the trade-off between coherence and mixedness. The optimal bound for qubit systems and numerical bounds for qutrit systems are analyzed. Finally, coherence–mixedness complementarity relations are derived for a family of symmetric, concave and additive functions. These results provide a deeper insight into the relation between quantum coherence and mixedness.

Quantum coherence is a key element in topical research on quantum resource theories and a primary facilitator for design and implementation of quantum technologies. However, the resourcefulness of quantum coherence is severely restricted by environmental noise, which is indicated by the loss of information in a quantum system, measured in terms of its purity. In this work, we derive the limits imposed by the mixedness of a quantum system on the amount of quantum coherence that it can possess. We obtain an analytical trade-off between the two quantities that upperbound the maximum quantum coherence for fixed mixedness in a system. This gives rise to a class of quantum states, ``maximally coherent mixed states,'' whose coherence cannot be increased further under any purity-preserving operation. For the above class of states, quantum coherence and mixedness satisfy a complementarity relation, which is crucial to understand the interplay between a resource and noise in open quantum systems.

Abstract Quantum coherence constitutes a foundational characteristic of quantum mechanics and is integral to emerging quantum resource theories. However, quantum coherence is severely restricted by environmental noise in general quantum processing, indicated by the loss of information of a quantum system. Such processing can be described by the trade-offs between the coherence and the mixedness. Based on the l 2 norm coherence, conditional von Neumann entropy and Wigner–Yanase skew information, we derive basis-independent constraints on the attainable quantum coherence imposed by the mixedness of a quantum state, which generalize the prior basis-dependent relations, provide fundamental insights into the latent coherence resources present within arbitrary quantum systems that undergo decoherence and quantify the inherent limits on extractable coherence imposed by environmental noise.

Various measures have been suggested recently for quantifying the coherence of a quantum state with respect to a given basis. We first use two of these, the

{l}_{1}

-norm and relative entropy measures, to investigate tradeoffs between the coherences of mutually unbiased bases. Results include relations between coherence, uncertainty, and purity; tight general bounds restricting the coherences of mutually unbiased bases; and an exact complementarity relation for qubit coherences. We further define the average coherence of a quantum state. For the

{l}_{1}

-norm measure this is related to a natural ``coherence radius'' for the state and leads to a conjecture for an

{l}_{2}

-norm measure of coherence. For relative entropy the average coherence is determined by the difference between the von Neumann entropy and the quantum subentropy of the state and leads to upper bounds for the latter quantity. Finally, we point out that the relative entropy of coherence is a special case of G-asymmetry, which immediately yields several operational interpretations in contexts as diverse as frame alignment, quantum communication, and metrology, and suggests generalizing the property of quantum coherence to arbitrary groups of physical transformations.

Abstract Quantum coherence is an important quantum resource and it is intimately related to various research fields. The geometric coherence is a coherence measure both operationally and geometrically. We study the trade-off relation of geometric coherence in qubit systems. We first derive an upper bound for the geometric coherence by the purity of quantum states. Based on this, a complementarity relation between the quantum coherence and the mixedness is established. We then derive the quantum uncertainty relations of the geometric coherence on two and three general measurement bases in terms of the incompatibility respectively, which turn out to be state-independent for pure states. These trade-off relations provide the limit to the amount of quantum coherence. As a byproduct, the complementarity relation between the minimum error probability for discriminating a pure-states ensemble and the mixedness of quantum states is established.

Abstract As an important resource, quantum coherence is one of the fundamental features of the quantum world. It is essential to understand the relationship between the resource and the mixedness of an open quantum system. We present complementary relations between the l p ( 1 ⩽ p < 2 ) norm of coherence and the normalized linear entropy mixedness. We then study the geometry of the complementary relations for Bell-diagonal states, as well as the evolutions of Werner and isotropic states under bit flip, phase flip, bit-phase flip, depolarizing, generalized amplitude damping and amplitude damping channels. Our results include some existing conclusions as special cases.

Generally quantum processes tend to mix the pure input states and degrade the original coherence. Such processes display exactly the trade-offs between the coherence and the mixedness. In this paper, we present trade-offs between the coherence measures (l2 norm of coherence, coherence via skew information, geometric measure of coherence) and the mixedness (normalized linear entropy mixedness, geometric measure of mixedness, mixedness via skew information). The evolution of these trade-offs are also investigated under four quantum noise channels: the bit flip, phase flip, depolarizing and amplitude damping channels.