Degree of quantum non-Gaussianity in a spin

Xiang Cheng, Shanshan Li, Shasha Wen +1 more

We propose three alternative measures for non-Gaussianity of quantum states: sine distance, Bures angle, and Bures distance, which are based on quantum fidelity introduced by Wang [Phys. Lett. A 373 58 (2008)]. Using them, we evaluate the non-Gaussianity of some relevant single-mode and two-mode non-Gaussian states and find a good consistency of the three examined measures. In addition, we show that such metrics can exactly quantify the degree of Gaussianity of even Schrödinger-cat-like states of small amplitudes that can not be measured by other known non-Gaussianity measures such as the Hilbert–Schmidt metric and the relative entropy metric. We make a comparative study between all existing non-Gaussianity measures according to the metric axioms and point out that the sine distance is the best candidate among them.

J. Solomon Ivan, Manoranjan Kumar, Richard M Simon

Priyanka Chowdhury

Aikaterini Mandilara, Evgueni Karpov, Nicolas J. Cerf

According to Hudson's theorem, any pure quantum state with a positive Wigner function is necessarily a Gaussian state. Here, we make a step toward the extension of this theorem to mixed quantum states by finding upper and lower bounds on the degree of non-Gaussianity of states with positive Wigner functions. The bounds are expressed in the form of parametric functions relating the degree of non-Gaussianity of a state, its purity, and the purity of the Gaussian state characterized by the same covariance matrix. Although our bounds are not tight, they permit us to visualize the set of states with positive Wigner functions.

Iulia Ghiu, Paulina Marian, Tudor A. Marian

We introduce and investigate a distance-type measure of non-Gaussianity based on the quantum fidelity. This new measure can readily be evaluated for all pure states and the mixed ones that are diagonal in the Fock basis. In particular, for an M -photon-added thermal state, an analysis of the Bures degree of non-Gaussianity is performed in comparison with two previous measures built with the Hilbert–Schmidt metric and the relative entropy. We obtain a compact analytic formula for the Hilbert–Schmidt measure of non-Gaussianity and find good consistency between the three examined measures.

Shuangshuang Fu, Luo Shun-Long, Zhang Yue