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Physical Review A

Quantifying incompatibility between positive operator-valued measures via negativity of the Jordan product

Yi Rong Guo, Shunlong Luo

Published Dec 5, 2024• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A fundamental feature of quantum mechanics is the incompatibility between quantum measurements, which leads to the Heisenberg uncertainty relations and is intrinsically related to detection of many other quantum features such as nonlocality and steering. Given the significance and ubiquity of incompatibility, it is desirable to quantify the degree of incompatibility between two quantum measurements which are mathematically described by positive operator valued measures. The commutator (Lie product) between operators has widely been used in quantifying incompatibility (noncommutativity) and plays a crucial role in quantum mechanics. In contrast, the anticommutator (Jordan product) between operators has been relatively less employed in the study of quantum mechanics. In this work, we explore the role of the Jordan product in characterizing measurement incompatibility. The key observation lies in that while the product of two non-negative classical observables is automatically non-negative, this is not the case for quantum observables. Indeed the Jordan product of two non-negative observables is not necessarily non-negative. This negativity of the Jordan product is a purely quantum phenomenon and is here exploited to quantify a kind of measurement incompatibility, which interpolates between noncommutativity and joint measurability. We reveal basic features of this approach, make some comparisons with existing quantifiers of incompatibility and suggest the issue of investigating its applications and implications in quantum information tasks.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.110.062206

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A fundamental feature of quantum mechanics is the incompatibility between quantum measurements, which leads to the Heisenberg uncertainty relations and is intrinsically related to detection of many other quantum features such as nonlocality and steering. Given the significance and ubiquity of incompatibility, it is desirable to quantify the degree of incompatibility between two quantum measurements which are mathematically described by positive operator valued measures. The commutator (Lie product) between operators has widely been used in quantifying incompatibility (noncommutativity) and plays a crucial role in quantum mechanics. In contrast, the anticommutator (Jordan product) between operators has been relatively less employed in the study of quantum mechanics. In this work, we explore the role of the Jordan product in characterizing measurement incompatibility. The key observation lies in that while the product of two non-negative classical observables is automatically non-negative, this is not the case for quantum observables. Indeed the Jordan product of two non-negative observables is not necessarily non-negative. This negativity of the Jordan product is a purely quantum phenomenon and is here exploited to quantify a kind of measurement incompatibility, which interpolates between noncommutativity and joint measurability. We reveal basic features of this approach, make some comparisons with existing quantifiers of incompatibility and suggest the issue of investigating its applications and implications in quantum information tasks.
Abstract We investigate the compatibility of three positive operator-valued measures via the triple Jordan product. First, we establish the necessary and sufficient conditions for Jordan compatibility of three unbiased qubit measurements. Then, based on the negativity of the triple Jordan product, we propose a measure to quantify the incompatibility of three POVMs and elaborate on several key properties. Subsequently, we study the scenario of maximal incompatibility for three unbiased qubit measurements and prove that this maximum is attained when three POVMs are constructed from three mutually unbiased bases. Finally, we illustrate our quantification with two concrete examples.
The incompatibility between quantum measurements (as mathematically represented by positive operator-valued measures, i.e., POVMs) is a key feature of quantum mechanics and is intrinsically related to the noncommutativity of operators. For both theoretical and practical considerations, it is desirable to quantify the degree of incompatibility between quantum measurements, and considerable effort has been devoted to this issue. In this paper, we provide a novel approach to measurement incompatibility by exploiting the Lüders channels derived from POVMs and employing the measurement disturbance to quantify incompatibility. This is achieved by constructing an approximately joint measurement for a pair of POVMs, which is an enlarged POVM with the correct marginal property for one of the two POVMs but not necessarily for the other. The degree of failure of the marginal property for the other POVM is a kind of measurement disturbance and can be naturally interpreted as a quantifier of the incompatibility between the two POVMs. We reveal basic properties of this quantifier of measurement incompatibility, identify its maximal value in some cases, compare it with several popular measures in the literature, and illustrate it with some typical examples. Some related open issues are also discussed.
Abstract The existence of incompatible measurements, i.e. measurements which cannot be performed simultaneously on a single copy of a quantum state, constitutes an important distinction between quantum mechanics and classical theories. While incompatibility might at first glance seem like an obstacle, it turns to be a necessary ingredient to achieve the so-called quantum advantage in various operational tasks like random access codes or key distribution. To improve our understanding of how to quantify incompatibility of quantum measurements, we define and explore a family of incompatibility measures based on non-commutativity. We investigate some basic properties of these measures, we show that they satisfy some natural information-processing requirements and we fully characterize the pairs which achieve the highest incompatibility (in a fixed dimension). We also consider the behavior of our measures under different types of compositions. Finally, to link our new measures to existing results, we relate them to a robustness-based incompatibility measure and two operational scenarios: random access codes and entropic uncertainty relations.
We give an overview of joint unsharp measurements of non-commuting observables using positive operator valued measures (POVMs). We exemplify the role played by joint measurability of POVMs in entropic uncertainty relation for Alice’s pair of non-commuting observables in the presence of Bob’s entangled quantum memory. We show that Bob should record the outcomes of incompatible (non-jointly measurable) POVMs in his quantum memory so as to beat the entropic uncertainty bound. In other words, in addition to the presence of entangled Alice–Bob state, implementing incompatible POVMs at Bob’s end is necessary to beat the uncertainty bound and hence predict the outcomes of non-commuting observables with improved precision. We also explore the implications of joint measurability to validate a moment matrix constructed from average pairwise correlations of three dichotomic non-commuting qubit observables. We prove that a classically acceptable moment matrix – which ascertains the existence of a legitimate joint probability distribution for the outcomes of all the three dichotomic observables – could be realized if and only if compatible POVMs are employed.
We give an overview of joint unsharp measurements of non-commuting observables using positive operator valued measures (POVMs). We exemplify the role played by joint measurability of POVMs in entropic uncertainty relation for Alice's pair of non-commuting observables in the presence of Bob's entangled quantum memory. We show that Bob should record the outcomes of incompatible (non-jointly measurable) POVMs in his quantum memory so as to beat the entropic uncertainty bound. In other words, in addition to the presence of entangled Alice-Bob state, implementing incompatible POVMs at Bob's end is necessary to beat the uncertainty bound and hence, predict the outcomes of non-commuting observables with improved precision. We also explore the implications of joint measurability to {\em validate} a moment matrix constructed from average pairwise correlations of three dichotomic non-commuting qubit observables. We prove that a classically acceptable moment matrix -- which ascertains the existence of a legitimate joint probability distribution for the outcomes of all the three dichotomic observables -- could be realized if and only if compatible POVMs are employed.