Since quantum resource theory provides a unified framework to characterize the valuable properties of quantum states, many physically meaningful free sets in this theory often lack convexity, which limits the applicability of conventional convex resource quantifiers. It is therefore essential to develop new resource measures suitable for nonconvex free sets. We propose and systematically study a quantum resource deficiency measure DA based on quantum affinity. We verify that DA satisfies the standard axiomatic constraints and is universally valid for both coherence and entanglement. By virtue of the convex roof construction, strong monotonicity is strictly proven for coherence and entanglement. For low-dimensional systems, analytical expressions are given for coherence deficiency. For entanglement deficiency, we further provide an alternative proof which is independent of the convex roof extension. Effective upper bounds are presented for high-dimensional systems by using mixed permutation channels and maximally coherent mixed states (MCMSs). It is further proven that the deficiency of coherence of any quantum state can be estimated by the corresponding MCMS. Moreover, we reveal a general trade-off between the resource deficiency and the resource abundance (coherence or entanglement). As applications, we show that DA quantifies the operational disadvantage in subchannel discrimination and establish an uncertainty relation between the logical error probability and the deficiency of quantum states in quantum error correction, offering quantitative constraints for the preparation of logical states and the tolerance to faults.
Since quantum resource theory provides a unified framework to characterize the valuable properties of quantum states, many physically meaningful free sets in this theory often lack convexity, which limits the applicability of conventional convex resource quantifiers. It is therefore essential to develop new resource measures suitable for nonconvex free sets. We propose and systematically study a quantum resource deficiency measure DA based on quantum affinity. We verify that DA satisfies the standard axiomatic constraints and is universally valid for both coherence and entanglement. By virtue of the convex roof construction, strong monotonicity is strictly proven for coherence and entanglement. For low-dimensional systems, analytical expressions are given for coherence deficiency. For entanglement deficiency, we further provide an alternative proof which is independent of the convex roof extension. Effective upper bounds are presented for high-dimensional systems by using mixed permutation channels and maximally coherent mixed states (MCMSs). It is further proven that the deficiency of coherence of any quantum state can be estimated by the corresponding MCMS. Moreover, we reveal a general trade-off between the resource deficiency and the resource abundance (coherence or entanglement). As applications, we show that DA quantifies the operational disadvantage in subchannel discrimination and establish an uncertainty relation between the logical error probability and the deficiency of quantum states in quantum error correction, offering quantitative constraints for the preparation of logical states and the tolerance to faults.
A fundamental task in any physical theory is to quantify certain physical quantity in a meaningful way. In this paper we show that both fidelity distance and affinity distance satisfy the strong contractibility, and the corresponding resource quantifiers can be used to characterize a large class of resource theories. Under two assumptions, namely, convexity of and closure of free states under selective free operations, our general framework of resource theory includes quantum resource theories of entanglement, coherence, partial coherence and superposition. In partial coherence theory, we show that fidelity partial coherence of a bipartite state is equal to the minimal error probability of a mixed quantum state discrimination (QSD) task and vice versa, which complements the main result in [Xiong and Wu, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 51, 414005 (2018)]. We also compute the analytic expression of fidelity partial coherence for (2,n) bipartite X-states. At last, we study the correlated coherence in the framework of partial coherence theory. We show that partial coherence of a bipartite state, with respect to the eigenbasis of a subsystem, is actually a measure of quantum correlation.
Abstract We introduce a framework unifying the mathematical characterisation of different measures of general quantum resources and allowing for a systematic way to define a variety of faithful quantifiers for any given convex quantum resource theory. The approach allows us to describe many commonly used measures such as matrix norm-based quantifiers, robustness measures, convex roof-based measures, and witness-based quantifiers together in a common formalism based on the convex geometry of the underlying sets of resource-free states. We establish easily verifiable criteria for a measure to possess desirable properties such as faithfulness and strong monotonicity under relevant free operations, and show that many quantifiers obtained in this framework indeed satisfy them for any considered quantum resource. We derive various bounds and relations between the measures, generalising and providing significantly simplified proofs of results found in the resource theories of quantum entanglement and coherence. We also prove that the quantification of resources in this framework simplifies for pure states, allowing us to obtain more easily computable forms of the considered measures, and show that many of them are in fact equal on pure states. Further, we investigate the dual formulation of resource quantifiers, which provide a characterisation of the sets of resource witnesses. We present an explicit application of the results to the resource theories of multi-level coherence, entanglement of Schmidt number k , multipartite entanglement, as well as magic states, providing insight into the quantification of the four resources by establishing novel quantitative relations and introducing new quantifiers, such as a measure of entanglement of Schmidt number k which generalises the convex roof–extended negativity, a measure of k -coherence which generalises the ℓ 1 norm of coherence, and a hierarchy of norm-based quantifiers of k -partite entanglement generalising the greatest cross norm.
A central problem in quantum resource theory is to give operational meaning to quantum resources that can provide clear advantages in certain physical tasks compared to the convex set of resource-free states. We propose to extend this basic principle by defining the relative superiority of resources over a specific convex set of resource states, also provide a relative advantage in physical tasks based on this extended principle. This allows the generalized robustness measure to quantify the relative maximal advantage due to a given resource state over a specific convex set of resource states in the subchannel discrimination, thereby showing that the operational interpretation of resource measures also holds in a relative perspective. In addition, we offer a new framework for defining the deficiency of a given state in physical tasks compared to the set of maximum resource states. The geometric measure we provide satisfies the conditions of the framework for quantum coherence and entanglement, and it accurately quantifies the minimal disadvantage due to a given state compared to maximumresourcestates inthe subchannel discrimination in certain situations. These two extensions and new interpretations expand the scope of quantum resource theories and provide a more comprehensive operational interpretation.
A fundamental task in any physical theory is to quantify a certain physical quantity in a meaningful way. In this paper, we show that both fidelity distance and affinity distance satisfy the strong contractibility, and the corresponding resource quantifiers can be used to characterize a large class of resource theories. Under two assumptions, namely, convexity of ``free states'' and closure of free states under ``selective free operations,'' our general framework of resource theory includes quantum resource theories of entanglement, coherence, partial coherence, and superposition. In partial coherence theory, we show that fidelity of partial coherence of a bipartite state is equal to the minimal error probability of a mixed quantum state discrimination task and vice versa, which complements the main result in Xiong and Wu [J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 51, 414005 (2018)]. We also compute the analytic expression of fidelity of partial coherence for (2,n) bipartite X states. At last, we study the correlated coherence in the framework of partial coherence theory. We show that partial coherence of a bipartite state, with respect to the eigenbasis of a subsystem, is actually a measure of discord-type quantum correlation.
Identifying what quantum-mechanical properties are useful to untap a superior performance in quantum technologies is a pivotal question. Quantum resource theories provide a unified framework to analyze and understand such properties, as successfully demonstrated for entanglement and coherence. While these are examples of convex resources, for which quantum advantages can always be identified, many physical resources are described by a nonconvex set of free states and their interpretation has so far remained elusive. Here we address the fundamental question of the usefulness of quantum resources without convexity assumption, by providing two operational interpretations of the generalized robustness measure in general resource theories. First, we characterize the generalized robustness in terms of a nonlinear resource witness and reveal that any state is more advantageous than a free one in some multicopy channel discrimination task. Next, we consider a scenario where a theory is characterized by multiple constraints and show that the generalized robustness coincides with the worst-case advantage in a single-copy channel discrimination setting. Based on these characterizations, we conclude that every quantum resource state shows a qualitative and quantitative advantage in discrimination problems in a general resource theory even without any specification on the structure of the free states.
Resource theories provide a general framework for the characterization of properties of physical systems in quantum mechanics and beyond. Here we introduce methods for the quantification of resources in general probabilistic theories (GPTs), focusing in particular on the technical issues associated with infinite-dimensional state spaces. We define a universal resource quantifier based on the robustness measure, and show it to admit a direct operational meaning: in any GPT, it quantifies the advantage that a given resource state enables in channel discrimination tasks over all resourceless states. We show that the robustness acts as a faithful and strongly monotonic measure in any resource theory described by a convex and closed set of free states, and can be computed through a convex conic optimization problem. Specializing to continuous-variable quantum mechanics, we obtain additional bounds and relations, allowing an efficient computation of the measure and comparison with other monotones. We demonstrate applications of the robustness to several resources of physical relevance: optical nonclassicality, entanglement, genuine non-Gaussianity, and coherence. In particular, we establish exact expressions for various classes of states, including Fock states and squeezed states in the resource theory of nonclassicality and general pure states in the resource theory of entanglement, as well as tight bounds applicable in general cases.