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arXiv:quant-ph/0005084 · Physical Review Letters

Operationally Invariant Information in Quantum Measurements

Časlav Brukner, Anton Zeilinger

Published Oct 25, 1999• 311 citations
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Abstract

A new measure of information in quantum mechanics is proposed which takes into account that for quantum systems the only features known before an experiment is performed are the probabilities for various events to occur. The sum of the individual measures of information for mutually complementary observations is invariant under the choice of the particular set of complementary observations and conserved if there is no information exchange with an environment. That operational quantum information invariant results in $k$ bits of information for a system consisting of $k$ qubits.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.83.3354

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A new measure of information in quantum mechanics is proposed which takes into account that for quantum systems the only features known before an experiment is performed are the probabilities for various events to occur. The sum of the individual measures of information for mutually complementary observations is invariant under the choice of the particular set of complementary observations and conserved if there is no information exchange with an environment. That operational quantum information invariant results in kkk bits of information for a system consisting of kkk qubits.
We address the problem of properly quantifying information in quantum theory. Brukner and Zeilinger proposed the concept of an operationally invariant measure based on measurement statistics. Their measure of information is calculated with probabilities generated in a complete set of mutually complementary observations. This approach was later criticized for several reasons. We show that some critical points can be overcome by means of natural extension or reformulation of the Brukner–Zeilinger approach. In particular, this approach is connected with symmetric informationally complete measurements. The ‘total information’ of Brukner and Zeilinger can further be treated in the context of mutually unbiased measurements as well as general symmetric informationally complete measurements. The Brukner–Zeilinger measure of information is also examined in the case of detection inefficiencies. It is shown to be decreasing under the action of bistochastic maps. The Brukner–Zeilinger total information can be used for estimating the map norm of quantum operations.
The invariant information, introduced by C. Brukner and A. Zeilinger [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 3354 (1999)], is reconsidered from the point of view of quantum state estimation. We show that this quantity is directly related to the mean error of the standard reconstruction from the measurement of a complete set of mutually complementary observables. We give its generalization in terms of the Fisher information. Provided that the optimum reconstruction is adopted, the information loses its invariant character.
In quantum information the fundamental information-containing system is the qubit. A measurement of a single qubit can at most yield one classical bit. However, a dichotomous measurement of an unknown qubit will yield much less information about the qubit state. We use Bayesian inference to compute how much information one progressively gets by making sucessive, individual measurements on an ensemble of identically prepared qubits. Perhaps surprisingly, even if the measurements are arranged so that each measurement yields one classical bit, that is, the two possible measurement outcomes are a priori equiprobable, it takes almost a handful of measurements before one has gained one bit of information about the gradually concentrated qubit probability density. We also show that by following a strategy that reaps the maximum information per measurement, we are led to a mutually unbiased basis as our measurement bases. This is a pleasing, although not entirely surprising, result.
We define mutually complementary observable sets for N qubits via the operational requirement that a state with a definite outcome for one set of (commuting) binary observables must give completely random results in all other sets. The bases formed by the eigenvectors of such complementary sets are mutually unbiased. We prove that the full set of 4^N-1 Pauli operator products may be partitioned into 2^N+1 distinct sets, each set consisting of 2^N-1 internally commuting observables. Furthermore we prove that each such partitioning defines a unique choice of 2^N+1 mutually unbiased bases. Examples for 2 and 3 qubit systems are discussed with emphasis on the nature and amount of entanglement that occurs within these basis sets.
Basic quantum information measures involved in the information analysis of quantum systems are considered. It is shown that the main quantum information measurement methods depend on whether the corresponding quantum events are compatible or incompatible. For purely quantum channels, the coherent and compatible information measures, which are qualitatively different, can be distinguished. A general information scheme is proposed for a quantum-physical experiment. In this scheme, informational optimization of an experimental setup is formulated as a mathematical problem.