Extended and corrected version of a paper presented at MaxEnt 2009, the 29th International Workshop on Bayesian Inference and Maximum Entropy Methods in Science and Engineering (July 5-10, 2009, Oxford, Mississippi, USA). In version v3 I corrected a mistake and considerably simplified the argument. The overall conclusions remain unchanged
Non-relativistic quantum theory is derived from information codified into an appropriate statistical model. The basic assumption is that there is an irreducible uncertainty in the location of particles: positions constitute a configuration space and the corresponding probability distributions constitute a statistical manifold. The dynamics follows from a principle of inference, the method of Maximum Entropy. The concept of time is introduced as a convenient way to keep track of change. A welcome feature is that the entropic dynamics notion of time incorporates a natural distinction between past and future. The statistical manifold is assumed to be a dynamical entity: its curved and evolving geometry determines the evolution of the particles which, in their turn, react back and determine the evolution of the geometry. Imposing that the dynamics conserve energy leads to the Schroedinger equation and to a natural explanation of its linearity, its unitarity, and of the role of complex numbers. The phase of the wave function is explained as a feature of purely statistical origin. There is a quantum analogue to the gravitational equivalence principle.
In quantum information theory, entropic inequalities act as the necessary and sufficient conditions to noncontextuality. Here, we first experimentally demonstrate the violation of the entropic noncontextual inequality in a four-level quantum system, by using the five-qubit IBM quantum computer. The experimental result disproves the existence of a local realist model.
Motivated by understanding the emergence of thermodynamic restoring forces and oscillations, we develop a quantum-mechanical model of a bath of spins coupled to the elasticity of a material. We show our model reproduces the behavior of a variety of entropic springs while enabling investigation of non-equilibrium resonator states in the quantum domain. We find our model emerges naturally in disordered elastic media such as glasses, and is an additional, expected effect in systems with anomalous specific heat and 1/f noise at low temperatures due to two-level systems that fluctuate.
Uncertainty principle has a fundamental role in quantum theory. This principle states that it is not possible to measure two incompatible observers simultaneously. The uncertainty principle is expressed logically in terms of standard deviation of the measured observables. In quantum information it has been shown that the uncertainty principle can be expressed by means of Shannon's entropy. Entropic uncertainty relation can be improve by consider an additional particle as the quantum memory. In the presence of quantum memory the entropic uncertainty relation is called quantum memory assisted en…
The problem of measurement in quantum mechanics is studied within the Entropic Dynamics framework. We discuss von Neumann and Weak measurements, wavefunction collapse, and Weak Values as examples of bayesian and entropic inference.
Entropic uncertainty relations play an important role in both fundamentals and applications of quantum theory. Although they have been well-investigated in quantum theory, little is known about entropic uncertainty in generalized probabilistic theories (GPTs). The current study explores two types of entropic uncertainty relations, preparation and measurement uncertainty relations, in a class of GPTs which can be considered generalizations of quantum theory. Not only a method for obtaining entropic preparation uncertainty relations but also an entropic measurement uncertainty relation similar t…
We study both classical and quantum algorithms to solve a hard optimization problem, namely 3-XORSAT on 3-regular random graphs. By introducing a new quasi-greedy algorithm that is not allowed to jump over large energy barriers, we show that the problem hardness is mainly due to entropic barriers. We study, both analytically and numerically, several optimization algorithms, finding that entropic barriers affect in a similar way classical local algorithms and quantum annealing. For the adiabatic algorithm, the difficulty we identify is distinct from that of tunnelling under large barriers, but …
The general framework of entropic dynamics is used to formulate a relational quantum dynamics. The main new idea is to use tools of information geometry to develop an entropic measure of the mismatch between successive configurations of a system. This leads to an entropic version of the classical best matching technique developed by J. Barbour and collaborators. The procedure is illustrated in the simple case of a system of N particles with global translational symmetry. The generalization to other symmetries whether global (rotational invariance) or local (gauge invariance) is straightforward…
Entropic Dynamics is a framework in which dynamical laws such as those that arise in physics are derived as an application of entropic methods of inference. No underlying action principle is postulated. Instead, the dynamics is driven by entropy subject to constraints reflecting the information that is relevant to the problem at hand. In this work I review the derivation of quantum theory but the fact that Entropic Dynamics is based on inference methods that are of universal applicability suggests that it may be possible to adapt these methods to fields other than physics.
In the Entropic Dynamics framework the dynamics is driven by maximizing entropy subject to appropriate constraints. In this work we bring Entropic Dynamics one step closer to full equivalence with quantum theory by identifying constraints that lead to wave functions that remain single-valued even for multi-valued phases by recognizing the intimate relation between quantum phases, gauge symmetry, and charge quantization.
We study nanomachines whose relevant (effective) degrees of freedom f >> 1 but smaller than f of proteins. In these machines, both the entropic and the quantum effects over the whole system play the essential roles in producing nontrivial functions. We therefore call them entropic quantum machines (EQMs). We propose a systematic protocol for designing the EQMs, which enables a rough sketch, accurate design of equilibrium states, and accurate estimate of response time. As an illustration, we design a novel EQM, which shows two characteristic shapes. One can switch from one shape to the other by…
Quantum discord and quantum uncertainty are two important features of the quantum world. In this work, the relation between entropic uncertainty relation and the shareability of quantum discord is studied. First, by using tripartite quantum-memory-assisted entropic uncertainty relation, an upper bound for the shareability of quantum discord among different partites of a composite system is obtained. It is also shown that, for a specific class of tripartite states, the obtained relation could be expressed as monogamy of quantum discord. Moreover, it is illustrated that the relation could be gen…
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is a fundamental element in quantum mechanics. It sets a bound on our ability to predict the measurement outcomes of two incompatible observables simultaneously. In quantum information theory, the uncertainty principle can be expressed using entropic measures. The entropic uncertainty relation can be improved by considering an additional particle as a memory particle. The presence of quantum correlation between the memory particle and the measured particle reduces the uncertainty. In a curved space-time, the presence of the Hawking radiation can reduce quantu…
The uncertainty principle is one of the comprehensive and fundamental concept in quantum theory. This principle states that it is not possible to simultaneously measure two incompatible observatories with high accuracy. Uncertainty principle has been formulated in various form. The most famous type of uncertainty relation is expressed based on the standard deviation of observables. In quantum information theory the uncertainty principle can be formulated using Shannon and von Neumann entropy. Entropic uncertainty relation in the presence of quantum memory is one of the most useful entropic unc…
For a system randomly prepared in a number of quantum states, we present a lower bound for the distinguishability of the quantum states, that is, the success probability of determining the states in the form of entropy. When the states are all pure, acquiring the entropic lower bound requires only the density operator and the number of the possible states. This entropic bound shows a relation between the von Neumann entropy and the distinguishability.
Entropic Dynamics is a framework in which quantum theory is derived as an application of entropic methods of inference. There is no underlying action principle. Instead, the dynamics is driven by entropy subject to the appropriate constraints. In this paper we show how a Hamiltonian dynamics arises as a type of non-dissipative entropic dynamics. We also show that the particular form of the "quantum potential" that leads to the Schroedinger equation follows naturally from information geometry.
The quantum entropic uncertainty relation and entanglement witness in the two-atom system coupling with the non-Markovian environments are studied by the time-convolutionless master-equation approach. The influence of non-Markovian effect and detuning on the lower bound of the quantum entropic uncertainty relation and entanglement witness is discussed in detail. The results show that, only if the two non-Markovian reservoirs are identical, increasing detuning and non-Markovian effect can reduce the lower bound of the entropic uncertainty relation, lengthen the time region during which the enta…
In this paper we derive a new quantum entropic uncertainty relation, bounding the conditional smooth quantum min entropy based on the result of a measurement using a two outcome POVM and the failure probability of a classical sampling strategy. Our relation works for systems of arbitrary finite dimension. We apply it to analyze a new source independent quantum random number generation protocol and show our relation provides optimistic results compared to prior work.
Entropic dynamics (ED) is a general framework for constructing indeterministic dynamical models based on entropic methods. ED has been used to derive or reconstruct both non-relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory in curved space-time. Here we propose a model for a quantum scalar field propagating in a dynamical space-time. The approach rests on a few key ingredients: (1) Rather than modelling the dynamics of the fields, ED models the dynamics of their probabilities. (2) In accordance with the standard entropic methods of inference the dynamics is dictated by information encode…
Entropic uncertainty and entanglement are two distinct aspects of quantum mechanical procedures. To estimate entropic uncertainty relations, entropies are used: the greater the entropy bound, the less effective the quantum operations and entanglement are. In this regard, we analyze the entropic uncertainty, entropic uncertainty lower bound, and concurrence dynamics in two non-interacting qubits. The exposure of two qubits is studied in two different qubit-noise configurations, namely, common qubit-noise and independent qubit-noise interactions. To include the noisy effects of the local externa…
The Entropic Dynamics reconstruction of quantum mechanics is extended to quantum field theory in curved space-time. The Entropic Dynamics framework, which derives quantum theory as an application of the method of maximum entropy, is combined with the covariant methods of Dirac, Hojman, Kuchař, and Teitelboim, which they used to develop a framework for classical covariant Hamiltonian theories. The goal is to formulate an information-based alternative to current approaches based on algebraic quantum field theory. One key ingredient is the adoption of a local notion of entropic time in which inst…
We study the dynamics of quantum-memory-assisted entropic uncertainty for a hybrid qutrit-qubit system interacting with fluctuating quantum scalar field in the background of expanding de Sitter space. We firstly derive the master equation that the system evolution obeys. As evolution time goes by, for different initial states, entropic uncertainty develops to different fixed values for different parameter values, whereas entanglement always decays to zero, and there exist monotonous relations between entropic uncertainty, entanglement and various parameters for a fixed initial state, but mixed…
Uncertainty relations take a crucial and fundamental part in the frame of quantum theory, and are bringing on many marvelous applications in the emerging field of quantum information sciences. Especially, as entropy is imposed into the uncertainty principle, entropy-based uncertainty relations lead to a number of applications including quantum key distribution, entanglement witness, quantum steering, quantum metrology, and quantum teleportation. Herein, the history of the development of the uncertainty relations is discussed, especially focusing on the recent progress with regard to quantum-me…
Quantum correlation often refers to correlations exhibited by two or more local subsystems under a suitable measurement. These correlations are beyond the framework of classical statistics and the associated classical probability distribution. Quantum entanglement is the most well known of such correlations and plays an important role in quantum information theory. However, there exist non-entangled states that still possess quantum correlations which cannot be described by classical statistics. One such measure that captures these nonclassical correlations is discord. Here we introduce a new …
The Leggett-Garg inequalities probe the classical-quantum boundary by putting limits on the sum of pairwise correlation functions between classical measurement devices that consecutively measured the same quantum system. The apparent violation of these inequalities by standard quantum measurements has cast doubt on quantum mechanics' ability to consistently describe classical objects. Recent work has concluded that these inequalities cannot be violated by either strong or weak projective measurements [1]. Here I consider an entropic version of the Leggett-Garg inequalities that are different f…
The celebrated Bell-Kochen-Specker no-go theorem asserts that quantum mechanics does not present the property of realism, the essence of the theorem is the lack of a joint probability distributions for some experiment settings. In this work, we exploit the information theoretic form of the theorem using information measure instead of probabilistic measure and indicate that quantum mechanics does not present such entropic realism neither. The entropic form of Gleason's no-disturbance principle is developed and it turns out to be characterized by the intersection of several entropic cones. Entro…
Gaussian distribution of a quantum state with continuous spectrum is known to maximize the Shannon entropy at a fixed variance. Applying it to a pair of canonically conjugate quantum observables $\hat x$ and $\hat p$, quantum entropic uncertainty relation can take a suggestive form, where the standard deviations $σ_x$ and $σ_p$ are featured explicitly. From the construction, it follows in a transparent manner that: (i) the entropic uncertainty relation implies the Kennard-Robertson uncertainty relation in a modifed form, $σ_xσ_p\geq\hbar e^{\cal N}/2$; (ii) the additional factor ${\cal N}$ qua…
The uncertainty principle is one of the key concepts in quantum theory. This principle states that it is not possible to measure two incompatible observables simultaneously and accurately. In quantum information theory, the uncertainty principle is formulated using the concept of entropy. In this work we consider the entropic uncertainty relation in the presence of quantum memory. We study the dynamics of entropic uncertainty bound for a two-qubit quantum system coupled to a spin chain with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and we investigate the effect of environmental parameters on the entro…
In this paper, we show an interesting connection between a quantum sampling technique and quantum uncertainty. Namely, we use the quantum sampling technique, introduced by Bouman and Fehr, to derive a novel entropic uncertainty relation based on smooth min entropy, the binary Shannon entropy of an observed outcome, and the probability of failure of a classical sampling strategy. We then show two applications of our new relation. First, we use it to develop a simple proof of a version of the Maassen and Uffink uncertainty relation. Second, we show how it may be applied to quantum random number …
In this paper we present a new proof technique for semi-quantum key distribution protocols which makes use of a quantum entropic uncertainty relation to bound an adversary's information. Our new technique provides a more optimistic key-rate bound than previous work relying only on noise statistics (as opposed to using additional mismatched measurements which increase the noise tolerance of this protocol, but at the cost of requiring four times the amount of measurement data). Our new technique may hold application in the proof of security of other semi-quantum protocols or protocols relying on…
We present the entropic uncertainty relations for multiple measurement settings in quantum mechanics. Those uncertainty relations are obtained for both cases with and without the presence of quantum memory. They take concise forms which can be proven in a unified method and easy to calculate. Our results recover the well known entropic uncertainty relations for two observables, which show the uncertainties about the outcomes of two incompatible measurements. Those uncertainty relations are applicable in both foundations of quantum theory and the security of many quantum cryptographic protocols…
Reality of quantum observables, a feature of long-standing interest within foundations of quantum mechanics, has recently been quantified and deeply studied by means of entropic measures [Phys. Rev. A 97, 022107 (2018)]. However, there is no state-independent "reality trade-off" between noncommuting observables, as in certain systems all observables are real [Europhys. Lett. 112, 40005 (2015)]. We show that the entropic uncertainty relation in the presence of quantum memory [Nature Phys. 6, 659 (2010)] perfectly supplements the discussed notion of reality, rendering trade-offs between reality …
Tighter entropic uncertainty relations in the presence of quantum memories for complete sets of mutually unbiased bases
Changsha University of Science and Technology（长沙理工大学）；Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Mathematical Modeling and Analysis in Engineering, Changsha University of Sicence and Technology（长沙理工大学数学建模与工程分析湖南省重点实验室）；Capital Normal University（首都师范大学）；Jining University（济宁学院）
