Quantum information, though not precisely defined, is a fundamental concept of quantum information theory which predicts many fascinating phenomena and provides new physical resources. A basic problem is to recognize the features of quantum systems responsible for those phenomena. One of such important features is that non-commuting quantum states cannot be broadcast: two copies cannot be obtained out of a single copy, not even reproduced marginally on separate systems. We focus on the difference of information contents between one copy and two copies which is a basic manifestation of the gap between quantum and classical information. We show that if the chosen information measure is the Holevo quantity, the difference between the information contents of one copy and two copies is zero if and only if the states can be broadcast. We propose a new approach in defining measures of quantumness of ensembles based on the difference of information contents between the original ensemble and the ensemble of duplicated states. We comment about the permanence property of quantum states and the recently introduced superbroadcasting operation. We also provide an Appendix where we discuss the status of quantum information in quantum physics, basing on the so-called isomorphism principle.
We prove that the correlations present in a multipartite quantum state have an \emph{operational} quantum character as soon as the state does not simply encode a multipartite classical probability distribution, i.e. does not describe the joint state of many classical registers. Even unentangled states may exhibit such \emph{quantumness}, that is pointed out by the new task of \emph{local broadcasting}, i.e. of locally sharing pre-established correlations: this task is feasible if and only if correlations are classical and derive a no-local-broadcasting theorem for quantum correlations. Thus, l…
In this paper, we investigate the classicality and quantumness of a quantum ensemble. We define a quantity called classicality to characterize how classical a quantum ensemble is. An ensemble of commuting states that can be manipulated classically has a unit classicality, while a general ensemble has a classicality less than 1. We also study how quantum an ensemble is by defining a related quantity called quantumness. We find that the classicality of an ensemble is closely related to how perfectly the ensemble can be cloned, and that the quantumness of an ensemble is essentially responsible fo…
The quantification of the quantumness of a quantum ensemble has theoretical and practical significance in quantum information theory. We propose herein a class of measures of the quantumness of quantum ensembles using the unitary similarity invariant norms of the commutators of the constituent density operators of an ensemble. Rigorous proof shows that they share desirable properties for a measure of quantumness, such as positivity, unitary invariance, concavity under probabilistic union, convexity under state decomposition, decreasing under coarse graining, and increasing under fine graining.…
We study the quantumness of correlations for ensembles of bi- and multi-partite systems and relate it to the task of quantum data hiding. Quantumness is here intended in the sense of minimum average disturbance under local measurements. We consider a very general framework, but focus on local complete von Neumann measurements as cause of the disturbance, and, later on, on the trace-distance as quantifier of the disturbance. We discuss connections with entanglement and previously defined notions of quantumness of correlations. We prove that a large class of quantifiers of the quantumness of cor…
The Gram matrix of a set of quantum pure states plays key roles in quantum information theory. It has been highlighted that the Gram matrix of a pure-state ensemble can be viewed as a quantum state, and the quantumness of a pure-state ensemble can thus be quantified by the coherence of the Gram matrix [Europhys. Lett. \textbf{134} 30003]. Instead of the $l_1$-norm of coherence and the relative entropy of coherence, we utilize the generalized $α$-$z$-relative Rényi entropy of coherence of the Gram matrix to quantify the quantumness of a pure-state ensemble and explore its properties. We show th…
The characterization of the quantum ensemble is a fundamental issue in quantum information theory and foundations. The ensemble is also useful for various quantum information processing. To characterize the quantum ensemble, in this article, we generalize the coherence measure of a state to the quantum ensemble. Exploiting the fidelity and affinity between the ensemble, we propose a quantumness quantifier for the quantum ensemble. It is shown that the proposed quantifier satisfies the necessary axioms of a bonafide measure of quantumness. Finally, we compute the quantumness of a few well-known…
We pose a problem called ``broadcasting Holevo-information'': given an unknown state taken from an ensemble, the task is to generate a bipartite state transfering as much Holevo-information to each copy as possible. We argue that upper bounds on the average information over both copies imply lower bounds on the quantum capacity required to send the ensemble without information loss. This is because a channel with zero quantum capacity has a unitary extension transfering at least as much information to its environment as it transfers to the output. For an ensemble being the time orbit of a pure…
Although it is widely accepted that `no-broadcasting' -- the nonclonability of quantum information -- is a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics, an impossibility theorem for the broadcasting of general density matrices has not yet been formulated. In this paper, we present a general proof for the no-broadcasting theorem, which applies to arbitrary density matrices. The proof relies on entropic considerations, and as such can also be directly linked to its classical counterpart, which applies to probabilistic distributions of statistical ensembles.
For a given ensemble of input and target states, the classical fidelity threshold (CFT) is the maximum valve of the averaged fidelity, and it can be achieved with a measure-and-prepare operation. This quantity can be employed to verify whether the channel is in the quantum domain or not. In a recent work by Chiribella and Xie [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 110}, 213601 (2013)], it was showed that all the information about the input and target states can be equivalently described by an entangled state and an effective entanglement-braking (EB) channel, and the CFTs can be defined with the Choi matrix o…
Suppose one wants to certify that a quantum channel is not entanglement-breaking. I consider all four combinations of trusted and untrusted devices at the input and output of the channel, finding that the most interesting is a trusted preparation device at the input and an untrusted measurement device at the output. This provides a time-like analogue of EPR-steering, which turns out to reduce to the problem of joint measurability, connecting these concepts in a different way to other recent work. I suggest a few applications of this connection, such as a resource theory of incompatibility. Thi…
In the present report we discuss measures of classicality/quantumness of states of finite-dimensional quantum systems, which are based on a deviation of quasiprobability distributions from true statistical distributions. Particularly, the dependence of the global indicator of classicality on the assigned geometry of a quantum state space is analysed for a whole family of Wigner quasiprobability representations. General considerations are exemplified by constructing the global indicator of classicality/quantumness for the Hilbert-Schmidt, Bures and Bogoliubov-Kubo-Mori ensembles of qubits and q…
Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University（拉德堡德大学分子与材料研究所）；University of Minnesota（明尼苏达大学）；Duluth Institute for Advanced Study（德卢斯高级研究院）
It was recently shown that the Madelung equations, that is, a hydrodynamic form of the Schrödinger equation, can be derived from a canonical ensemble of neural networks where the quantum phase was identified with the free energy of hidden variables. We consider instead a grand canonical ensemble of neural networks, by allowing an exchange of neurons with an auxiliary subsystem, to show that the free energy must also be multivalued. By imposing the multivaluedness condition on the free energy we derive the Schrödinger equation with "Planck's constant" determined by the chemical potential of hid…
We address the question of verifying the quantumness of thermal machines. A Szilárd engine is truly quantum if its work output cannot be described by a local hidden state (LHS) model, i. e. an objective local statistical ensemble. Quantumness in this scenario is revealed by a steering-type inequality which bounds the classically extractable work. A quantum Maxwell demon can violate that inequality by exploiting quantum correlations between the work medium and the thermal environment. While for a classical Szilárd engine an objective description of the medium always exists, any such description…
Quantum theory can be regarded as a non-commutative generalization of classical probability. From this point of view, one expects quantum dynamics to be analogous to classical conditional probabilities. In this paper, a variant of the well-known isomorphism between completely positive maps and bipartite density operators is derived, which makes this connection much more explicit. The new isomorphism is given an operational interpretation in terms of statistical correlations between ensemble preparation procedures and outcomes of measurements. Finally, the isomorphism is applied to elucidate th…
We highlight an information-theoretic meaning of quantum discord as the gap between the ac- cessible information and the Holevo bound in the framework of ensemble of quantum states. This complementary relationship implies that a large amount of pre-existing arguments about the evaluation of quantum discord can be directly applied to the accessible information and vice versa. For an ensemble of two pure qubit states, we show that one can evade the optimization problem with the help of the Koashi-Winter relation. Further, for the general case (two mixed qubit states), we recover the main results…
Neutrino oscillation represents an intriguing physical phenomenon where the quantumness can be maintained and detected over a long distance. Previously, the non-classical character of neutrino oscillation was tested with the Leggett-Garg inequality, where a clear violation of the classical bound was observed [J. A. Formaggio et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 050402 (2016)]. However, there are several limitations in testing neutrino oscillations with the Leggett-Garg inequality. In particular, the degree of violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality cannot be taken as a "measure of quantumness". Here…
It is proposed to define "quantumness" of a system (micro or macroscopic, physical, biological, social, political) by starting with understanding that quantum mechanics is a statistical theory. It says us only about probability distributions. The only possible criteria of quantum behaviour are statistical ones. Therefore I propose to consider any system which produces quantum statistics as quantum ("quantumlike"). A possible test is based on the interference of probabilities. I was mainly interested in using such an approach to "quantumness" to extend the domain of applications of quantum math…
Quantum technology promises revolutionary advantages in information processing and transmission compared to classical technology; however, determining which specific resources are needed to surpass the capabilities of classical machines often remains a nontrivial problem. To address such a problem, one first needs to establish the best classical solutions, which set benchmarks that must be beaten by any implementation claiming to harness quantum features for an enhanced performance. Here we introduce and develop a self-contained formalism to obtain the ultimate, generally probabilistic benchma…
The CBH theorem characterises quantum theory within a C*-algebraic framework. Namely, mathematical properties of C*-algebras modelling quantum systems are equivalent to constraints that are information-theoretic in nature: (1) noncommutativity of subalgebras is equivalent to impossibility of signalling; (2) noncommutativity of the whole algebra is equivalent to impossibility of broadcasting; (3) the existence of entangled states is implied by the impossibility of secure bit commitment (with the converse conjectured). However, the C*-algebraic framework has drawn criticism as it already contain…
We present two quantum information splitting schemes using respectively tripartite GHZ and asymmetric W states as quantum channels. We show that, if the secret state is chosen from a special ensemble and known to the sender (Alice), then she can split and distribute it to the receivers Bob and Charlie by performing only a single-qubit measurement and broadcasting an one-cbit message. It is clear that no other schemes could possibly achieve the same goal with simpler measurement and less classical communication. In comparison, existing schemes work for arbitrary quantum states which need not be…
Consider a situation in which a quantum system is secretly prepared in a state chosen from the known set of states. We present a principle that gives a definite distinction between the operations that preserve the states of the system and those that disturb the states. The principle is derived by alternately applying a fundamental property of classical signals and a fundamental property of quantum ones. The principle can be cast into a simple form by using a decomposition of the relevant Hilbert space, which is uniquely determined by the set of possible states. The decomposition implies the cl…
The ability to initialize quantum registers in pure states lies at the core of many applications of quantum technologies, from sensing to quantum information processing and computation. In this paper, we tackle the problem of increasing the polarization bias of an ensemble of two-level register spins by means of joint coherent manipulations, involving a second ensemble of ancillary spins and energy dissipation into an external heat bath. We formulate this spin refrigeration protocol, akin to algorithmic cooling, in the general language of quantum feedback control, and identify the relevant the…
