We consider several definitions of the quantum Wasserstein distance based on an optimization over general bipartite quantum states with given marginals. Then, we examine the quantities obtained after the optimization is carried out over bipartite separable states instead. We prove that several of these quantities are equal to each other. Thus, we connect several approaches in the literature. We prove the triangle inequality for some of these quantities for the case of one of the three states being pure. As a byproduct, we show that the square root of the Uhlmann-Jozsa quantum fidelity can also be written as an optimization over separable states with given marginals. We use this to prove that some of these quantities equal the Uhlmann-Jozsa quantum fidelity for qubits. We also find relations with the superfidelity.

We introduce a non-quadratic generalization of the quantum mechanical optimal transport problem introduced in [De Palma and Trevisan, Ann. Henri Poincaré, 22 (2021), 3199-3234] where quantum channels realize the transport. Relying on this general machinery, we introduce p-Wasserstein distances and divergences and study their fundamental geometric properties. Finally, we prove triangle inequality for quadratic Wasserstein divergences under the sole assumption that an arbitrary one of the states involved is pure, which is a generalization of our previous result in this direction.

Quantum Wasserstein divergences are modified versions of quantum Wasserstein distances defined by channels and they have been conjectured to be genuine metrics on quantum state spaces by De Palma and Trevisan. We prove triangle inequality for quantum Wasserstein divergences for every quantum system described by a separable Hilbert space and any quadratic cost operator under the assumption that a particular state involved is pure and all the states have finite energy. We also provide strong numerical evidence suggesting that the triangle inequality holds in general for an arbitrary choice of states.

We define the quantum Wasserstein distance such that the optimization of the coupling is carried out over bipartite separable states rather than bipartite quantum states in general, and examine its properties. Surprisingly, we find that the self-distance is related to the quantum Fisher information. We present a transport map corresponding to an optimal bipartite separable state. We discuss how the quantum Wasserstein distance introduced is connected to criteria detecting quantum entanglement. We define variance-like quantities that can be obtained from the quantum Wasserstein distance by replacing the minimization over quantum states by a maximization. We extend our results to a family of generalized quantum Fisher information quantities.

We describe Wasserstein isometries of the quantum bit state space with respect to distinguished cost operators. We derive a Wigner-type result for the cost operator involving all the Pauli matrices: in this case, the isometry group consists of unitary or anti-unitary conjugations. In the Bloch sphere model this means that the isometry group coincides with the classical symmetry group O(3). On the other hand, for the cost generated by the qubit ''clock" and ''shift" operators, we discovered non-surjective and non-injective isometries as well, beyond the regular ones. This phenomenon mirrors certain surprising properties of the quantum Wasserstein distance.

It is well known that special Kubo-Ando operator means admit divergence center interpretations, moreover, they are also mean squared error estimators for certain metrics on positive definite operators. In this paper we give a divergence center interpretation for every symmetric Kubo-Ando mean. This characterization of the symmetric means naturally leads to a definition of weighted and multivariate versions of a large class of symmetric Kubo-Ando means. We study elementary properties of these weighted multivariate means, and note in particular that in the special case of the geometric mean we recover the weighted A#H-mean introduced by Kim, Lawson, and Lim [9].

This short note aims to study quantum Hellinger distances investigated recently by Bhatia et al. (Lett Math Phys 109:1777–1804, 2019) with a particular emphasis on barycenters. We introduce the family of generalized quantum Hellinger divergences that are of the form $$\phi (A,B)=\mathrm {Tr} \left( (1-c)A + c B - A \sigma B \right) ,$$ where $$\sigma $$ is an arbitrary Kubo–Ando mean, and $$c \in (0,1)$$ is the weight of $$\sigma .$$ We note that these divergences belong to the family of maximal quantum f-divergences, and hence are jointly convex, and satisfy the data processing inequality. We derive a characterization of the barycenter of finitely many positive definite operators for these generalized quantum Hellinger divergences. We note that the characterization of the barycenter as the weighted multivariate 1/2-power mean, that was claimed in Bhatia et al. (2019), is true in the case of commuting operators, but it is not correct in the general case.

In this paper we determine those bijective maps of the set of all positive definite n×n complex matrices which preserve a given Bregman divergence corresponding to a differentiable convex function that satisfies certain conditions. We cover the cases of the most important Bregman divergences and present the precise structure of the mentioned transformations. Similar results concerning Jensen divergences and their preservers are also given.

We characterize the functions for which the corresponding Bregman divergence is jointly convex on matrices. As an application of this characterization, we derive a sharp inequality for the quantum Tsallis entropy of a tripartite state, which can be considered as a generalization of the strong subadditivity of the von Neumann entropy. (In general, the strong subadditivity of the Tsallis entropy fails for quantum states, but it holds for classical states.) Furthermore, we show that the joint convexity of the Bregman divergence does not imply the monotonicity under stochastic maps, but every monotone Bregman divergence is jointly convex.

The Markov property of states of algebras of the canonical commutation relation is studied and in the case of Gaussian states several equivalent properties are obtained. The detailed description is given in terms of a block matrix. The relation to classical multivariate Gaussian Markov triplets is also described. The minimizer of relative entropy with respect to a Gaussian markov state has the Markov property.

The paper contains a detailed computation about the algebra of canonical commutation relation, the representation of the Weyl unitaries, the quasi-free states and their von Neumann entropy. The Markov triplet is defined by constant entropy increase. The Markov property of a quasifree state is described by the representing block matrix. The proof is based on results on the statistical sufficiency in the non-commutative case. The relation to classical Gaussian Markov triplets is also described.

The Markov property of Gaussian states of canonical commutation relation algebras is studied. The detailed description is given by the representing block matrix. The proof is short and allows infinite dimension. The relation to classical Gaussian Markov triplets is also described. The minimizer of relative entropy with respect to a Gaussian Markov state has the Markov property. The appendix contains formulas for the relative entropy.

The characterization of quasifree product states on CAR algebras is given. We also prove that the quasifree states on CAR algebra which saturate the strong additivity of von Neumann entropy with equality are product states.

We prove a necessary an sufficient condition for the states which satisfy strong subadditivity of von Neumann entropy with equality on CAR algebra and we show an example when the equality holds but the state is not separable.