We make a number of simplifications in Gour and Friedland's proof of local additivity of minimum output entropy of a quantum channel. We follow them in reframing the question as one about entanglement entropy of bipartite states associated with a $d_B \times d_E $ matrix. We use a different approach to reduce the general case to that of a square positive definite matrix. We use the integral representation of the log to obtain expressions for the first and second derivatives of the entropy, and then exploit the modular operator and functional calculus to streamline the proof following their underlying strategy. We also extend this result to the maximum relative entropy with respect to a fixed reference state which has important implications for studying the superadditivity of the capacity of a quantum channel to transmit classical information.

The joint convexity of the map $(X,A) \mapsto X^* A^{-1} X$, an integral representation of operator convex functions, and an observation of Ando are used to obtain a simple proof of both the joint convexity of relative entropy and a trace convexity result of Lieb. The latter was the key ingredient in the original proof of the strong subadditivity of quantum entropy.

We introduce and study two new classes of unital quantum channels. The first class describes a 2-parameter family of channels given by completely positive (CP) maps $$M_3({\mathbf {C}})\mapsto M_3({\mathbf {C}})$$ which are both unital and trace-preserving. Almost every member of this family is factorizable and extreme in the set of CP maps which are both unital and trace-preserving, but is not extreme in either the set of unital CP maps or the set of trace-preserving CP maps. We also study a large class of maps which generalize the Werner-Holevo channel for $$d = 3$$ in the sense that they are defined in terms of partial isometries of rank $$d-1$$ . Moreover, we extend this to maps whose Kraus operators have the form $$t \, | e_j \rangle \langle e_j| \oplus V $$ with $$V \in M_{d-1} ({\mathbf {C}}) $$ unitary and $$t \in (-1,1)$$ . We show that almost every map in this class is extreme in both the set of unital CP maps and the set of trace-preserving CP maps. We analyze in detail a particularly interesting family which is extreme unless $$t = \tfrac{-1}{d-1}$$ . For $$d = 3$$ , this includes a pair of channels which have a dual factorization in the sense that they can be obtained by taking the partial trace over different subspaces after using the same unitary conjugation in $$M_3({\mathbf {C}}) \otimes M_3({\mathbf {C}})$$ .

Generalized relative entropy, monotone Riemannian metrics, geodesic distance, and trace distance are all known to decrease under the action of quantum channels. We give some new bounds on, and relationships between, the maximal contraction for these quantities.

We give new upper and lower bounds on the concavity of quantum entropy. Comparisons are given with other results in the literature.

An operator convex function on (0,∞) which satisfies the symmetry condition k(x−1)=xk(x) can be used to define a type of non-commutative multiplication by a positive definite matrix (or its inverse) using the primitive concepts of left and right multiplication and the functional calculus. The operators for the inverse can be used to define quadratic forms associated with Riemannian metrics which contract under the action of completely positive trace-preserving maps.We study the question of when these operators define maps which are also completely positive (CP). Although A↦D−1/2AD−1/2 is the only case for which both the map and its inverse are CP, there are several well-known one-parameter families for which either the map or its inverse is CP. We present a complete analysis of the behavior of these families, as well as the behavior of lines connecting an extreme point with the smallest one and some results for geometric bridges between these points.Our primary tool is an order relation based on the concept of positive definite functions. Although some results can be obtained from known properties, we also prove new results based on the positivity of the Fourier transforms of certain functions. Concrete computations of certain Fourier transforms not only yield new examples of positive definite functions, but also examples in the much stronger class of infinitely divisible functions.

We describe recent work of Kim [J. Math. Phys. 53, 122204 (2012)] to show that operator convex functions associated with quasi-entropies can be used to prove a large class of new matrix inequalities in the tri-partite and bi-partite setting by taking a judiciously chosen partial trace over all but one of the spaces. We give some additional examples in both settings. Furthermore, we observe that the equality conditions for all the new inequalities are essentially the same as those for strong subadditivity.

We investigate the universal linear inequalities that hold for the von Neumann entropies in a multi-party system, prepared in a stabiliser state. We demonstrate here that entropy vectors for stabiliser states satisfy, in addition to the classic inequalities, a type of linear rank inequalities associated with the combinatorial structure of normal subgroups of certain matrix groups. In the 4-party case, there is only one such inequality, the so-called Ingleton inequality. For these systems we show that strong subadditivity, weak monotonicity and Ingleton inequality exactly characterize the entropy cone for stabiliser states.

In [J. Math. Phys. 13, 1608–1621 (1972)], Erdahl10.1063/1.1665885 considered the convex structure of the set of N-representable 2-body reduced density matrices in the case of fermions. Some of these results have a straightforward extension to the m-body setting and to the more general quantum marginal problem. We describe these extensions, but cannot resolve a problem in the proof of Erdahl's claim that every extreme point is exposed in finite dimensions. Nevertheless, we can show that when 2m ⩾ N every extreme point of the set of N-representable m-body reduced density matrices has a unique pre-image in both the symmetric and anti-symmetric setting. Moreover, this extends to the quantum marginal setting for a pair of complementary m-body and (N − m)-body reduced density matrices.

It is well known that the ground state energy of many-particle Hamiltonians involving only 2-body interactions can be obtained using constrained optimizations over density matrices which arise from reducing an N-particle state. While determining which 2-particle density matrices are "N-representable" is a computationally hard problem, all known extreme N-representable 2-particle reduced density matrices arise from a unique N-particle preimage, satisfying a conjecture established in 1972. We present explicit counterexamples to this conjecture through giving Hamiltonians with 2-body interactions which have degenerate ground states that cannot be distinguished by any 2-body operator. We relate the existence of such counterexamples to quantum error correction codes and topologically ordered spin systems.

The structure of the ground spaces of quantum systems consisting of local interactions is of fundamental importance to different areas of physics. In this Letter, we present a necessary and sufficient condition for a subspace to be the ground space of a k-local Hamiltonian. Our analysis are motivated by the concept of irreducible correlations studied by [Linden et al., PRL 89, 277906] and [Zhou, PRL 101, 180505], which is in turn based on the principle of maximum entropy. It establishes a better understanding of the ground spaces of local Hamiltonians and builds an intimate link of ground spaces to the correlations of quantum states.

We consider a generalization of relative entropy derived from the Wigner–Yanase–Dyson entropy and give a simple, self-contained proof that it is convex. Moreover, special cases yield the joint convexity of relative entropy, and for Tr K* A p K B 1-p Lieb's joint concavity in (A, B) for 0 < p < 1 and Ando's joint convexity for 1 < p ≤ 2. This approach allows us to obtain conditions for equality in these cases, as well as conditions for equality in a number of inequalities which follow from them. These include the monotonicity under partial traces, and some Minkowski type matrix inequalities proved by Carlen and Lieb for [Formula: see text]. In all cases, the equality conditions are independent of p; for extensions to three spaces they are identical to the conditions for equality in the strong subadditivity of relative entropy.

A Comment on the Letter by D. Daems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 180503 (2009). The authors of the Letter offer a Reply.Received 2 June 2009DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.188902© 2010 The American Physical Society

We introduce quantum versions of the \documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\begin{document}$\chi ^2$\end{document}χ2-divergence, provide a detailed analysis of their properties, and apply them in the investigation of mixing times of quantum Markov processes. An approach similar to the one presented in the literature for classical Markov chains is taken to bound the trace-distance from the steady state of a quantum processes. A strict spectral bound to the convergence rate can be given for time-discrete as well as for time-continuous quantum Markov processes. Furthermore, the contractive behavior of the \documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\begin{document}$\chi ^2$\end{document}χ2-divergence under the action of a completely positive map is investigated and contrasted to the contraction of the trace norm. In this context we analyze different versions of quantum detailed balance and, finally, give a geometric conductance bound to the convergence rate for unital quantum Markov processes.

We show that a bipartite state on a tensor product of two matrix algebras is almost surely entangled if its rank is not greater than that of one of its reduced density matrices.

We introduce a new form for the bosonic channel minimal output entropy conjecture, namely that among states with equal input entropy, the thermal states are the ones that have slightest increase in entropy when sent through a infinitesimal thermalizing channel. We then detail a strategy to prove the conjecture through variational techniques. This would lead to the calculation of the classical capacity of a communication channel subject to thermal noise. Our strategy detects input thermal ensembles as possible solutions for the optimal encoding of the channel, lending support to the conjecture. However, it does not seem to be able to exclude the possibility that other input ensembles can attain the channel capacity.