Entropy-power uncertainty relations : towards a tight inequality for all Gaussian pure states

We show that a proper expression of the uncertainty relation for a pair of canonically-conjugate continuous variables relies on entropy power, a standard notion in Shannon information theory for real-valued signals. The resulting entropy-power uncertainty relation is equivalent to the entropic formulation of the uncertainty relation due to Bialynicki-Birula and Mycielski, but can be further extended to rotated variables. Hence, based on a reasonable assumption, we give a partial proof of a tighter form of the entropy-power uncertainty relation taking correlations into account and provide extensive numerical evidence of its validity. Interestingly, it implies the generalized (rotation-invariant) Schr\"odinger-Robertson uncertainty relation exactly as the original entropy-power uncertainty relation implies Heisenberg relation. It is saturated for all Gaussian pure states, in contrast with hitherto known entropic formulations of the uncertainty principle.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, the new version includes the n-mode cas

Quantum thermodynamics in a multipartite setting: A resource theory of local Gaussian work extraction for multimode bosonic systems

Quantum thermodynamics can be cast as a resource theory by considering free access to a heat bath, thereby viewing the Gibbs state at a fixed temperature as a free state and hence any other state as a resource. Here, we consider a multipartite scenario where several parties attempt at extracting work locally, each having access to a local heat bath (possibly with a different temperature), assisted with an energy-preserving global unitary. As a specific model, we analyze a collection of harmonic oscillators or a multimode bosonic system. Focusing on the Gaussian paradigm, we construct a reasonable resource theory of local activity for a multimode bosonic system, where we identify as free any state that is obtained from a product of thermal states (possibly at different temperatures) acted upon by any linear-optics (passive Gaussian) transformation. The associated free operations are then all linear-optics transformations supplemented with tensoring and partial tracing. We show that the local Gaussian extractable work (if each party applies a Gaussian unitary, assisted with linear optics) is zero if and only if the covariance matrix of the system is that of a free state. Further, we develop a resource theory of local Gaussian extractable work, defined as the difference between the trace and symplectic trace of the covariance matrix of the system. We prove that it is a resource monotone that cannot increase under free operations. We also provide examples illustrating the distillation of local activity and local Gaussian extractable work.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, minor corrections to make it close to the published version, updated list of reference

A tight uniform continuity bound for the Arimoto-R\'enyi conditional entropy and its extension to classical-quantum states

We prove a tight uniform continuity bound for Arimoto's version of the conditional $\alpha$-R\'enyi entropy, for the range $\alpha \in [0, 1)$. This definition of the conditional R\'enyi entropy is the most natural one among the multiple forms which exist in the literature, since it satisfies two desirable properties of a conditional entropy, namely, the fact that conditioning reduces entropy, and that the associated reduction in uncertainty cannot exceed the information gained by conditioning. Furthermore, it has found interesting applications in various information theoretic tasks such as guessing with side information and sequential decoding. This conditional entropy reduces to the conditional Shannon entropy in the limit $\alpha \to 1$, and this in turn allows us to recover the recently obtained tight uniform continuity bound for the latter from our result. Finally, we apply our result to obtain a tight uniform continuity bound for the conditional $\alpha$-R\'enyi entropy of a classical-quantum state, for $\alpha$ in the same range as above. This again yields the corresponding known bound for the conditional entropy of the state in the limit $\alpha \to 1$.Comment: 23 pages. Changes in v2: new references added and minor corrections to existing reference

Complexity of Gaussian quantum optics with a limited number of non-linearities

It is well known in quantum optics that any process involving the preparation of a multimode gaussian state, followed by a gaussian operation and gaussian measurements, can be efficiently simulated by classical computers. Here, we provide evidence that computing transition amplitudes of Gaussian processes with a single-layer of non-linearities is hard for classical computers. To do so, we show how an efficient algorithm to solve this problem could be used to efficiently approximate outcome probabilities of a Gaussian boson sampling experiment. We also extend this complexity result to the problem of computing transition probabilities of Gaussian processes with two layers of non-linearities, by developing a Hadamard test for continuous-variable systems that may be of independent interest. Given recent experimental developments in the implementation of photon-photon interactions, our results may inspire new schemes showing quantum computational advantage or algorithmic applications of non-linear quantum optical systems realizable in the near-term.Comment: 5 pages for the main file, 8 pages for the appendix, 3 figure

Two-boson quantum interference in time

The celebrated Hong-Ou-Mandel effect is the paradigm of two-particle quantum interference. It has its roots in the symmetry of identical quantum particles, as dictated by the Pauli principle. Two identical bosons impinging on a beam splitter (of transmittance 1/2) cannot be detected in coincidence at both output ports, as confirmed in numerous experiments with light or even matter. Here, we establish that partial time reversal transforms the beamsplitter linear coupling into amplification. We infer from this duality the existence of an unsuspected two-boson interferometric effect in a quantum amplifier (of gain 2) and identify the underlying mechanism as timelike indistinguishability. This fundamental mechanism is generic to any bosonic Bogoliubov transformation, so we anticipate wide implications in quantum physics.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Bosonic autonomous entanglement engines with weak bath coupling are impossible

Entanglement is a fundamental feature of quantum physics and a key resource for quantum communication, computing and sensing. Entangled states are fragile and maintaining coherence is a central challenge in quantum information processing. Nevertheless, entanglement can be generated and stabilised through dissipative processes. In fact, entanglement has been shown to exist in the steady state of certain interacting quantum systems subject solely to incoherent coupling to thermal baths. This has been demonstrated in a range of bi- and multipartite settings using systems of finite dimension. Here we focus on the steady state of infinite-dimensionsional bosonic systems. Specifically, we consider any set of bosonic modes undergoing excitation-number-preserving interactions of arbitrary strength and divided between an arbitrary number of parties that each couple weakly to thermal baths at different temperatures. We show that the steady state is always separable.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Majorization ladder in bosonic Gaussian channels

We show the existence of a majorization ladder in bosonic Gaussian channels, that is, we prove that the channel output resulting from the $n\text{th}$ energy eigenstate (Fock state) majorizes the channel output resulting from the $(n\!+\!1)\text{th}$ energy eigenstate (Fock state). This reflects a remarkable link between the energy at the input of the channel and a disorder relation at its output as captured by majorization theory. This result was previously known in the special cases of a pure-loss channel and quantum-limited amplifier, and we achieve here its nontrivial generalization to any single-mode phase-covariant (or -contravariant) bosonic Gaussian channel. The key to our proof is the explicit construction of a column-stochastic matrix that relates the outputs of the channel for any two subsequent Fock states at its input, which is made possible by exploiting a recently found recurrence relation on multiphoton transition probabilities for Gaussian unitaries [M. G. Jabbour and N. J. Cerf, Phys. Rev. Research 3, 043065 (2021)]. We then discuss possible generalizations and implications of our results.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Majorization preservation of Gaussian bosonic channels

It is shown that phase-insensitive Gaussian bosonic channels are majorization-preserving over the set of passive states of the harmonic oscillator. This means that comparable passive states under majorization are transformed into equally comparable passive states by any phase-insensitive Gaussian bosonic channel. Our proof relies on a new preorder relation called Fock-majorization, which coincides with regular majorization for passive states but also induces another order relation in terms of mean boson number, thereby connecting the concepts of energy and disorder of a quantum state. The consequences of majorization preservation are discussed in the context of the broadcast communication capacity of Gaussian bosonic channels. Because most of our results are independent of the specific nature of the system under investigation, they could be generalized to other quantum systems and Hamiltonians, providing a new tool that may prove useful in quantum information theory and especially quantum thermodynamics.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe