dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaJensen-Shannon divergence as a measure of distinguishability between mixed quantum states
| Authors | A. P. Majtey, P. W. Lamberti, D. P. Prato |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0508138 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0508138 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.72.052310 |
Abstract
We discuss an alternative to relative entropy as a measure of distance between mixed quantum states. The proposed quantity is an extension to the realm of quantum theory of the Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD) between probability distributions. The JSD has several interesting properties. It arises in information theory and, unlike the Kullback-Leibler divergence, it is symmetric, always well defined and bounded. We show that the quantum JSD (QJSD) shares with the relative entropy most of the physically relevant properties, in particular those required for a "good" quantum distinguishability measure. We relate it to other known quantum distances and we suggest possible applications in the field of the quantum information theory.
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"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:02:20.427000Z",
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"abstract": "We discuss an alternative to relative entropy as a measure of distance\nbetween mixed quantum states. The proposed quantity is an extension to the\nrealm of quantum theory of the Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD) between\nprobability distributions. The JSD has several interesting properties. It\narises in information theory and, unlike the Kullback-Leibler divergence, it is\nsymmetric, always well defined and bounded. We show that the quantum JSD (QJSD)\nshares with the relative entropy most of the physically relevant properties, in\nparticular those required for a \"good\" quantum distinguishability measure. We\nrelate it to other known quantum distances and we suggest possible applications\nin the field of the quantum information theory.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0508138",
"authors": [
"A. P. Majtey",
"P. W. Lamberti",
"D. P. Prato"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.72.052310",
"title": "Jensen-Shannon divergence as a measure of distinguishability between mixed quantum states",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0508138"
},
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