Geometric coherence and quantum state discrimination

TL;DR

This paper establishes an operational interpretation of geometric coherence in quantum states, linking it to quantum state discrimination tasks, and explores its bounds, relationships with other coherence measures, and applications to multiple copies discrimination.

Contribution

It provides an operational meaning for geometric coherence, connecting it to quantum state discrimination, and derives bounds, explicit formulas, and relationships with other coherence measures.

Findings

Geometric coherence equals the minimum error probability in pure state discrimination.

An equivalence between ambiguous state discrimination and geometric coherence is demonstrated.

An improved upper bound and explicit formula for geometric coherence are derived.

Abstract

The operational meaning of coherence measure lies at very heart of the coherence theory. In this paper, we provide an operational interpretation for geometric coherence, by proving that the geometric coherence of a quantum state is equal to the minimum error probability to discriminate a set of pure states with von Neumann measurement. On the other hand, we also show that a task to ambiguously discriminate a set of linearly independent pure states can be also regards as a problem of calculating geometric coherence. That is, we reveal an equivalence relation between ambiguous quantum state discrimination and geometric coherence. Based on this equivalence, moreover, we improve the upper bound for geometric coherence and give the explicit expression of geometric coherence for a class of states. Besides, we establish a complementarity relation of geometric coherence and path distinguishability, with which the relationship between $l_1$-norm of coherence and geometric coherence is obtained. Finally, with geometric coherence, we study multiple copies quantum state discrimination and give an example to show how to discriminate two pure states.