# Quantum Tomography by Regularized Linear Regression

## TL;DR

This paper introduces regularized linear regression methods for quantum state tomography, improving estimation accuracy through bias-variance trade-offs and providing asymptotic optimality with practical tuning strategies.

## Contribution

It develops a unified framework for regularized linear regression in quantum tomography, including explicit formulas for optimal regularization and asymptotic risk minimization.

## Key findings

- Weighted least squares estimate effectively reconstructs quantum states.
- Regularization reduces mean-square error in state estimation.
- Proposed tuning methods achieve asymptotic optimality.

## Abstract

In this paper, we study extended linear regression approaches for quantum state tomography based on regularization techniques. For unknown quantum states represented by density matrices, performing measurements under certain basis yields random outcomes, from which a classical linear regression model can be established. First of all, for complete or over-complete measurement bases, we show that the empirical data can be utilized for the construction of a weighted least squares estimate (LSE) for quantum tomography. Taking into consideration the trace-one condition, a constrained weighted LSE can be explicitly computed, being the optimal unbiased estimation among all linear estimators. Next, for general measurement bases, we show that $\ell_2$-regularization with proper regularization gain provides even lower mean-square error under a cost in bias. The regularization parameter is tuned by two estimators in terms of a risk characterization. Finally, a concise and unified formula is established for the regularization parameter with complete measurement basis under an equivalent regression model, which proves that the proposed tuning estimators are asymptotically optimal as the number of samples grows to infinity under the risk metric. Additionally, numerical examples are provided to validate the established results.