Tight bounds on the simultaneous estimation of incompatible parameters

TL;DR

This paper develops an analytic method to compute the Holevo Cramer-Rao bound for two-parameter quantum estimation problems, simplifying the process and enabling better understanding of the limits in quantum metrology.

Contribution

The authors introduce a closed-form analytic approach for the HCRB in two-parameter quantum estimation, reducing computational complexity and providing insights into incompatible observable estimation.

Findings

Analytic solution for the HCRB in two-parameter estimation.

Quadratic speedup in computing bounds over previous methods.

Application to magnetic sensing and noisy bosonic codes.

Abstract

The estimation of multiple parameters in quantum metrology is important for a vast array of applications in quantum information processing. However, the unattainability of fundamental precision bounds for incompatible observables has greatly diminished the applicability of estimation theory in many practical implementations. The Holevo Cramer-Rao bound (HCRB) provides the most fundamental, simultaneously attainable bound for multi-parameter estimation problems. A general closed form for the HCRB is not known given that it requires a complex optimisation over multiple variables. In this work, we develop an analytic approach to solving the HCRB for two parameters. Our analysis reveals the role of the HCRB and its interplay with alternative bounds in estimation theory. For more parameters, we generate a lower bound to the HCRB. Our work greatly reduces the complexity of determining the HCRB to solving a set of linear equations that even numerically permits a quadratic speedup over previous state-of-the-art approaches. We apply our results to compare the performance of different probe states in magnetic field sensing, and characterise the performance of state tomography on the codespace of noisy bosonic error-correcting codes. The sensitivity of state tomography on noisy binomial codestates can be improved by tuning two coding parameters that relate to the number of correctable phase and amplitude damping errors. Our work provides fundamental insights and makes significant progress towards the estimation of multiple incompatible observables.