Entanglement theory with limited computational resources

TL;DR

This paper explores how computational constraints fundamentally alter entanglement measures in quantum information, revealing significant divergences from traditional information-theoretic quantities and establishing new complexity bounds.

Contribution

It introduces computationally constrained entanglement measures, demonstrating their divergence from classical measures and providing bounds on quantum state manipulation under computational limitations.

Findings

Computational entanglement measures differ significantly from information-theoretic ones.

Efficient entanglement dilution requires maximal ebits even for nearly unentangled states.

New sample-complexity bounds for von Neumann entropy measurement and testing.

Abstract

The precise quantification of the ultimate efficiency in manipulating quantum resources lies at the core of quantum information theory. However, purely information-theoretic measures fail to capture the actual computational complexity involved in performing certain tasks. In this work, we rigorously address this issue within the realm of entanglement theory, a cornerstone of quantum information science. We consider two key figures of merit: the computational distillable entanglement and the computational entanglement cost, quantifying the optimal rate of entangled bits (ebits) that can be extracted from or used to dilute many identical copies of $n$-qubit bipartite pure states, using computationally efficient local operations and classical communication (LOCC). We demonstrate that computational entanglement measures diverge significantly from their information-theoretic counterparts. While the von Neumann entropy captures information-theoretic rates for pure-state transformations, we show that under computational constraints, the min-entropy instead governs optimal entanglement distillation. Meanwhile, efficient entanglement dilution incurs in a major cost, requiring maximal $(\tilde{\Omega}(n))$ ebits even for nearly unentangled states. Surprisingly, in the worst-case scenario, even if an efficient description of the state exists and is fully known, one gains no advantage over state-agnostic protocols. Our results establish a stark, maximal separation of $\tilde{\Omega}(n)$ vs. $o(1)$ between computational and information-theoretic entanglement measures. Finally, our findings yield new sample-complexity bounds for measuring and testing the von Neumann entropy, fundamental limits on efficient state compression, and efficient LOCC tomography protocols.