English

A low order Bargmann invariant hierarchy for set coherence

Quantum Physics 2026-05-12 v1

Abstract

Set coherence is a basis-independent relational form of quantum coherence: a finite family of quantum states is set incoherent exactly when all its members are diagonal in one common basis. We determine how much low-order Bargmann data are needed to decide this property. For two states, second-order data are complete for qubits but fail for qutrits, while complete third-order data are sufficient for qutrits but fail already in dimension four. We then show that fourth-order, ordering-sensitive Bargmann invariants give the first universal pairwise criterion for set coherence. Applied to all unordered pairs, this criterion yields a complete test for arbitrary finite families. The result provides a low-order hierarchy connecting cyclic trace invariants with the noncommutativity that prevents a common incoherent basis.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.10003,
  title  = {A low order Bargmann invariant hierarchy for set coherence},
  author = {Yan-Ling Wang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.10003},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

8 pages, Submitted to Physical Review A

R2 v1 2026-07-22T07:03:16.118Z