English

Fully quantum second-law--like statements from the theory of statistical comparisons

Quantum Physics 2015-05-05 v1 Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

In generalized resource theories, one aims to reformulate the problem of deciding whether a suitable transition (typically a transition that preserves the Gibbs state of the theory) between two given states ρ\rho and σ\sigma exists or not, into the problem of checking whether a set of second-law--like inequalities hold or not. The aim of these preliminary notes is to show how the theory of statistical comparisons (in the sense of Blackwell, LeCam, and Torgersen) can be useful in such scenarios. In particular, we propose one construction, in which the second laws are formulated in terms of a suitable conditional min-entropy. Though a general, fully quantum result is also presented, stronger results are obtained for the case of qubits, and the case of σ\sigma commuting with the Gibbs state.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1505.00535,
  title  = {Fully quantum second-law--like statements from the theory of statistical comparisons},
  author = {Francesco Buscemi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1505.00535},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

11 pages of preliminary notes to be presented at QIT32, 25/26 May 2015, Osaka University